Pater familias by Saad Rasool

By:Saad Rasool 

How could the chief justice know?‘Pater familias’ – father of the family – is how the Chief Justice of Pakistan had been described and hailed during the challenge to the 18th Constitutional Amendment. While I don’t have the experience myself, I bet being the ‘father’ of any family (let alone the ‘judicial family’) must be an awfully tough job. In fact, I believe this job is so demanding (and his focus as pater familias is so unflinching) that he cannot be faulted for not having noticed the meteoric rise of his son’s wealth or lifestyle over the past three years. So everyone casting shadows at the honourable CJ should just back-off, if not for the sake of logic, then for the sake of ‘saving’ the last bastion of integrity in our land.Fist, it must be accepted that the honourable CJ, in fidelity to his unflinching impartiality and fair-play, has done two exceptionally courageous deeds in the Dr Arsalan case: 1) he has brought a suo motu case against his own son, and 2) he has recused himself from the bench in demonstration of ‘justice being manifestly seen to be done’. Nothing less could be expected of pater familias.However, it seems that people never learn from history. It was only five years ago that the first (baseless) episode in this saga came to light, when it was (falsely) alleged that, upon securing an overall C grade in the intermediate examination (a fact), Arsalan Iftikhar was granted admission in Bolan Medical College upon the influence exerted by the chief justice. No one made concession for the fact that, despite his grades, the admission committee of Bolan Medical College could have looked into Arsalan’s eyes, and confronted him in a moment of human honesty to recognise his limitless intelligence to serve as a doctor. And the same could have happened when, years later, Dr Arsalan was promoted as section officer in the health department, only days after his initial appointment.And once inducted in the government machinery, it was perhaps not very difficult to recognise the potential and acumen of the young man, as a result of which in August of 2005 the ministry of interior issued a bona fide notification appointing Dr Arsalan as Assistant Director (later Deputy Director) in the FIA. This chain of events cannot imply any influence of the chief justice, for it is not like Dr Arsalan was suddenly made the Director General of the FIA. Anyways, God knows that in this country we need our best talent in the security forces of Pakistan that are pitted against the forces of extremism and evil, so it is no surprise that soon after his stellar performance in the FIA, in 2006 Dr Arsalan was poached by the Police Service of Pakistan for permanent induction (with a little bending of the Police Service of Pakistan Rules, 1985). And those who raised hue and cry over all this, culminating in an abominable reference against the chief justice in 2007, were not only trying to villainise the judiciary, but were also trying to destroy the spectacular rise of a young man making his mark in the government service of Pakistan.It seems only natural that since so much (baseless) controversy concerning the career-path of Dr Arsalan had surrounded the chief justice in 2007 that since then the honorable judge has decided to make a resolute effort of not concerning himself with the professional and career growth of his son. Which is why, we must necessarily believe that over the past three years (the time during which Malik Riaz has allegedly paid Rs 400 million to Dr Arsalan), the chief justice had no idea what his thirty-something-year-old son was doing. He is ‘baligh’ after all, and independent in all respects. Just because he lived in the honorable chief justice’s house (at least up until his marriage this year), does not automatically mean that the honorable chief justice ever asked him where the Gucci cufflinks or the Montecristo cigars came from. In fact, it is only reasonable to assume – given Dr Arsalan’s stellar performance in medical school, FIA and police – that the riches and lavish vacations were a result of him creating a name for himself in whatever he is putting his mind and hands to.Not just that, but I believe that a man like our chief justice (not that there can be anyone comparable), who is as focused and dedicated to serving the cause of justice with the aim of improving our collective lives, was probably too busy trying to rid Pakistan of all its evils to even notice the Louis Vuitton sunglasses his son was sporting. Over the past three years, the honorable chief justice has barely taken a day-off from work (exceptionally commendable), and therefore cannot be blamed for not knowing (or even asking) where his family had been vacationing during the summer, or who was paying for it. For those who haven’t noticed, the chief justice has had his hands full in bringing the prime minister’s son, Pervaiz Elahi’s son, and so many others to justice for exerting their influence to extort money from people. So while I would never allow Yousaf Raza Gilani, Pervaiz Elahi, Nawaz Sharif or Asif Zardari to ever plead that they did not know what their sons were doing, I cannot allow anyone to believe that the honorable chief justice, over the past three years, even had a slight hint of Arsalan’s doings.In this country, in the present set of circumstances at least, it is crime – nay a sin – to even imagine that the honorable chief justice could be less than perfect in his professional or personal conduct. And I submit my name as one who does NOT aspire to be a sinner! I fully endorse the viewpoint of countless other brethren of mine in media, politics and the legal community who are taking pains in describing how the chief justice has no fault in the matter, and instead there is a ‘conspiracy’ at play here to malign an infallible institution and a flawless individual. And I make a solemn oath that even if Malik Riaz and his cronies produce the evidence that Kamran Khan claims to have seen, my crusade of carrying the flag of defending our pater familias cannot be deterred by mere credit-card receipts, exorbitant hotel bills, lease agreements or even video recordings. No sir. Never!

The writer is a lawyer based in Lahore. He has a Masters in Constitutional Law from Harvard Law School. He can be reached at: saad@post.harvard.edu