IslamicLawBlog

Discarding the historical logic of military coups, the Pakistan Army will this time defend the Constitution and not allow the protest leaders to force resignation of the Prime Minister and dissolution of the National Parliament and Provincial Assemblies. By letting political forces sort themselves out, the Pakistan Army will emerge as one of the most trusted state institutions, no less revered than the independent judiciary and free press. General Raheel Sharif can restore the dignity of the armed forces that Pervez Musharraf squandered away by pursuing personal glory. It is no secret that the Generals are most respected when they are not running the country. A civilian government fears the armed forces and respects, though with a tinge of resentment, the Generals' geopolitical views, defense plans, and foreign policy preferences. The Generals have more clout behind the veil of a civilian government. This is not the time for a military takeover. The Pakistani Generals have...

Mob democracy is a violent form of direct democracy, periodically activated in Pakistan to confuse, frighten, and undermine representative governments established under the Pakistan Constitution. These days, a mob led by a charismatic politician and a cult figure is marching toward the nation’s capital, Islamabad, to demand that the Prime Minister resign and the national parliament be dissolved. The Pakistan high courts, including the Supreme Court, have ruled that such demands, no matter how popular, are unconstitutional and may even amount to treason. As a system, direct democracy is not the same as representative democracy. Under direct democracy, the decisions are made by the people without a parliament or any other intervening institution. Historically, direct democracy has been a viable political method for decision-making in small cities and towns. In modern nations, referendums and initiatives are the procedures of direct democracy used to settle political questions and m...

Liaquat Ali Khan   Founder, Legal Scholar Academy The Law of Nature: Cruelty Produces Hatred Revulsion is a strong human emotion deeply wired in our sense of justice. We develop feelings of revulsion against individuals, groups, even nations that perpetrate gross injustice and cruelty. In an increasingly integrated world, the information travels with the speed of light in all corners of the planet, often in real time. The peoples of the world develop instant feelings of aversion against entities that commit crimes against humanity, erase homes and villages, and kill powerless men, women, and children with rockets and missiles. A well-resourced entity may win a battle or a war, and yet may sow disgust in the hearts of the peoples of the world. Cruelty may go unpunished in the national and international legal systems but it cannot escape the realm of human awareness. For surely, we know, cruelty breeds odium - a permanent decree of nature. The decree ...