A man of few words

Published December 20, 2013
Chief Justice Tassaduq Hussain Gillani. — File photo
Chief Justice Tassaduq Hussain Gillani. — File photo

The television cameras are still there but the crowds milling in front have thinned down. The imposing Supreme Court building seemed quieter on Thursday morning as the lawyers holding impromptu press conferences, the hyper television reporters, politicians and anchors were missing.

The few television correspondents around were chatting on the grassy knoll by the side of the building instead of holding forth, mike in hand, in front of the SC stairs.

“There are fewer observations now; he only speaks up when there is a question to ask,” said one of them.

Inside Courtroom No 1, the new Chief Justice of Pakistan, who took over on December 12, has had no less of an impact.

It was far quieter and there were far fewer people. The sides of the room, which in the past were full of journalists, pushing and jostling for chairs and space as they strained their ears to catch each word now contained so few individuals that each had a chair to sit on.

The seats — for lawyers, ordinary people and others — were half empty and once the Balochistan hearing ended, it seemed as if only petitioners, lawyers and security guards were left. There was no one standing in the doorways or in the aisles.

The sense of quiet in the room emanated from the three-member bench. Chief Justice Tassaduq Hussain Jillani is a man of few words — far fewer than his predecessor. He offered few observations or ‘quips’ in newspaper language; when he speaks it is only to ask questions — succinct ones — or dictate an order.

Proceedings are interrupted by pauses and silences as the judges confer with each other softly.

The CJ’s tone is raised only when he asks a question or dismisses a petition. In a property dispute, he told the lawyer that if he pursued the case any longer, he would make his client pay the costs for the defendant. The latter picked up his pile of documents from the rostrum and melted away. Earlier in the day, “he dismissed a petition about the appointment of the Nadra chief saying that the case was being heard at the IHC. The proceedings took just a minute,” says another journalist who regularly covers Courtroom One.

The CJ’s placidity has affected the television reporters who now move languidly. They rarely rush out to feed their channels’ appetites. Despite those who are still hanging about the courtroom in the hope that the past will rub off on the present, the CJ and his companions seem oblivious to their presence.

The famous Balochistan case was heard — in the midst of low-profile cases of individuals that earlier were mostly ignored — but with no fireworks.

Twice the bench was told that Irfan Qadir, the counsel for the Frontier Corps IG, had not been able to make it to the SC because “of the fog in Lahore” and there was no reaction.

The last time this case was heard — on 11/12/13 — Qadir’s fiery exchange with the last CJ was discussed all day long in Islamabad in hushed whispers.

The deputy FC IG who came after the proceedings had begun and the bench had asked for his presence was not told off; his explanation for his earlier absence was accepted.

The high pitch of a Bollywood film has been replaced by the low-key emotionalism of an ‘art film’.

A doctor representing Pakistan Medical Association spoke about the kidnapping of his colleagues in Quetta. He asked for protection to which the CJ turned to the police official and the home secretary. Told about the efforts being made to protect the doctors, the CJ asked the PMA representative: “Are you satisfied with the measures?” before encouraging him to tell the police about the identity of those threatening to kidnap the doctors.

There were a few observations and ‘instructions’ to the officials present — civil and military (at which a journalist making notes smirked and quickly jotted down a few words on his note pad) — but the thunder and populism of previous weeks were missing. There were no emotional harangues about the crisis in Balochistan and what the executive was not doing to address it.

The reporter sitting right in front had little to do but chew gum.

The writer is Dawn’s resident editor in Islamabad

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