Does an attribute like ‘My Lord’ sound Colonial?
Saeed Minhas
Islamabad: Rising political mercury across Karachi, Quetta and even in
judicial compounds is certainly having an impact on an already cautious
finance minister Ishaq Dar and even the interior minister Chaudhry Nisar
hence forcing them to constantly dampen their stance on every issue
they have taken so far.
While rounding up the debate on finance bill, Ishaq Dar was very much conscious of the fact that Supreme Court has literally handed him not only a demarche but put a question mark on his expertise which he has been proud of ever since he rescued his party boss from an economic debacle in the post nuclear test scenario. Dollars since then have become a synonym for Dar in the country’s economic and power corridors for all the opposing reasons.
In the same vein, many have observed the see-saw games of Chaudhry Nisar in the short span of one week. First he was seen full of fire in Quetta challenging and chiding everyone for worsening law and order situation in Balochistan. Then we saw him backtracking and adopting a more serene approach to ‘issues of national importance’ by inviting everyone for talks and even walks. Another turnaround was quite noticeable when we heard him issuing an ultimatum to a provincial government while fully understanding the highly charged atmosphere in Sind and the history of his party sending troops there in their first outing at the federal level.
To add just another twist to the ministerial maneuvers, our superior Lords have stamped their authority by reminding their staunch supporters since the movement days that they are running the watchdog factory no matter what. They have proven it with their deeds that whether someone pitches their driver Aitzaz Ahsan or bring in their mark-man Munir A Malik; it does not matter to them.
Interesting in this regard was the discussion going on within Nawaz League circles. Ishaq Dar very magnanimously surrendered the issue of GST after intervention and interpretation of the superior court but many in finance ministry and even in planning division were sitting in a huddle to carve a way out of this new development. They were happy for the fact that though a huge chunk of direct taxation has gone awry but at least their effort to help the new government give some soothing talks to investors and businessmen regarding the drop of 50 basis points in interest rates. Certainly State Bank of Pakistan took the cue from the oft-repeated budget speech of the federal finance minister that inflation is dropping down to below eight per cent therefore they decided to play their old game of facilitating the big barons with another round of loans, restructuring and even returning of many sick units back to the old players. All this will be done in the name of reviving economy and that too with the state money. So fasten your seat belts as lot many tycoons are already sitting with the notoriously involved banks to reschedule their defaulted loans, retrieve their sick units, jack up the real estate and all those tricks they have learned during Mushy days with the help if State Bank’s ably tuned administration.
Therefore, the Nawaz League camp and our ‘impartial’ bureaucrats of the finance ministry were not that much bothered about the mini hurdle Supreme Court has thrown in their march. They know that the ratio between direct and indirect taxes already stands at 35:65 and making them 25:75 would hardly make any difference to them. After all it's not the economy which our finance ministry runs; it’s the parallel economy which makes their life politically worth for every ruler in this country.
Talks were about the judgment of the superior judge as where Attorney General was asked to advise the government to get rid of British laws labeling them as colonial laws in a free democratic Islamic Republic. One of the senior leader of the party was laughing this out by telling everyone that “what does the Judges consider about abolishing the Colonial practices of calling the judges of superior judiciary or even the lower judiciary ‘My Lord’, ‘Your Honour’, ’Your Lordship’.”
A leading legal expert of the League even revealed that Ziaul Haq had abolished all such attributes in 1982 through a presidential ordinance considering them repugnant to Islamic injunctions and the basic tenants of the objective resolution and preamble of the Constitution of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan. The issue has also been raised since then in the higher judiciary very recently by none other than a usual petitioner Advocate AK Dogar who asked for abolition of these colonial attributes. But as the Leaguers revealed that the High Lords of Lahore High Court just brushed it aside.
In a country where religion is a very touchy issue and it takes just a triggering point to provoke zealots go berserk, the plan seems quite sinister. But as many insiders believe that it has got some logic because after all ‘law is a law’ hence it applies to everyone regardless of the status and situation.
While rounding up the debate on finance bill, Ishaq Dar was very much conscious of the fact that Supreme Court has literally handed him not only a demarche but put a question mark on his expertise which he has been proud of ever since he rescued his party boss from an economic debacle in the post nuclear test scenario. Dollars since then have become a synonym for Dar in the country’s economic and power corridors for all the opposing reasons.
In the same vein, many have observed the see-saw games of Chaudhry Nisar in the short span of one week. First he was seen full of fire in Quetta challenging and chiding everyone for worsening law and order situation in Balochistan. Then we saw him backtracking and adopting a more serene approach to ‘issues of national importance’ by inviting everyone for talks and even walks. Another turnaround was quite noticeable when we heard him issuing an ultimatum to a provincial government while fully understanding the highly charged atmosphere in Sind and the history of his party sending troops there in their first outing at the federal level.
To add just another twist to the ministerial maneuvers, our superior Lords have stamped their authority by reminding their staunch supporters since the movement days that they are running the watchdog factory no matter what. They have proven it with their deeds that whether someone pitches their driver Aitzaz Ahsan or bring in their mark-man Munir A Malik; it does not matter to them.
Interesting in this regard was the discussion going on within Nawaz League circles. Ishaq Dar very magnanimously surrendered the issue of GST after intervention and interpretation of the superior court but many in finance ministry and even in planning division were sitting in a huddle to carve a way out of this new development. They were happy for the fact that though a huge chunk of direct taxation has gone awry but at least their effort to help the new government give some soothing talks to investors and businessmen regarding the drop of 50 basis points in interest rates. Certainly State Bank of Pakistan took the cue from the oft-repeated budget speech of the federal finance minister that inflation is dropping down to below eight per cent therefore they decided to play their old game of facilitating the big barons with another round of loans, restructuring and even returning of many sick units back to the old players. All this will be done in the name of reviving economy and that too with the state money. So fasten your seat belts as lot many tycoons are already sitting with the notoriously involved banks to reschedule their defaulted loans, retrieve their sick units, jack up the real estate and all those tricks they have learned during Mushy days with the help if State Bank’s ably tuned administration.
Therefore, the Nawaz League camp and our ‘impartial’ bureaucrats of the finance ministry were not that much bothered about the mini hurdle Supreme Court has thrown in their march. They know that the ratio between direct and indirect taxes already stands at 35:65 and making them 25:75 would hardly make any difference to them. After all it's not the economy which our finance ministry runs; it’s the parallel economy which makes their life politically worth for every ruler in this country.
Talks were about the judgment of the superior judge as where Attorney General was asked to advise the government to get rid of British laws labeling them as colonial laws in a free democratic Islamic Republic. One of the senior leader of the party was laughing this out by telling everyone that “what does the Judges consider about abolishing the Colonial practices of calling the judges of superior judiciary or even the lower judiciary ‘My Lord’, ‘Your Honour’, ’Your Lordship’.”
A leading legal expert of the League even revealed that Ziaul Haq had abolished all such attributes in 1982 through a presidential ordinance considering them repugnant to Islamic injunctions and the basic tenants of the objective resolution and preamble of the Constitution of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan. The issue has also been raised since then in the higher judiciary very recently by none other than a usual petitioner Advocate AK Dogar who asked for abolition of these colonial attributes. But as the Leaguers revealed that the High Lords of Lahore High Court just brushed it aside.
In a country where religion is a very touchy issue and it takes just a triggering point to provoke zealots go berserk, the plan seems quite sinister. But as many insiders believe that it has got some logic because after all ‘law is a law’ hence it applies to everyone regardless of the status and situation.
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