Constitution-court, state and citizen

responsibilities
According to Hugo L. Black-“The layman’s Constitutional view is
that what he likes is Constitutional and that which he doesn’t like
is unconstitutional. That about measures up the Constitutional
acumen of the average person.”

I would start with a quotation of the French writer thinker Andre

Gide: “Everything has been said already; but as no one listens, we
must always begin again.” Pakistan, now with the freedom history
of 55 years behind has a story of its own. Today, Pakistan is free,
Pakistanis are not. Ours is a story of Islamic Republican Pakistan
betrayed, promises unkept, unfulfilled and the Pakistan
Democracy hijacked. The manifesto of the people of Pakistan
provided in the preamble of the constitution, equality of status, of
opportunity and before law, social, economic and political justice,
and freedom of thought, expression, belief faith, worship and
association still remain a distant dream. The question is, how
much we have achieved of what was promised in the preamble.
The answer in not much. Why has this happened? Answer is
again, is not very difficult to find. In about six decades of freedom,
Pakistan is not one Pakistan. It is two Pakistans. One is “We the
People of Pakistan” that is those people who are rich, wealth,
rulers and powerful and the other category is “We the other
people of Pakistan” those who are poor, deprived, downtrodden,
have-nots, disadvantaged etc., etc., sections of society.

Dr. Richard Price, a champion of liberty in eighteenth century

England, who espoused the cause of American independence and
was a staunch supporter of the French Revolution, made a
profound observation when he addressed the Revolution Society
of Great Britain.
 “When he representation is fair and equal”, he said, “then a
kingdom may be said to govern itself, and consequently to
possess true liberty. When the representation is partial, a kingdom
possesses liberty only partially, and if extremely partial, it gives
only a semblance of liberty, but if not only extremely partial, but
corruptly chose and under corrupt influences after being chose, it
becomes a nuisance, a produces the worst of all forms of
government, a government by corruption, a government carried
on and supported by spreading venality and profligacy through a
kingdom. May heaven preserve this kingdom from a calamity so
dreadful?
Henry George observes:
“When democracy becomes corrupt, the best gravitates to
the bottoms, the worst floats to the top and the vile is replaced by
the more vile”. We observed that we do not now practice
democracy but gravitate towards ‘democracy’ with perceptible
participation of criminals their pervasive influence.”

What the Constitutional Court of South Africa held in Mr.

Soobramoney v. Minister of Health, Kwazulu-Natal, 1998 (1) SA
765 (CC): 1997 (12) BCLR 1696 (CC), para 8.
“We live in a society in which there are great disparities in
wealth. Millions of people are living in deplorable conditions and
in great poverty. There is a high level of unemp0loyment,
inadequate society security, and many do not have access to
clean water or to adequate health services. These conditions
already existed when the Constitution was adopted and a
commitment to address them, and to transform our society into
one in which there will be human dignity, freedom and equality,
lies at the heart of our new constitutional order. For as long as
these conditions continue to exist that aspiration will have a
hallow ring.”
According to Dwight David Eisenhower (1890-1969):-“The clearest
way to show what the rule of law means to us in everyday life is
to recall what has happened when there in no rule of law”.

Leonard E. Read said that “I would have government defend the

life of property of all citizens equally; and protect all willing
exchange; suppress and penalize all fraud, all misrepresentation,
all violence, all predatory practices; invoke a common justice
under law; and keep the records incidental to these function. Even
this is a bigger assignment than governments, generally, have
proven capable of. Let governments do these things and do them
well. Leave all else to men in free and creative effort”.

In the Constitution of Pakistan, 1973 Articles 4, 5 and 6 are the

keystone for understanding my view.

The source of many of the maladies is in the disregard of the

interests of the citizens and in the absence of good governance.
The citizens have to rely their citizenship obligations and come
forward to be active participants. Every citizen, in whatever
position, has certain responsibilities towards fellow citizens. Good
governance, is citizen-friendly governance.

The only hope for building a united and integrated nation with
dignity of the individual lies in the growth of institutions of civil
society and the citizens rising above petty self-interests,
identifying the hard core of citizenship values enjoined by the
Constitution and making a determined bid to work together to
protect and promote them by contributing all their mite.

Every citizen must accept the position that as citizens, all are
equal, have the same rights and responsibilities and are entitled
to equality before law without any discrimination. Everyone must
treat fellow citizens as equals and must not discriminate between
then on any grounds such as sex, religion, caste, etc. Every
citizen must enjoy the same fundamental rights of freedom of
thought and expression, freedom of religion, freedom from
exploitation etc. It follows that every citizen must respect the
freedom of all fellow citizens and must do nothing which may
result in exploitation of anyone.

Citizens voted to be in positions of power and governance must

never forget that they are citizens first and always accountable,
answerable and responsible to their fellow citizens at large. They
must respect dissent, listen to discipline and responsibility are
essential to democratic ethos. Each citizen must therefore imbibe
a spirit of self-discipline and a sense of his or her responsibilities
to his fellow citizens and society.

Right to vote under universal adult franchise gives to every

citizen, an opportunity to participate in the democratic process
and to select the government. A full recognition of our democratic
rights and responsibilities, as citizens, at election time will
automatically rid the system of corruption, criminalisation, money
and muscle power and the like ills.

Right to receive adequate education and the duty to educate all

fellow citizens must become parts of the national agenda. The
tasks of nation-building and economic development cannot
succeed unless the citizens at large feel intimately involved,
responsible and committed to contribute their mite in every way.

The citizen needs to be resorted to a position of pre-eminence at

the centre of all State objectives and activities. The State must
cease all unnecessary interference or exercise of political and
administrative controls over the daily lives of citizens, Ways and
means have to be found for reasserting the will of the “We, the
People” over the organs of the State-the Legislature and judiciary-
are all appointed or voted to positions of power and governance
as the creatures of the people. They are citizens first and always
accountable, answerable and responsible to their fellow citizens,
at large.

It is only when we fulfill the basic duty of politics of resorting the

power of the Constitution and its institutions back to their
legitimate owners-the people-the things will begin to change.
Really, no reforms shall succeed and nothing can change unless
the sovereign power is exercise by the people and they use it to
discharge their citizenship responsibilities.

Nations are made only when people rise above their narrow self
interests and are prepared to made scarifies for their fellow
citizens. Unless the citizens f Pakistan at large, are vigilant and
conscious of their obligations as citizens, there is no likelihood of
any constitutional reform agenda being implemented because
there are powerful vested interests in the status quo continuing.

As George Bernard Shaw [1856-1950] remarked:-“It is not only

good for people to the shocked Occasionally, buy absolutely
necessary to the progress of society that they should be socked
pretty often” and “He knows nothing; and he thinks he knows
everything. That points clearly to a political career”.

People are difficult to govern because they have too much

knowledge”. [Lao Tzu, 604 BC-531BC]

In the present scenario and to sum up my article in line of other

articles, if judiciary emerges triumphant out this battle, it will
have to take up many tasks to help a new truly free Pakistan to be
reborn. The first task is to ensure rule of law in Pakistan. The
second is to ensure to the people of Pakistan their fundamental
rights as provided in Part II, Chapter 1 of the Constitution and
state adherence to the Principle of Policy as enumerated in Part II,
Chapter 2 of the Constitution of Pakistan, 1973. This is what
people in return expect from the Judiciary; it must protect their
life attached with all pursuit of life, their property, and their basic
inalienable freedoms both in the first instance from the
encroaching sate, and then from encroaching groups and
individuals. Not only this, people also un-awarely want such
changes in the Constitution which will ensure to them their
inalienable freedoms such a freedom to think and express
themselves, freedom to earn and spend as they wish, freedom to
pursue happiness as they choose, and freedom to live freely. It
will be an uphill task for the Judiciary to protect people from elite
groups of various sorts: social, cultural, intellectual, religious,
political, and economic.

An finally as Churchill said:-“This is not the end, it is not even the

beginning of the end, but it is perhaps, the end of the beginning.”

Mohammad Azhar Siddique, Advocate, a human rights

activist/public interest litigation lawyer and a Chairman of Judicial
Activism Panel, Media Advisor and Coordinator to the Supreme
Court Bar Association of Pakistan.
judicialap@gmail.com