As the International Council of Jurists (ICJ) was conferring the International Jurists Award - 2012 on Pakistan's Chief Justice Iftikhar Chaudhry in recognition of his contribution to the administration of justice in Pakistan, the unabated mockery of the very so-called justice continued in his home country. Last year the world was astonished to see how the courts in Pakistan facilitated the release of a CIA agent, Raymond Davis, who was earlier caught after shooting dead two men in Lahore. He was released within a few weeks after payment of a few million rupees to the victims' families as blood money. The courts failed to realize that the twisting of the blood money law in such a high profile case would pave the way for anyone to commit murder and then pay the penalty. Blood money may bring relief in cases of unintentional killing but not for murder in broad daylight on a busy street in the presence of hundreds of witnesses. Then came the case of Dr. Shakil Afridi who allegedly helped the CIA to track down Osama Bin Laden in Abbottabad. Afridi was picked up by Pakistan's law-enforcement agencies soon after last year's raid by US marines on Bin Laden's compound. Afridi remained in the custody of intelligence agencies for one full year. Then all of a sudden on May 11 he was produced in a tribal court and after a few days of closed door hearings in which no lawyer was present, he was sentenced to 33 years in jail for espionage and working against the state (by helping the Americans). After watching the Americans' reaction to Afridi's sentence, the tribal court changed its position. Now the court says that Afridi has been sentenced for helping a terrorist organization - Lashkar-e-Islam, an offshoot of the Taliban. What kind of fools do the authorities think we are? Do they want us to ever again trust what is being delivered in the name of justice? One day Afridi is helping to track down Bin Laden, and the next day he is assisting a Taliban group! What are the ICJ criteria for deciding who gets the Jurists Award? I have my doubts. Masood Khan, Jubail __
