The authority of law is linked to its nonpolitical culture,
which, in turn, is based on the assumption that the law is interpreted by
independent and impartial judges. Judges may be political in two ways: they may
be subject to internal (prejudices and sympathies) biases or external bias (political
parties, assembly and government). Judicial independence is a constitutional
principal that there should be strict separation between the judiciary and
other branches of government. However it only is a theory. In practice,
independence of judges may be compromised because of the close involvement of
political bodies in the process of judicial recruitment and promotion.
In Pakistan Judicial independence is a far sighted vision.
A recent example of
internal biases is the case of Aasiya Noreen. Aasiya Noreen, commonly known as
Asia Bibi, received the death penalty in 2010 after she allegedly made
derogatory comments about the Prophet Mohammed during an argument with a Muslim
woman. The Muslim woman, together with her sister, was the only two
witnesses in the case, but the defense failed to convince the appeals as their
evidence lacked credibility. The religious bias in the judges about the
serious issue of blasphemy in Pakistan has been inevitable.
The same judiciary who took Suo Moto action of notice of
assault on polling staff by a candidate for the Tando Muhammad Khan by-polls
Waheeda Shah Bukhari and such small events, failed to take suo moto action
against the killing of Hazaara Shia Community when over 100 people were killed
there.
These two examples are clean evidence of internal biases of
the judiciary of Pakistan.
Similarly, in 2013, judiciary once again disgraced itself
with its latest unconstitutional and politically biased decision to hold the
Presidential elections earlier the constitutionally scheduled date. The
Election Commission of Pakistan reversed its own statement. Earlier the
ECP had stated that it was not constitutionally possible to hold early elections. This shows the external biases as this decision was made under the influence of PML-N.
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