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: Before 2005, few in Pakistan knew what ‘suo motu’ meant. That the entire country has become intimately familiar with this term since then is entirely down to one man and his crusade against corruption in Pakistan’s politics as well as economy. Before Iftikhar Chaudhry was appointed Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Pakistan in 2005, the country’s apex court had a reputation for obliging military dictators by providing legal cover to their otherwise unconstitutional actions. Chaudhry, however, started a new tradition of judicial activism. In a short span of 4 years, he has managed to become a thorn in the side of all governments, military or not.
He has earned their ire because of his firm stance towards their suspect political as well as economic policies. Both the legislative and executive branches of government in Pakistan have traditionally had a cosy relationship with business in Pakistan, and the judiciary has never thought it wise to play spoilsport. With Chaudhry, however, things have changed. Without any warning, he started asking awkward questions about privatisation deals as well as artificially inflated prices.
In 2006, Chaudhry’s first proper year as Chief Justice, Gen Musharraf’s government privatised the Pakistan Steel Mill to a consortium of Russia’s Magnitogorsk Iron & Steel Works Open JSC, Saudi Arabia-based Al-Tuwairqi Group of Companies and a local firm Arif Habib Securities. In response to widespread public outcry, the Chief Justice took suo motu notice of this deal and eventually annulled the Share Purchase Agreement and the Letter of Acceptance of the deal, essentially reversing the sale. Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz, an ex-Citi Banker, was left fuming, thoroughly embarrassed in front of his erstwhile colleagues at Citi Bank who were advisors on the deal.
Musharraf struck back at the first opportunity he got. In 2006, the general’s war on terror was in full swing. The judiciary tried to take him on missing persons. And the government suspended the Chief Justice on trumped up charges. Musharraf and Chaudhry had another run in when the Chief Justice refused to ratify Musharraf’s state of emergency in 2008. Musharraf removed him (and others) from the court. Eventually, of course, Chaudhry was restored once Musharraf was forced out of office. But President Zardari wasn’t very keen on reinstating him. After Chaudhry’s restoration, the Supreme Court has become a real quandary for Zardari’s government. On one hand, they need to push a privatisation agenda, but on...
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