A befitting response

Chief Justice of Pakistan Justice Asif Saeed Khosa appears to have been constrained to respond publicly to the uncalled criticism of the judiciary by prime minister Imran Khan by reminding him that it was his government that gave a one-time permission to former prime minister Nawaz Sharif to go abroad for treatment. The prime minister in his address at the inauguration ceremony of a motorway had criticised the judiciary and asked CJP Khosa and the CJP presumptive Justice Gulzar Ahmad by name to come forward and dispel the unfortunate impression of favouring the powerful against the poor. In his usual composed manner that is his hallmark, the CJP said: "Do not hurl taunts at us for favouring the powerful because everybody is equal before us" and pointed out that after 2009, it is a different judiciary that has convicted a prime minister, disqualified another and was about to give a decision in a treason case against a former chief of army staff. The three-time prime minister, Nawaz Sharif, is suffering from various diseases, including auto-immune blood disorder. Since the genetic analysis facility required to treat his immune system disorder is not available in the country, doctors recommended his treatment abroad. Now that he is gone, a whole cacophony is being raised - as much to pacify hawks within PTI's own ranks as to vilify the court alleging that it permitted a convict to go abroad. The NAB chief too has joined the course, asking how come when several patients share a single bed in the country's hospitals 'there were some people (read Nawaz Sharif) who were going abroad for treatment of fever'.

Ideally, both Prime Minister Imran Khan and NAB chief Javed Iqbal should have seen this development in a positive light. He suffers from multiple diseases and his treatment abroad has been proposed by the country's top doctors. The government accepted it, and allowed it subject to a set of strict guarantees. His name stays on the Exit Control List (ECL) while corruption charges against him remain. The prime minister seems to have been clearly irked by the Lahore High Court verdict. His outburst was uncalled for and unworthy of the high office that he occupies. As a prime minister, he is expected to lend sobriety and decorum to the otherwise charged political milieu obtaining in today's Pakistan.