Welcome Back CJ

Unbelievable. For a politically indifferent mob called Pakistanis... totally unbelievable. They have seen people come and go, military men jumping over the democratic fence and back, politicians and bureaucrats doing corruption and then getting scot free. They have been seeing lawyers protesting for independence of judiciary and reinstatement of Chief Justice Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhary for two years now, every Thursday they boycotted court proceedings and protested. Yesterday it all culminated in restoration of Chief Justice. Surreal. Does it happen in Pakistan too?

It started slow yesterday. Couple of days earlier when long march started from the rest of Pakistan, police effectively thwarted plans especially of lawyers to go to Islamabad by arresting key and influential leaders. The Federal Govt too barricaded Islamabad, deployed heavy police, arrested lawyers and politicians - think of a nutcase act and Govt (read Zardari) did it. Early scenes from yesterday saw PML-N workers taking police on. later JI workers appeared to fight teargas shells. Later in the afternoon it started to buildup, ordinary people were on the streets. It was getting more and more difficult for police to handle them. Then came the point when they refused to obey orders, the blockades that were placed by them were started to be removed. Media kept it very tight on Govt, frankly media had a lot of hand in this all movement. As they started breaking news that hurdles were being removed, more and more people came out on street.

As the night fell, it was very obvious. The Govt had lost it. People in throngs were out on streets, 'celebrating' if you will, they raised slogans in favour of CJ, honked horns and just shouted against Govt. No doubt Nawaz Sharif and his PML-N workers made the major impact. Had the Govt not blundered by sacking PML-N govt in Punjab through their goons in courts, not imposed Governors rule in Punjab then things would not have gained that momentum. Zaradri also ordered blocking of Geo News and that made journalists get on to the offensive. Plus Zaradri has a huge question mark on his credibility and integrity as he reneged on promises that he made with others. Key figures of the ruling PPP started showing their displeasure at events, cabinet minister resigned. As the people started coming on streets and police started to back off, the bureaucracy felt the pressure as Deputy Attorney General, DIG Police and DCO Lahore resigned.

Early morning, the reality sunk in to Zaradri that things were not that rosy. He made PM Gillani address to the nation and say that CJ will be restored. This is surely a great news. The struggle that lawyers made a huge impact on this dormant nation. For the past two years they have been struggling hard - the only active civic unit, supported by media, they rallied for the casue of independant judiciary. It paid off.

But we have to be very careful. Does that mean that judiciary in Pakistan is really independant now after CJ Iftikhars restoration? Mind you, CJ Iftikhar is going to retire soon! Lets all hope that this was not just as exercise to restore a single person. The idea was to restore the pre-Nov 3rd judiciary that was kicked out by Musharraf. The idea is to unroll all the illegal and unconstitutional acts of Musharraf. The idea is to put National Reconcilliation Ordinance (NRO) in the bin. President Zardari has already inducted hordes of judges in courts who are mainly his partymen that were rejected in Feb 18 polls. Zardari is not a man to be trusted, he is cunning and he will not sit that easily after suffering this humiliation. Army Chief kiyani acted wisely, PM is a sissy as we know, US concernde as always.

Lets hope that this announcement is the harbinger of true independant judiciary in Pakistan. This will result in the rule of law that ordinary Pakistani so wishes. Lets be hopeful.

Fingers crossed.