the chief justice is free

The Chief Justice is Free

Chief Free

The headline and photo above says it all.

That said I cannot contain my delight given that the Chief Justice of Pakistan and his great family as well as his brother judges have been released from illegal and immoral detention as per the instructions of the new Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gillani.

This is a cause for celebration, as it will herald the return of the pre-November 3rd judges to their rightful places. Musharraf must note now that no power on earth can now stop the Chief Justice of Pakistan from fulfilling his constitutional role.

I recall Rousseau words that 'man was born free yet everywhere we see him in chains'. Yet for too long Pakistan as a nation has been in chains hijacked by khaki kings to serve their own lust for power. However happy days are here finally for we are now living in historic times, in a new and in an emerging 'other' Pakistan.

So friends and foes let us take stock and thank ALLAH above all for providing us this new dawn of hope. Khawaja Asif was right when he said ALLAH had taken suo moto notice in our luckless nation's favour hence we should celebrate the fact that the judiciary and media are demonstrating independence and will soon be free and self-sufficient. Celebrate too that we have the return of a democratic dispensation and that we have an alive and active civil society willing to sacrifice for this great nation.

So from pessimist number one, my message is loud and clear for us all that hope has arrived in all its glory, for the Chief Justice is back in town.

Wasim Arif - 25th March 2008, 00:01 PK Time