Guest Post by Syed Omar Ahmed
Sixty years on, and carrying a baggage of injustices, divisions and corruption in all ranks and layers, Pakistan has a chance to be guided out of the path of self-destruction by the Supreme Court and Chief Justice Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry. It is a wonderful change of roles for an institution that was traditionally used as a rubber stamp by all dictators in the past. But unlike in that past, it has now established that no one is above the law, including Pervez Musharraf, the army and all their corrupt political allies.
This is a chance, rare in Pakistan, for the highest court in the land to vindicate itself and repair the damage it has done to itself since independence. If it can continue on the same path of commitment, we can rise from the mess, holding our heads high. We as a nation must seize the opportunity. All rogue elements must submit themselves to the rule of law, to the process of accountability and to the authority of constitutional institutions.
We must be a country ruled by law and institutions, and not by individuals and their whims. There must be an end to the charade of some person considering himself or herself indispensable to the countrys security and taking it over. The Supreme Court should put in place certain principles
that will give back to the countrys constitutional institutions a dignity and majesty that no individual can violate. That is the way for us to rise again and take our rightful position in the world as a progressive country.