DAY after day it is becoming increasingly obvious — to ourselves and to the rest of the world which has any interest in us — that we have recently climbed down from the treetops but have yet to lose our tails.

Power and pelf remain the name of the game — the order of the day. Our ‘leaders’, those who assume power unto themselves utilising whatever means may be necessary, lose little time in deciding that they are the ‘chosen ones’ (some even invoking the name of the Almighty).

They bully and dupe the people for as long as their power stints prevail. Incompetent and insecure, they jockey themselves into positions that will hopefully give them a lifelong tenure — the prime example of this being the Daughter of the East, the Star of the West, Benazir (the prefix ‘Mohtarma’ has now become a must when any of her acolytes dare take her name) Sahiba, daughter of Shaheed Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, when she took over from her mother declared herself to be chairperson of the Pakistan People’s Party (and the two ‘ps’ that go with it) for life. We must hope that she lives a long and healthy life and can continue to save herself from those who have tried to blow her up and those who are threatening to do so.

One must assume that Nawaz Sharif is also the undeclared chief for life of his own brand of Muslim League, that Altaf Bhai, Pir of London Town, is the Don of his Muttahida for as long as he may live — and right now, signs are that President General Pervez Musharraf, following in the footsteps of President General Ziaul Haq, has intentions of occupying the post of army chief, should he be thwarted in his presidential aspirations, for his lifetime (though we must fervently hope that the similarity with Zia stops short of the ultimate).

All of this desire for and grasping of power (and the accompanying ease and opportunity for the acquisition of pelf) boils down to what has been accumulated in the little aperture in the small head upon chipped shoulders.

What all this leads to is the fact that nowhere in the game exists the imposition or the establishment of law and order. This country, or any country for that matter, must have law and order, law and order first and foremost, if it is to progress, or continue to exist.

For weeks, our press and electronic media, have regaled us with reports on what has been uttered (or ‘observed’ as is the favourite terminology) by their Lordships of the Supreme Court of Pakistan, sitting in Islamabad and snowed under with petitions on a variety of issues which they must hear and decide. The acrimony between the executive and the judiciary is not hidden from us, it is way out in the open, for us all to see, comment upon and even have the odd snigger. This is bad.

We need to learn from other systems, and why not from the United States of America whose bidding we do, having no choice in the matter? As powerful as the most powerful man in the world may be, the President of the Sole Superpower, he is powerless when it comes to his own supreme court — once he has appointed a man to the Bench and his appointment has been approved and confirmed by the US Senate (after a lengthy exhausting procedure) his appointee is a free and independent man. There is no provision in the US which would allow a president to summon to his office a chief justice of his supreme court, or to attempt to intimidate or influence him.

When I was last in the United States, some seven years ago, I spent some time visiting the Supreme Court to see how it operates — with great civility, I must say. How does one become a ‘visitor’? No passes or permits are required. There are 50 chairs in the visitors’ enclosure occupied by the first 50 people who are queuing up in orderly fashion to be allowed into the court. In the winter, despite wind and weather, one has to rise early to be on the open porch by 0800 hours. The doors open at 0930. The lucky first 50 deposit their overcoats and umbrellas in the cloakroom and are escorted to their seats. One can almost hear the big clock on the wall ticking away the minutes.

At exactly 0955, nine chinks appeared in the heavy red curtains behind the nine swivel chairs facing the courtroom and the chief justice (at that time William Rhenquist) and his seven brethren and one ‘sister’ duly robed, appeared, moved forward, and seated themselves. They glanced at the summaries on the desk before them and at the stroke of 1000 hours, the chief justice said, yes, Mr White, and the counsel rose and addressed the court. He has 30 minutes in which to say what he has to say. At five minutes past the hour, another black-suited gentleman, another lawyer, rose from his seat and stood silently with his hands behind his back.

A minute later, he was spotted by the chief justice. Mr White, he said, Mr Black from Texas has something to say. I will hear him. Your time will stop. He turned to Mr Black. Yes, Mr Black? Mr Black had brought with him 20 young lawyers to be sworn in, as the chief justice had so ordered. The CJ consulted his diary. Yes, so I had, said he. He turned to Mr White. I must honour my commitment. You will get extra time.

The young men were duly sworn in and Mr White resumed his pleadings. At 1107 his opponent finished and sat down. The nine judges whispered amongst themselves, the verdict was delivered without much delay.

On the one day I was there, three cases were decided, with no adjournments requested or given. While the second case was being heard, the pleading lawyer mentioned a previous decision, at which the chief justice rose from his chair, disappeared behind the red curtain, returned with a book in his hands, sat down, and opened it up at the relevant page.

Justice was done and justice was seen to be done.

On to the Chief Justice of Pakistan, Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry, who has ‘vowed’ to find all the ‘missing’ men of the hundreds of the ‘disappeared’ of Pakistan who he feels are held by our various agencies. The lives and welfare of these citizens whose whereabouts are yet to be ascertained should be of more importance to the court, to the judges and to us than the shenanigans of our ‘leaders’ and our government and its various dubious members.

E-mail: arfc@cyber.net.pk