Guest Blog by SM
In his recent article, Lawyers’ Iftikhar: A Messiah Or A Pawn?, written on Monday January 26, Ahmed Quraishi has committed a crucial cause and effect mistake while recounting the events related to the historic lawyers’ movement and the de-facto Chief Justice of Pakistan, Iftikhar Mohammed Chaudhry. This article aims to expose the misinterpreted or intentionally distorted historical events.
- The claim that Chief Justice of Pakistan alone could have removed Musharaf, let alone, have caused America to negotiate a deal with Benazir Bhutto and Asif Zardari seems preposterous. However, the assertion seems plausible and historically correct, if the fact is realized that the entire Pakistani nation rallied behind the one person who dared first time in the history of Pakistan to stand against a dictator. It was this show of power by the masses that brought Musharaf to his knees and even made America admit it was too late to save Musharaf. If an entire nation stands for a cause, who is any individual to claim that he on the right side? Moreover, there seems to be no logical validity that Chief Justice Iftikhar, being an ordinary citizen without his official powers, could have in any way influenced such a deal because he would have had gained him nothing specially while he was incarcerated.