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All over the world, poor policemen face the public. They neither have the authority to make laws nor change it, nor do they have the idea of holding sit-ins, nor do they think of operations against opponents.
They don’t even have the authority to decide their own fate, let alone the fate of the people, but only the policemen dare to go to the people as representatives of the government on a daily basis.
No matter how weak the government is, it expects from its police that the police will implement the writ of the state. Because they know that it is easy to give orders to police officers, to suspend them for non-implementation and to dismiss them for refusing to obey orders.
It is also easy to call the policemen bribers, cowards, oppressors, thieves. If a policeman catches a 1000 note in the name of tea and water, it becomes a headline. The news of ‘police conniving with criminals’ can also be thrown around without any evidence.
The fitness of policemen is a regular subject of our humor. It is common to make fun of their enlarged bellies. If you don’t run away from the cops, the onlookers make fun of them, even if they don’t push their dirty patrol van, the bad boys make a video and we all do it together.
By the way, making a video of a policeman and making it viral also has its own fun. A policeman abuses, grabs money, sleeps sitting on a police station chair or sits in a corner and eats packed food in a bag during the long duty of political sit-ins, secretly recording their low-life and posting it on social media. Viewers have their own ‘fan base’.
Public slapping of policemen while on duty is also seen. Sometimes by a high-class woman, sometimes by an influential person, their honor can be thrown away. If you steal, transfer or suspension for a month is ripe.
The way the political and intellectual class interacts with the police is slightly different. Reminding the policeman of his hours, telling him that his uniform is paid for by our tax dollars, can scratch the beach on his shoulders. These scenes can be seen during political protests.
The whole country is engaged in police policing, although there are other uniformed people, but the force is not there. There are other guardians of the law like politicians, so the practice of removing the chair and impaling them is also going on here.
The Judiciary also claims to protect the constitution and the law, but do we judge the judges of the Supreme Court according to the same standards as we judge the police? Despite the fact that their name sensitivity, and government benefits and salaries are as different as black and white.
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Scandals are also made by Supreme Court officials, stories of transactions were also reported by them, children were found using their father’s influence, political sympathies, political postings, so many allegations like that. They keep coming from time to time.
But despite this, no judge could be brought to court till date. Like military generals, their descriptions can only be read in biographies. We have been policing the police for 75 years, but who will do the policing of the judges?
This billion dollar question is being asked not only in Pakistan but also in America.
There were reports in American newspapers about US Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas that the judge allegedly took gifts worth millions of dollars from a billionaire real estate businessman and took luxury trips. Another Supreme Court judge, Justice Neil Gorsuch, has also received millions of dollars in property cases.
The Judiciary Committee of the US Senate held a hearing on the issues of misconduct of judges, their judicial behavior and corruption. The judges were called to explain. There has been a debate on the American media regarding the code of conduct of judges.
The confidence graph of the American people in their judiciary is less than half. American judges are being asked if you have no respect for your profession, are victims of financial corruption, decisions are influenced by your greed or political affiliation, and most importantly, if you are not willing to be held accountable, why not? Create a system for policing public representative judges, make them accountable to the law, not individuals.
The Pakistani legislature will also have to sit together immediately to revise the accountability system of judges. However, it is clear from the political decisions of the Supreme Court in successive governments that there is no ideal time for this difficult and controversial work, but it has to start from somewhere.
Note: This article is based on the personal opinion of the columnist, with which Independent Urdu does not have to agree.