Verdict due
WHAT new turn will the Supreme Court saga take today? A three-member bench of the Supreme Court is due to announce its verdict in the elections delay case, but the case’s proceedings were dogged by so much drama and controversy till the very end that no stakeholder will realistically be expecting the matter to be settled with a simple order from the court.
It was quite difficult to tell from Monday’s proceedings which way the court was leaning. There were indications that it was quite unsatisfied with the government’s justifications for delaying the KP and Punjab assembly elections over the pretext of not having enough security personnel or adequate financial resources for the electoral exercise.
Still, there is a possibility that the apex court may not take a categorical position for now due to the ongoing controversy over the chief justice’s discretionary powers and leave the matter to be decided at a different forum.
The question of a full court or larger bench deciding the maintainability of the elections delay case — which arose after several other Supreme Court justices publicly objected to the chief justice invoking suo motu jurisdiction on the matter and then constituting the benches to hear it at his own discretion — also remains unsettled.
Both the government and the ECP again demanded on Monday that the matter be taken up by the full court before the bench can rule on whether or not elections can be delayed.
However, though Chief Justice Umar Ata Bandial indicated that he had reached out to his fellow judges and may be considering summoning the full court to set rules regarding suo motu powers and bench constitution, he suggested to the defendants that they ought to be seeking a larger bench to resolve the ‘4/3 or 3/2’ debate, as it has come to be known. But though he invited arguments in support of the proposal, it appears that the court eventually decided to reserve its verdict without making any decision on the matter.
It is, admittedly, all rather confusing — even for those who have been following the proceedings closely. The chief justice has a tricky conundrum to solve and he remains under immense scrutiny. It is hoped that he will find a way out of this crisis while keeping the integrity of his institution intact.
Again, it seems like a reasonable idea to convene the full court and settle the matter firmly once and for all. The question of when elections are to be held is one that concerns the citizenry’s fundamental rights.
However, the court has gotten entrapped in another debate altogether, which has made it difficult to rule on the original, rather pressing matter. The full force of its members may just be able to extricate it from the quicksand.
Published in Dawn, April 4th, 2023
Communal riots
COMMUNAL violence during religious events, particularly processions, has a long history in the subcontinent, with incidents dating back to the colonial era. However, in modern India, especially under the BJP’s watch, religious processions have been weaponised by the Sangh Parivar to terrorise Muslims. This seems to have been the case during the religious riots of the past few days linked to the Hindu festival of Ram Navami. While the violence has principally affected Bihar and West Bengal, rioting has also been reported in Maharashtra and UP. West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee has held the BJP responsible for the trouble witnessed in her state, while Home Minister Amit Shah — not exactly known for his outreach to minority communities — has promised to “hang rioters upside down”. It is unclear whom the minister is referring to; members of India’s beleaguered Muslim community, or his fellow travellers in the Sangh who more often than not light the fires of communal frenzy.
The pattern behind religious violence linked to processions is a common one. Hindu extremists, who are often armed, provocatively march though Muslim neighbourhoods and stop outside mosques to blast Hindutva war songs, and raise the slogan of ‘Jai Shri Ram’. If charged Muslims respond to the provocations, havoc ensues, as has been the case over the past few days. Numerous videos from the trouble spots present terrifying evidence of the bullying and violence Hindutva’s shock troops are subjecting India’s minorities to. In such circumstances, the state would be expected to intervene and put an end to provocative actions carried out in the name of religion. But not so under the BJP’s Hindutva sarkar. Unfortunately, many of the leading lights of India’s ruling party have had an instrumental role in egging on anti-Muslim mobs, and in fact, have been playing this dubious game for decades. In many of India’s worst communal massacres, the BJP, RSS or others linked to the Hindutva stable have had a central role. Sadly, there are two Indias; one the ‘shining’ India of PR campaigns, the other a country where armed Hindutva mobs prowl the streets, invade Muslim neighbourhoods and taunt members of the community until a confrontation ensues. This is a dark time for India’s minorities. As little action can be expected from New Delhi, the opposition and civil society must raise a louder voice against this communal madness.
Published in Dawn, April 4th, 2023
Uptick in crimes
IT is now becoming an annual tradition. Each year, with the advent of Ramazan, there is a marked increase in reports of criminal activity in major urban centres, leaving citizens feeling unsafe during the holy month. This year has been no different. The papers these days seem to be full of stories of muggings, motorcycle snatchings and car thefts, and also of citizens being killed for resisting robberies or suspected muggers being shot dead in alleged police ‘encounters’. Though the citizenry has complained loudly each year about the police’s failure to prevent sudden upswings in criminal activity during Ramazan, there has been little improvement, if any. Apparently, our law-enforcement agencies are too preoccupied with political matters to be paying attention to their basic policing responsibilities. Reports from Karachi and Lahore, carried in Monday’s papers, suggest that the police forces of our major cities act quite similarly in resorting to extreme measures to deflect from their overall failure to prevent crimes. In both of these two cities, ‘encounters’ between policemen and alleged robbers in recent days have left several ‘suspects’ killed.
Lahore seems to be suffering a particularly severe surge in criminal activity, with over 90pc of all crimes being committed “at gunpoint”, according to a news report. Dozens of murders have been reported in the city within the first few months of the ongoing year, as well as several kidnappings for ransom. While more extreme forms of violent crime may require dynamic strategies to tackle, it defies understanding how easily thefts continue to take place. The police should have enough intelligence to be aware of where stolen items like mobile phones and jewellery, or even vehicles like motorcycles and cars, are fenced. For them to still fail to retrieve people’s personal effects, shut down stolen goods dealers, or nab habitual criminals suggests that either they have grown too complacent about their jobs, or something more sinister is afoot.
Published in Dawn, April 4th, 2023