Tuesday, August 9, 2011

The Ties That Bind

Consider the following lines from an AP distributed article published in Dawn today:


"With... government all but paralysed by scandal, the Supreme Court has taken command of some of the nation’s thorniest issues in what activists hail as an overdue flexing of judicial muscle but critics call an unconstitutional power grab. 
In the past month, the court has frozen..., disbanded..., reversed the seizure of..., and begun searching for billions in illicit cash stashed abroad. 
To many..., the judges are simply filling the vacuum left by politicians who have failed to protect the poor or battle corruption that has grown rampant across the nation. “Because these guys aren’t doing anything, the court is the only saviour right now,” said... 
Parliament collapsed in pandemonium over the winter and reopened last week to similar chaos as lawmakers traded barbs and accused one another of graft and financial mismanagement.... The deluge of scandals and criticism has left Prime Minister... nearly impotent at a crucial time... 
But critics accuse the Supreme Court judges of a frightening overreach, elbowing their way into scandals and ideological debates that are traditionally beyond their mandate. “In no judiciary in the world do you find this kind of activism,” said .... “Some of the judges seem to be not aware of their constitutional limits at times.”... 
The judges appeared to have grown frustrated with the government’s refusal to follow earlier court orders, said... “(The decision) was in response to the complete failure of the government to do anything despite being given numerous chances,” she said. ... 
[X] criticized the ruling and accused the judges of pursuing ideological ambitions at all costs. “Effectively, the judgment disregards the basic constitutional features of the separation of powers,” he wrote in [a] newspaper. ...—AP"



You know who and what the piece is talking about, right?


See if you're right, here.

6 comments:

Gaurab said...

This would be hilarious if it wasn't so depressing.

Teeth Maestro said...

...... bolo ya na boloo
.... behtar kay na bolo
..... izzat uss hee mai rahe gee ....

Anonymous said...

You guys (in Pakistan) are a bit lucky in this aspect. That spineless swine-like excuse of a human named gandhi - and his equally spineless *followers* like nehru are the greatest bane to Bharath.
.
Our brethren in Bharath have been paying the price for having the nehru dynasty rule us for the greater part of our pseudo-independent post-1947 existence.
.
Other than the Janata Party (Morarji Desai) & then the BJP (Vajpayee) no strong opposition has been able to put congress at it's proper place (which will be just below the sewage under all the filthy, rotting human waste).
.
It's important to note that DMK (whose members, A. Raja, Kanimozhi & D. Maran are accused in 2G scam) was DECIMATED in the recently held Tamil nadu elections. The party's was deserted by a huge majority - and the usually 2nd largest party (DMK) ended up losing even that status. Not sure of the rest of Bharath, but at least the Tamils (myself born in Tamil Nadu too) gave a perfect spanking to the dynasty-infested looters in Tamil Nadu - DMK.
.
Having more than complimented your focus on India & the Indian judiciary, could you point out how many of these were "SUO MOTO" by the courts?
.
For example the 2G scam. This was first highlighted to the Prime Minister - 5 letters over a period of 1 year was written to the PM. When there was no response from the PM (& the super-PM Antonia Maino) one Dr. Swamy (of the Janata Party) had to file a law-suit. That's how the matter reached court. It wasn't some hyper-active judge that took suo-moto-cognizance of the scam.
.
Both Congress & BJP obviously are mere crass political outfits & those will not bat an eyelid to stoop to the lowest levels.
.
Two things to counter your perspectives.
.
A) (As has been pointed out) most (if not all) the items are brought by individuals as PIL (Public Interest Litigation) to the court by citizens. No suo-moto-cognizance.
B) It's not okay for my wife to be abused simply because my neighbor's wife is being tortured. Two wrongs don't make it right. So, even if the Indian (or even Somalian) courts indulge in suo-moto-cognizance it doesn't make it acceptable for another nation's court to follow-suit.
.
It was wonderful to read your abridged writing first - and then to read the article.
.
As a citizen of Bharath, I'd like to thank you for talking about us. One observation about the "LABELS" at the bottom of the post. Could you point out where in the article we find Pakistan?
.
MN

Anonymous said...

:D @the above post. esp the last sentence.

Anonymous said...

brilliant plot twist :)

Kunal Lal said...

Alas, too true. Good twist though.