Was the corruption case against Arslan Chaudhry decided before it even began? A New York Times article about the case against the Chief Justice’s son includes a particularly interesting paragraph:
Mr. Mir then insinuated that the powerful army and intelligence services could be manipulating Mr. Hussain in order to get at Justice Chaudhry for his relentless pursuit of cases related to illegal detention and extrajudicial killings by the security forces. “Now you are going in the right track,” Justice Chaudhry said with a faint smile.
How does the Chief Justice know what is the right track before he has heard all the evidence? Has he already decided the outcome and now he is leading the witnesses to provide the testimony needed to give the decision already made?
The Chief Justice has now recused himself, but is it not a case of too little too late? How can anyone be expected to believe that the process has not been influenced when the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court gives away the ending in the first act?
The only honourable way out for the Chief Justice is to immediately resign. How can any bench be expected to be fair and just when their Chief still holds office? To those who say that the Chief can have no influence as all judges are equal I can only say that the Chief has a lot of powers that can be used to make a judge uneasy. Like a transfer to a place he does not like, always placing him on a bench where he remains a junior, not allotting him a new car and what not. The ONLY way to see that justice has been done is for the Chief justice to resign.
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