The political crisis that engulfed Pakistan in November-December overshadowed all other matters in this country for weeks on end. Some saw it as a rank tussle for power between the judiciary and the executive, others as the last stand of a principled judge against a dictator-in-waiting. Either way, the Prime Minister came out on top, notwithstanding the fact that the President sided with the judge.
The solution was hailed as having come from "within the democratic system" rather than from outside. Until the last uncertain, tension-fraught minute, there were strong rumours of an army takeover, and the relief that this didn´t happen was palpable. The immediate crisis may be over, but surely there are more like it waiting in the wings, although for the moment nothing seems to clutter the horizon for the Prime Minister.
How Nawaz Sharif proposed to rule was clear enough already when, utilising his massive and unprecedented parliamentary majority, he rammed an anti-terrorist bill through Parliament in mid-August. The Anti-Terrorist Act 1997 (ATA) gave police unprecedented extra-judicial powers, to even kill suspected terrorists, while the special courts to be set up will not have the same safeguards for defendants as do regular courts.
In pushing through this bill as with other dire actions of the executive, the only obstacle in its way seemed to be Chief Justice Sajjad Ali Shah. In July 1997, he initiated public hearings into the killings in Karachi and the Shia-Sunni violence in Punjab. Later, he summoned government representatives to report to him on what action had been taken. Justice Shah said the judiciary would not remain a "silent spectator" as the conditions deteriorated.