WITH more than a hint of exasperation — and rightly so — Justice Asif Khosa has called for an end to the speculation and overheated political attacks surrounding the Panama Papers hearings in the Supreme Court. Justice Khosa, the senior-most judge on the bench hearing the petitions by opposition parties calling for the removal of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, made his remarks after yet another spell of grandstanding and accusations outside the court and in the media. All parties to the case are to blame. The impromptu news conferences held outside the Supreme Court after the conclusion of the daily hearing bear the hallmarks of political rallies and resemble the political attacks in front of the cameras outside parliament. The Supreme Court, a co-equal branch of government, is certainly not immune to criticism and its conduct should be fearlessly examined by the media and the political class. But what is transpiring outside the court and in the media, especially the news channels, all too often enters the domain of politicising the court and the hearings.

To be sure, the Panama Papers hearings will have a far-reaching and lasting political impact. The very survival of the government and the prime minister is at stake. But the Supreme Court is not a political forum and it must not be treated as one. All parties, in government and in the opposition, agreed at the outset that the Supreme Court ought to have the final word. In a constitutional democracy, questions of law regarding political actors must be settled in a court of law — and it is important that the proceedings and judgements of the highest court in the land be treated in a dignified manner. At the end of the Panama Papers hearings, there will be one side that is victorious and another that is not. The losing side will be entitled to criticise the judgement and continue to make its political case to the people. What is happening at the moment, however, is that the very proceedings are being deeply politicised — thereby politicising the court and the final judgement too. That is unacceptable. Political parties and sections of the media involved in the hyperbolic coverage of the hearings ought to consider the damaging effects on the democratic system itself. No constitutional democratic order can be strengthened if the institutions of democracy themselves are attacked and characterised as fundamentally political in nature. All parties should pay heed to Justice Khosa’s warning.

Published in Dawn, January 25th, 2017