Reviewing of Judicial Boycott

Written on Sunday 08/06/08
@
Rawalpindi, Punjab - Pakistan

Today isn't a lazy day. Since Friday evening, all my waking hours have been devoted to the net. Today is no different. The fact that I haven't been able to do any external lobbying (meeting relevant people/institutions to lobby my 4 points) does bug me incessantly.

I eventually do manage to climb out of my 'hole' and first stop is the notorious Waris Khan police station. I need to pick up some documents relating to the High Court hearing of Bashir vs. the State on Tuesday. The investigating officer has been phoning me repeatedly, requesting that I pick up my notice.

I have decided to slightly alter my strategy and not abdicate from the judicial system, despicable and downright unjust that it is. By boycotting at this stage, I may well miss a trick or two. That could possibly give Bashir some reprieve and I'm in no charitable mood.

At the police station, I engage in my diatribe against the system in front of about a dozen police officers. Using the example of how they've coddled Bashir these past few months, I try my utmost to get them to say something in defence of this system. Decades of being adherent cogs of a highly corrupt machinery had made them almost morally and ethically immune. Unsurprisingly, they didn't have much hope that the lawyers' movement could bring positive change.

These bread and butter agents of the system were too set in their ways, I've repeatedly concluded.