A kangaroo court is defined as a mock court in which the principles of law and justice are disregarded or prevented. Now relate this definition with Pakistan’s chief justice’s remarks on June 18 while hearing the petition against the National Assembly Speaker’s ruling whereby she refused to forward former Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani’s disqualification reference to the Election Commission.
While the Attorney General and Gilani’s defense counsel were arguing against the petition on June 18, the chief justice wondered how a convicted person could represent 180 million people. It’s worth noting that the Attorney General and the defense counsel didn’t complete their arguments until June 19 while the Supreme Court ordered on June 18 for enhanced security arrangements in the court for the next day.
In other societies, courts are expected not to become a party but to act as a neutral body between prosecution and defense to decide the case on arguments’ merit. But in our case, the Supreme Court chose to become a party as is evident from the chief justice’s remarks on June 18 and the court’s expectations that the next day’s planned disqualification of the prime minister may pose a problem to the law and order situation. The prime minister’s fate was sealed before the conclusion of his lawyers’ arguments. Do we need another definition of a kangaroo court? Apparently, it’s a judicial coup d’état with the support of some hidden forces. I don’t know whether we are learning something from the Egyptian Supreme Court that recently dissolved the Parliament on strange pretexts, or it’s vice versa. (Masood Khan, Jubail)
English: Indispensable language
This refers to the column "Impact of English on education and cross-cultural understanding" (June 15). Indeed, English being a global language plays a pivotal role in every domain. It has been observed that many students at college and university levels find difficulty in their curriculum subjects owing to not having a good English language base. Those who are not well versed with the language should devote time to it in order to grasp its core aspects and develop its use over time. A person who speaks and writes good English earns much respect. Hence, mastery over this language will bring positive results in all spheres of life. Many professional educationists, such as, in the fields of aeronautical and civil aviation engineering, mechanical and electrical engineering, biomedical engineering, chemical and computer engineering, pharmaceutical engineering, etc., who though are experts in their respective subjects but are not fluent in English, find themselves in a difficult position to teach their students. Good orators can create positive impact on the audiences. Take the example of Barack Obama, who is considered a powerful orator and commended for his excellent command over the language. (Anees Lokhande, Alkhobar)
Umpiring worries Whatmore
Sri Lankan cricket fans are a totally understanding crowd unlike in some other countries because they love the sport as much as they love their team. They also fondly remember Dav Whatmore with great affection for helping their team to win the 1996 World Cup, played at Lahore, in Pakistan. Also our boys were grateful to feel that they were playing in their home ground by the fact of the unprecedented support they received from the Pakistani fans numbering more than 30,000, which Arjuna did not to mention in his victory speech then. In addition to the stake money the World Cup carried, the former prime minister of Pakistan, the late Benazir Bhutto gifted our team an additional sum of $50,000. These are golden memories of the past but something not very easy to forget. Now, Whatmore being the coach of the Pakistani cricket team, his concern about the performance of his team is fully understandable. We also remember what happened to the previous coaches of Pakistani team when the team failed to perform. We can comfortably counter Whatmore’s complaints that the officiating umpires are not Sri Lankans but they are all neutral umpires. (S. H. Moulana, Riyadh)
Letters — Kangaroo court
