Under pressure both domestic and foreign, the Pakistan government of Asif Ali Zardari has reinstated Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry. Having become fully politicized, by "events," the judges are no longer a pillar, and while they remain a symbol, the meaning of that symbol has changed. They have instead become something like the tribal leaders of Pakistan's secular middle class, whose outlook corresponds to that of "liberals" in the West. all the surviving district judges in Swat were sacked, or more precisely, warned that they would be beheaded if they turned up for work. Since many of their colleagues had already been beheaded, it was truly a word to the wise. They may well be beheaded anyway, in due course; but the doomed often prefer tomorrow over today. They are to be replaced entirely with Shariah courts under "qazis" or Islamic religious judges, who will now put a definitive end to such outrages as little girls attending schools. |
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