Chief Justice speaks out, and how

Perhaps naturally, but nevertheless disappointingly, he avoided making any comments about the role of his own profession in all the above. Corruption could not have gone as far as it did without the involvement of the lower judiciary and in some case far beyond it. While we understand the sensitivities that prevented the Chief Justice from mentioning the weaknesses of the judiciary, still it cannot be stressed enough that without a radical change in that area we are unlikely to come out of the abyss that we are in.

The Chief Justice however kept his harshest comment for the issue of impunity. He correctly stated that "Impunity means lack of accountability for human rights violations committed or condoned by different agencies of the state." We in the media have been crying ourselves hoarse saying practically the same thing but to no avail. In addition to the 43 civilians being killed during the so-called Operation Clean Heart, a total of 73 people died in police custody from January to November this year. Who will account for these deaths? Can anybody feel certain of carriage of justice when deaths can so easily go unaccounted for?

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Now that the Chief Justice himself pointed out the barbaric nature of impunity provisions and about the state of law and order in the country, will our government give it more attention and seriousness than it did when we in the media pointed out the same things.