Turkey and Pakistan have much in common, except for its decade-long economic boom and political stability. Of late, Ankara’s distinction over Islamabad seems at serious risk. Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s smooth sailing ship has hit some formidable icebergs. The 60-year-old seasoned captain refuses to mend his course
Not long ago, General Pervez Musharraf - the last of Pakistan’s dictators – too could not see it coming. Laden with limitless praise and drunken in fantasy of being the most powerful, he acted with belligerence. He summoned the then chief justice of Pakistan to advise him to either take his or the highway. The man stood his ground to shock the dictator. Musharraf fired the Chief Justice of Pakistan Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry. After lull of two days, Pakistan changed forever! And so did the fate of a mad ruler. The year was 2007.
Justice Iftikhar Chaudhry took the course a jurist should have. He moved the court against his removal, terming it unconstitutional and illegal. He walked on foot alone from his abode to the Supreme Court building. Police and sleuths manhandled the most senior adjudicator in broad day light and watchful eye of satellite TV cameras.
Pakistan’s spring was born that day! The oppressed political activists and muted middle class quit its slumber. The 180-million strong nation was bitterly divided between those who wanted a stable, authoritarian but prosperous country and the ones seeking an open, democratic and sustainable homeland. Justice Chaudhry’s battle for rule of law lasted till March 22, 2009 but once powerful Musharraf has become a political casualty under public pressure, much to the dismay of his American and European backers.
The general had left the country in the hands of Asif Ali Zardari, widower of Benazir Bhutto. From the country’s steel mills to the national airline was put on sale. The opposition was timid and compromised. Now third-time premier Nawaz Sharif then did not dare enter the parliament and his party simply acted as friendly opposition. Islamabad was a stage for the game of musical chairs. All apparent challengers to the plunder were sharing the same pie yet again.
Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry, the restored Chief Justice of Pakistan, decided to return the favor to the people of Pakistan and do his due for the homeland. He voluntarily took up the case concerning privatization of mammoth steel mills, eventually annulling the government decision. He never stopped questioning the otherwise unquestionable intelligence agency, ISI, over enforced disappearances. In the absence of judicial oversight and vocal civil society, the sleuths had been getting away with any sort of excesses. In unequivocal terms, the chief justice said no more!
Since the constitution of Pakistan separates the judiciary from the executive, the honorable judges of Supreme Court exercised full authority in annulling decision of General Pervez Musharraf while probing multi-billion dollar graft cases against President Asif Ali Zardari. The Benazir’s widower armed with political legitimacy and the powers Musharraf had accumulated in the presidency had no option but to defend the charges on legal grounds. When all tactics failed, the president of Pakistan hid behind immunity, something commonly referred to in Turkey these days.
Yousaf Raza Gillani, the then premier, was summoned to the court and eventually punished. The ministry of Law and Justice had little control over the situation while the premier was being disqualified for contempt of the court. Today, over half of Zardari’s cabinet faces corruption cases, many of whom were probed voluntarily (suo moto) by the judges of superior judiciary.
From a rape case to an illegal appointment or dismissal of a police constable in remote districts of Sindh, everyone filed a writ petition in the Supreme Court. The illegal orders were reversed and top officials trembled with fear in front of people’s judiciary.
From 2005 till today, the superior judiciary has been Pakistan’s first line of defence against corrupt elite and anti-state mafias. Most Turks or Arabs may not know of this heroic struggle by the people of Pakistan against a dictator and independence exercised by its judges.
Turkey, which used to inspire most developing nations but particularly Pakistan, seems oblivious to the notion of separation of the judiciary and the executive. The prosecutors which acted against allegedly corrupt elite in Turkey on the basis of police probe would have been heroes in Pakistan; their pictures installed on billboards and names recited in poetry.
Had it been Pakistani police acting with such professionalism and integrity, this nation would have felt so rich and powerful. Unlike Pakistan where ISI is questioned by courts and media so often, Turkey protects its chief from appearing before the judiciary, making them above the law. The world is in awe and shock to see the same judiciary which set precedent by issuing sentence to Ergenekon and Bayloz architects being ridiculed for uncovering suspicious financial activities of top leaders of Justice and Development Party (AKP).
For any developing country, separation of judiciary from the executive is a mammoth feat, which is seemingly reversible nowhere in the world except Erdogan’s Turkey. Pakistan, Turkey’s twin brother, could sustain and ward off pressure from its dominant military due to the independent and powerful judges, and the constitutional power they were exercising. Despite global condemnation and domestic outrage, if Erdogan goes ahead with his rash decisions of subordinating the judiciary to the justice ministry (read the AKP), the next coup leader won’t need much homework. Like Pakistan’s bloodless coup by Musharraf on October 12, 1999, a toothless judiciary will immediately stamp the unconstitutional act of the adventurist.
By winning the referendum of 2010, the AKP accepted the responsibility to replace the existing constitution with a new one promising independence to judiciary while making the armed forces subordinate to the political forces. For near or afar, everyone sees the reverse happening. The doors similar to which are shut forever for military coups in Pakistan by its military by valiant the Supreme Council are being weakened by Erdogan’s Justice and Development party in Turkey. In the process, the AKP government may cover-up some of the many graft investigations but the international community won’t lend her little credibility.
While the developing world is plagued with corrupt and incompetent police, Turkey has significantly more professional law-enforcing arm. Erdogan’s ego is depriving the people of justice or relief almost next doors.
The most recent curbs on the electronic media hint that the worst is yet to come. Pervez Musharraf blacked out all television news channels after his November 3, 2007, coup while attempted to coerce the print media as well. In less than two years, the mighty general had to leave. Today, he is using a military hospital to avoid appearance in a top court for high treason charges.
Turkey deserves honest police officers, independent judges, free media and professional military officers. Above all, the ace of Muslim world merits politicians armed with wisdom and patience instead of revenge and frown. The world has already seen Erdogan’s fall from a leader to a self-preserving politician. An immediate parliamentary corrective action can save Turkey from a Erdogan-HSYK tussle or the men-on-the-horseback will intervene for an unprecedented but man-made disaster. For now, the prime minister has shown readiness to bargain on the issue with the parliament but the expanding web of graft allegations and investigations won’t halt just because politicians decide against it. The real challenge for Erdogan is to tame the judiciary against probing allegedly shadowy deals over his 12-year term in the office. With a month since arrests in the graft cases, Ankara has lost significant degree of its soft power while the sliding Lira hints at the bigger financials disasters likely to emerge.
While Musharraf faces humiliation for rash dictatorial rule, authoritarian face of the Erdoganism may not live longer either!
Naveed Ahmad is an investigative journalist and academic, focusing on security, diplomacy and governance. He reports from Syria, Turkey, Pakistan and Afghanistan for various international news sources and publications.
Follow him on Twitter: @naveed360
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