Pak Tea House » Uncategorized » Lawyering the law : A rebuttal
Lawyering the law : A rebuttal
By Yasser Latif Hamdani
It seems that some people are more interested in their own agendas and axes to grind than any real discussion on history or facts. The context of this ninth pillar of wisdom is an article by by Urooj Zia in Pakistan Today.
Let us start with the basics. Every accused deserves a fair trial. When President Abraham Lincoln was shot dead, one of the conspirators, Mary Surat, was represented in the famous Lincoln Conspirators Trial by Frederick Aiken, who had served with distinction as a colonel for the Union Army and was considered close to Abraham Lincoln. This is the essence of a fair legal system and responsibility of a lawyer. For more on the Lincoln Conspirators’ Trial read: http://law2.umkc.edu/faculty/projects/ftrials/lincolnconspiracy/lincolnconspiracy.html.
The family of the late Shaheed Salmaan Taseer (who ironically is often abused by the journalist in question and whose posthumous sitara e imtiaz on 14 August 2011 was criticised by her repeatedly) has not asked that Qadri be shot dead without a trial. They have asked for a fair trial. A fair trial- a constitutional right under Article 10-A- requires equality of arms in a court of law. However issue changes shape dramatically when a bunch of illiterate uneducated lawyers garland a self confessed killer like Mumtaz Qadri who murdered a sitting governor of a province of Pakistan. Mumtaz Qadri himself is a victim in the sordid drama where an illiterate fanatic, fuelled by sermons of the local Mullah, decided to kill a man whose contributions to Pakistan and whose family’s contributions to Muslims of India are documented.
Now our “journalist” from the said rag has spun a story that interestingly most right wing Islamo-fascists insist on and which is a historical fallacy: That lawyers garlanding Qadri were doing so because of the example set by the father of the nation. She also claimed – again completely inaccurately- that Jinnah’s career was “littered” by such cases. The second bit is an absolute lie. The only other such high profile case was where Jinnah defended Tilak for sedition. This is reported on AIR 1916 Bom 9.
To set the record straight I am going to reproduce a few excerpts from my Daily Times article “IlamDin Fiasco”.
To start with, the story is entirely wrong. First of all, Jinnah was not the trial lawyer. Second, Ilam Din had entered the not guilty plea through his trial lawyer who was a lawyer from Lahore named Farrukh Hussain. The trial court ruled against Ilam Din. The trial lawyer appealed in the Lahore High Court and got Jinnah to appear as the lawyer in appeal. So there is no way Jinnah could have influenced Ilam Din to change his plea when the plea was already entered at the trial court level. Nor was Ilam Din exactly the ‘matchless warrior’ that Iqbal declared him to be — while simultaneously refusing to lead his funeral prayers. Indeed Ilam Din later filed a mercy petition to the King Emperor asking for a pardon.
The relevant case — in which Jinnah appeared — cited as Ilam Din vs. Emperor AIR 1930 Lahore 157 — makes interesting reading. It was a division bench judgement with Justice Broadway and Justice Johnstone presiding. Jinnah’s contention was that the evidence produced before the trial court was insufficient and the prosecution story was dubious. To quote the judgement, “He urged that Kidar Nath was not a reliable witness because (1) he was an employee of the deceased and, therefore, interested. (2) He had not stated in the First Information Report (a) that Bhagat Ram (the other witness) was with him, and (b) that the appellant had stated that he had avenged the Prophet. As to Bhagat Ram it was contended he, as an employee, was interested, and as to the rest that there were variations in some of the details.”
The court rejected this contention. The judgement continues that “Mr Jinnah finally contended that the sentence of death was not called for and urged as extenuating circumstances, that the appellant is only 19 or 20 years of age and that his act was prompted by feelings of veneration for the founder of his religion and anger at one who had scurrilously attacked him.” The court rejected this contention as well referring to Amir vs. Emperor, which was the same court’s decision a few years earlier. Interestingly, the curious reference to 19 or 20 years deserves some attention. Why did Jinnah as one of the leading lawyers refer specifically to an argument that had been exploded by the same court only two years earlier? That only Mr Jinnah can answer and I do not wish to speculate. Perhaps he was trying to argue what Clarence Darrow had argued successfully a few years ago in the famous Leopold and Loeb case involving two 19-year old college students who had committed the ‘perfect crime’. Clarence Darrow’s defence converted a death sentence to a life sentence.
The two cases are entirely distinguishable:
1. Unlike Qadri, Ilam Din did not confess. Instead – contrary to the myth- he repeatedly denied that he killed Raj Pal. Qadri has confessed.
2. Jinnah’s argument to begin with was to question the veracity of the testimony of the witnesses, as per his client’s claim that he was not guilty.
3. Once that was defeated, Jinnah argued to get his client off death row instead of life imprisonment citing that the accused was merely a boy who had been misled.
How is this the same as the shamelessness that was on display at the Islamabad Bar? Even the defence team’s argument is misconceived. The argument for Qadri’s defence team is not that Qadri didn’t do it or that Qadri was misled. The argument that is put forth by Qadri’s legal team is that it was okay to kill Salmaan Taseer because he committed blasphemy. Even under the present legal system – tainted by Islamisation- this is untenable.
1. Salmaan Taseer did not commit any blasphemy by questioning an unjust law.
2. Even if he had, given that there is a law that is all hyped up, he should have been tried under that law.
The Taseer family – from what I can gather having met some of them- understands that the essential difference between them and the Qadris of the world is that Taseers believe in rule of law and state’s writ. It was this spirit that made a man like Aiken defend the conspirator in the conspiracy to kill a man who he respected more than anyone else. Unfortunately much like Qadris our barely educated journalists- especially those without any real integrity or ability to argue without resorting to ad hominem attacks or strawman fallacies, are ill-equipped to understand the nuances of what it means to be a lawyer or the cab-rank rule.
The reason why liberals, historians and researchers continue to hold fast to Jinnah is because he is the only real basis for any claim to secularism and an inclusive democracy in Pakistan. I hinted to this in my article:
We can only conjecture as to what Jinnah’s reasons as a lawyer and politician to agree to be the lawyer for the appellant before the high court were. In any event, a lawyer’s duty is to accord an accused the best possible defence. Just because a lawyer agrees to defend an accused does not mean that the lawyer concurs with the crime. One is reminded of the famous Boston Massacre in 1770 when British soldiers opened fire and killed five civilians who were protesting against them. The British soldiers hired John Adams as a lawyer, who got five of the accused acquitted, arguing that a sentry’s post is his castle. Does that mean that John Adams was in favour of British rule in the US? If so, it is rather ironic that he was the prime mover and the guiding spirit behind the American declaration of independence. Similarly, when Clarence Darrow defended Leopold and Loeb, was he in any way suggesting that the crime that those two young men had committed was justified?
Jinnah’s record as a legislator tells us a different story altogether. He was an indefatigable defender of civil liberties. He stood for Bhagat Singh’s freedom and condemned the British government in the harshest language when no one else would. In the debate on 295-A of the Indian Penal Code, a much more sane and reasonable law than our 295-B and 295-C, Jinnah had sounded a warning against the misuse of such laws in curbing academic freedoms and bona fide criticisms. I have quoted that statement in my previous two articles.
There cannot be any question that Jinnah the legislator would have balked at the idea that his defence of a murder convict is now being used by some people to justify a law that is ten times more oppressive and draconian than the one he had cautioned against. To this day, I have only found him alone to have had the courage to state in the Assembly on September 11, 1929: “If my constituency is so backward as to disapprove of a measure like this then I say, the clearest duty on my part would be to say to my constituency, ‘you had better ask somebody else to represent you’.”
Finally as to her claim about Balochistan, clearly fact checking is not her forte. She makes up facts when she writes: “Jinnah’s behaviour was legally equivocal while dealing with the Khan of Kalat. The latter had sought help from him after elections in Balochistan resulted in an overwhelming victory for democratic candidates and an effective routing of the sardars. ”
1. There were no elections held in Balochistan or Kalat (not that the writer in question knows the difference). Kalat State did have a legislative assembly which had been put in place through constitutional reforms. The help Khan of Kalat had sought from Jinnah was as a constitutional advisor in 1940 and the advice Jinnah gave him then was what was to become the cornerstone of Baloch Nationalism – that Kalat constitutionally was not on the same plane as the rest of princely India.
2. Lasbela and two other princely states subservient to Kalat acceded to Pakistan by their own accord before Kalat’s accession.
3. Jinnah and Khan of Kalat signed a document of accession which gave Pakistan defence and foreign affairs as subjects. Was some coercion used? Yes. Just as coercion all over India was used to bring Princely States in line- and certainly much less coercion than what Sardar Patel had undertaken.
Urooj Zia’s article frankly should be an embarrassment for Baloch Nationalists. Their case for autonomy and independence is based on Jinnah’s argument in the early 40s that Kalat did not accept British sovereign’s suzerainty and also on the document of accession which provided for complete autonomy for Kalat (not British Balochistan) and which autonomy was respected till 1955-56 when the unfortunate One Unit decision was taken. Therefore by inventing a lie about “elections” and “sardars” being defeated in general elections – presumably 1946 elections – Ms. Zia is arguing that Kalat was not only on the same plane as princely India but was infact part of the British India and therefore subject to the June 3rd Plan. Therefore this sad little argument on part of an overzealous and yet utterly ill-informed journalist has within it the germs of burying legitimate Baloch Nationalist aspirations.
Filed under: Uncategorized · Tags: Baloch nationalism, Ilamdin, Jinnah, Liberals, Pakistan Today, Qadri, Taseer, Urooj Zia
72 Responses to "Lawyering the law : A rebuttal"
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to tajender
Don’t just talk or write in a blog. DO what you WISH to do.
You wrote: “Periyar said Brahmins are like snakes. Kill them wherever you find them.”
How many brahmins did he personally kill? None. So what use is empty talk?
The kuran also tells muslims to “…kill them (ex-muslims and rejecters and opposers of islam) wherever you find them”.
Brahimns did not come from central asia. It was turks who went out from central asia and exterminated the Armenians, Greeks and christians in Anatolia.
Your knowledge of history is limited to what is written by the DK/DMK racists and ethnofascists in Tamilnadu and by the muslims. But that is only one side of the story.
hiob i advise to read ARGUMENTATIVE INDIANS BY AMRAYATA SEN.ur vedas are full of horses and cows which are not indian animals.u came from khazar where these animals are found.since then u are plundering indian.brhmns are not hindus and hindus are not brhmns.
u pass ur time in eating entertainment sex and cheating.
muslim killed enemy on battlefield which christians did with more ferocity.but never killed innocent citizens.while christian and hindu history is filled with voilent.lord krishna ordered arjun to kill all his uncles and cousins on battle field.he created castes which is nothing but apartheism.u intitutionalize voilence through sati pratha
only u murdered millions of women.as per u books war is divine act.
islam is religion of peace as it preaches egalitarianism and non interest banking system.
to tajender
It is very unfortunate that you cannot differentiate between propaganda and reality. What you write is the simplistic hate-propaganda made by dravidian nationalists and muslim quislings. Reality, which is far more detailed-complicated, says something quite different and variegated.
If you are a dalit with sympathies for periyar and islam then your outbursts are quite natural.
One scandal which took place in the DK was when Ramaswami Periyar married a ca. 16 year old girl when he was almost 70. What do you say about that?
No one is innocent in this game called human life created by a sadist cynical god for his own perverse pleasure.
So tone down a bit and talk reality.
No one is innocent in this game called human life created by a sadist cynical god for his own perverse pleasure.
So tone down a bit and talk reality
this rule should apply on all.pls correct me if i wrote anything wrong.
to tajender
Thanks for your nice words. I can’t correct you. That is something that you have to do yourself by reading various aspects of a long tragic and comic story called “history of mankind” as written by many different persons from different perspectives.
Aryans as the evil guys, brahmins as the evil guys, jews as the evil guys, muslims as the evil guys – all that has its valid reasons. And as we read history in greater details and without bias or narrow-minded emotions we come to the conclusion that really evil are those who refuse to admit the ill deeds of their ancestors – be they brahmins, aryans, dravidians, christians, muslims, arabs, turks etc. etc.
Making mistakes is characteristics of all human beings – what is more important is to admit them and not justify them, correct them and not go on with arrogance. We actually honor our ancestors by admiting their mistakes, sins and crimes and thus rescue them from their imprisonment in their bad karma. Those who refuse to admit the ill-deeds of their ancestors out of a false sense of pride or solidarity or so-called honor contribute to making life more difficult today.
Find out what is correct for yourself – I can’t dictate it to you.
tejender,
your name sounds Sikh, but you are a blot on Sikhism. The Congress of today does not represent Hindus. Those in the Congress who perpetrated the riots on Sikhs were not real Hindus. Jagdish Tytler was a follower of Rev. James Douglas Tytler. These were all gaandus, who had been fully deracinated.
The cabal who was in power in India does not follow Dharma. They all use such opportunities to undermine India.
http://indianintelligence2009.blogspot.com/2009/09/playing-with-nations-choices.html
hehe
tajender is old friend of mine from HT blogs, he got banned there from VInod Sharma’s blog for virulent abuse of hindus and hinduism. Last week I invited all my indian friends on Hindustan times to come here, he landed up here.
Sorry pakistanis- be ready for mile long posts on manusmriti, anti brahminism, anti hinduism, – we used to joke there- he suffers from brahminitis in morning and zionitis in evening. No one takes him seriously there- he even adopted another ID- ramavtar
dil ka bura nahin hai- but very abusive and pointless.
HIOB I like yr posts, ignore takender ramavtar
Dear Pakistanis
i have never met anyone in my whole life who has read or follows manusmriti- just putting things in context, reg tajender aka ramavtar
@tajender [Sep 8, 2011 at 6:27am]
We dalits had created the greatest civilization on earth in Harappa and Mohenjadaro. The Brahmins who came from central asia and called themselves aryans were so jealous of this civilization. They came and looted us and took all over wealth. They raped our women, took away our cattle. The genocide of Hitler is nothing in comparison with this. But out historians don’t even talk about this. We have the living proof of harappa and mohenjadaro in pakistan. My heart bleeds when I see those ruins. How cruel the brahmins are. This finished our civilization and drove all the people to tamil nadu. It is the great leader Periyar who has liberated our thoughts from this slavery. Periyar said Brahmins are like snakes. Kill them wherever you find them. We should follow periyar and reclaim our lost heritage of Indus valley civilization. We should identify the students of Chanakya who read the arthashastra and used it to destroy Indus Valley civilization and teach these brahmins a lesson. Chanakya’s strategy will not work any more
On a note of warning, may I suggest that if our Hindu friends at PTH quote from the Vedas, please be careful enough not to allow those words to fall into your ears. Manu Smriti teaches that if the words of the Vedas even accidentally fall into the ears of a Dalit, molten lead be poured into those innocent ears. Since this discussion is in written form, involving eyes instead of ears, someone might want to pour molten lead into your eyes. So please do be careful.
@Allahkabanda
I’m sure you wouldn’t mind if I called you “Maulana Abdullah” – Maulana because the title aptly describes your bigotry and Abdullah because that’s the Arabic for Allahkabanda. That should make you euphoric. So cheer up yar. Now coming to the point, I think you’re not getting the point at all. All problems of Pakistan, including Karachi, will be solved if Pakistan finds its way back to Jinnah’s vision of a secular and egalitarian Pakistan. I don’t think YLH is ignoring Karachi. I think he’s talking about the ultimate solution – rediscovering Jinnah’s Pakistan.
balwinder, u are my old friend yes.but i never found u writing anything useful or informative.if u people will speak lies to defame somebody i have to react.
here also challenge me if i am wrong.if u will hit at me through lies i have to correct.
action of vinod sharma was error of judgement.why u speak lie that shan is expelled from chikermane site.
take part in discussion i will be happy.read my awnser to dr pankaj.is he the same who comes on sharma site.
have never met anyone in my whole life who has read or follows manusmriti- just putting things in context, reg tajender aka ramavtar
if it oes not happen why not a single person is punished so far for 1984 killing.
killer modi is defended by fabricating all type of lies.yes common man dont know about thesew but driver of society are fully aware of these thing.
take the case of bapu asaram.he murdered 25 childrens still out.
on which ground.
balwinder aur kisi blog pe ho.tell ur friends dont take help of lies to make case.we will remain friend.also dont forget that u are the most abused blogger of vinod and zia sites.
Tajender, you have sound ideas. You should disseminate them far and wide. Please feel free to seek assistance from distinguished scholars like Angana Chatterji, Suzanne Arundhati Roy, and the whole assorted group of Bengali ladies specializing in specifically highlighting the societal ills which you seem to be so knowledgeable of. Plus, they can definitely help you with the spelling issue — which seems to be the only area where you seem to have some room for even more improvement! Best of luck!
to tajender
You talk of genocide, racism and fascism by aryans and brahmins but ignore the genocides, ethno-fascisms, racisms and political fascisms committed by turks, arabs, pashtuns, muslims, chinese, muslim malayans, muslim indonesians etc. etc. Even dravidians practise racism under the DMK and DK etc.
Study the demographic changes taking place and you will find out that the brahmin population is decreasing. The muslim and dalit populations are increasing.
Hafez Assad, dictator of Syria killed 20000 human heings in Hama who were opposed to his rule in two days. Mao killed 2 million peasants who opposed his collectivization policy. In Tibet the chinese killed or drove out Tibetans and changed the very demographic structure of Tibet. In Kashmir the hindu population has fallen from 100% to 10%. In East Pakistan (now Bangladesh) from 40% to 11%. In West Pakistan from 25% to less than 2% in 1947. In Indonesia General Suharto killed more than a million communists. Communists were also physically wiped out in Pakistan by Ayub Khan. Ahmed Shah Abdali, aggressor from Afghanistan, killed and robbed and raped hindus in the 1759-61 AD era.
So why you pick only on Narendra Modi or brahmins.
The turks invaded and wiped out armenians and greeks in Anatolia. Muslims and arabs wiped out christians and non-arabs in North Africa. In Sudan muslim arabs raped or killed a million black african non-arab christians.
mr hiob i know that brhmns have negative growth like russions and many other european nationalities.but e are not responsible for this.
u were the first to accept eurtopean way of life.modern capitalism has fininshed the family concept.now husband wife both have to work to house and other loan ,taken under heavy interest.u are working for bankers.u have no time to make family.actually we all are slave of banks.
population increase or decrease depends on economic stratification.for poors sons are asst while for middle class they are liability.it has nothing to do with religion of race.
from hafez assad built syria he killed 10000 islamic militant ,paid and instigated by cia.i feel he was right.before baath socialistthey were illetrate and poor.he did this to save system base on high secular moral principal.
result of mao policies can be seen now.
regarding tibet,for the first time in history of tibet their youths are going to school and general population feel satisfy and good.dalai lama sitting in india has no popular support there.
in kashmir brhmns converted to islam in large under dogra rule under influence of naqshbandi faith.nobody ever killed him.from bangladesh and pakistan population migrated to india for better future like u lewft india/pakistan.communists were wiped out on instruction of america.indonesia same.
communist killed 5 crores russian during after october revolution.
regarding armenians,they were victims of treachory of YOUNG TURK who were jews.u know armenians were first christians and commited huge atrocities on them.hence THEY SETTLED THEIR SCORE.this happened when ottoman empire was weak and on decline.in sudan they tried to contrl sessionist movement which was paid and instigated by cia and europe.
now they got freedom.sudan is on verge of more splits.
this is process of history.in iraq west killed 1.5 million afghanistan figure reaching the same.in libya it has already crossed 200000,main battle yet to start.communists were worstin ukraine they killed 10 million.in first 50 yrs of british rule theey starved to death half the population of bengal bihar and assam.
this is process of history.but but but…………..
Tajinder i liked what you wrote except this one //mr hiob i know that brhmns have negative growth like russions //
look there is no sound data whether brahmins have negative growth…probably census 2011 (thanks to Sonia Gandhi’s religious initiative)will truly bring out the degeneration of this fantastic race called brahmins in India
we have been very tolerant…at the forefront of education… perennial paupers…absolutely honest and forthright…at the forefront of opposing our own brethren for their alleged intolerence and whatnot
You and other jokers will not understand all this. I respect that
horrors of brhmnsm is different.3 thousand year of poison which is injected in our veins through teachings of chankyas arthshastra and manus dharam shastras has paralyed our nervous system.our wealth is going to ashrams and swiss banks but we are not awakening.
Foreign observers are wondering why the toiling millions, unable to bear the pain of exploitation, are not revolting. Yes. This is a good question which we have answered many times.
Revolution will come only when the oppressed people become conscious of their exploitation and get angry. Here in India the people no doubt are in great pain. But they are not getting angry because they don’t know who is causing this pain. The Hindu rulers have so effectively mesmerised the suffering masses and convinced them that their suffering is because of their own destiny. This Hindu poison injected deep into their veins has convinced them that their suffering is their own making. They are made so unthinking that they can’t identify the enemy-oppressor even when he is standing right in front of him and siphoning off his blood — even as he falls dead in this painless (Hindu) operation. Dr. Ambedkar has said all these.
Letters of blood: we have not even a single media to bring this to the notice of the victims of this painless operation.
This is the tragic, blood-curdling history of Hindu India. This history has been repeating — endlessly centuries after century.
If any good-hearted, far-sighted, impartial, noble historian were to come in future, she or he can write the sordid, atrophied, violent, criminal past of India only in letters of blood.
mr,claim that brhmns have negative growth is usually made by their leaders.on the smaller levlel i too can confirm.most of brhmn friends have only one children.you are right race is fantastic consists of mostly good people.
i am not against brhmns but i oppose brhmnsm.brhmns too are the victim of brhmnsm.you have not be brhmn to be brhmnst.i know many muslims who are neocon.
the above is for mr prasad
mr hiob modi should be tried as per indian laws.he committed great crime by allowing police and goons to attack and kill others.nobody should be above law.
Tajender, you should consider running the marathon!