What do you have when a lawyer is buried up to his neck in sand?
You’ve probably heard that one. Or one
like it. I don’t think there is
any one occupation that spawns more jokes than lawyers, but what’s happening in
Pakistan is ruining the bad name of lawyers everywhere. Pakistani Prime
Minister Pervez Musharraf demanded the resignation of Supreme Court chief
justice Iftikhar Muhammed Chaudhry
last March, and when Chaudhry refused, Musharraf declared martial law putting
thousands of lawyers into prison or placing them under house arrest. Aitzaz
Ahsan has led a movement of protesting lawyers throughout Pakistan speaking out
for the primacy of constitutional law.
The
response has been extraordinary. Ahsan and Chaudhry recently drove from Islamabad
to Lahore, a twenty-six hour, 150 mile trip. Tens of thousands of people lined
the streets in support and the entire thing was broadcast on television. I
cannot think of a more unlikely event occurring in the free world. Would attorneys in America leave golf
courses in droves in support of a dethroned Supreme Court justice in this
country? I can’t picture it, but I would probably watch it on tv. It is always
shocking to me when people stand up for what is right. Maybe it happens all the
time and I’m just unaware of it. I applaud the Pakistanis. Their country is a
mere fifty-one years old, and they are fighting for its basic principles with a
tenacity that is as fierce as it is surprising. Future generations of Pakistani
children might not get it when they hear the answer to my original question.
“Not enough sand? What does that
mean, ‘not enough sand’?”
