When Your Lawyer or the Opposing Party in a Case Is Influential

I want to lay some matters before you very carefully, because there is a difference between individuals. Perhaps the area MPA (Member of Provincial Assembly) is the party you're litigating against, he has influence in the area, influence in the courts through lawyers, or perhaps you're litigating against a lawyer who practises in that court, or any influential person, litigating against whom, legally and outside the court's setting, is a difficult task. And there are certain figures against whom it's difficult to smoothly carry out litigation even inside the court. Keep one thing in mind: a decision must always be made according to law, keeping the facts and circumstances in view. Now, how socially influential your opponent is, dealing with him, facing him, is a very major hurdle that an ordinary litigant finds difficult to get through, but if you keep yourself calm, if you keep yourself completely composed, and proceed thoughtfully rather than emotionally, then there's no difficulty for you at all. Suppose a lawyer becomes your opponent, a politician becomes your opponent, a bureaucrat becomes your opponent, a policeman becomes your opponent in your litigation, in this, use your head more than your passion. First, convince yourself that crying about it everywhere will get you nothing, you need to use your intelligence. Now, suppose an MPA, an MNA, some politician, is physically preventing you from accessing the court, you should hire a good lawyer and try, while staying within the bounds of law, to get him summoned to court as little as possible, and fight your case while remaining within the courtroom. Honesty is the first condition. Second, if it's a bureaucrat, you should be alert as to whether that bureaucrat has any connection with the presiding officer, with the judge. If you do reconnaissance on this and find out that this bureaucrat, this police officer, this politician, this lawyer, has a connection with that judge, immediately get the case transferred from him. A good judge will transfer it himself, a judge who isn't good will sit on it like a coiled snake, thinking, let it go wherever it goes, I'm not letting it move.

Now if a lawyer is your opponent, this is the biggest problem, because a lawyer is someone who comes to that bar every single day, if I have any issue, I'm the one who comes daily, I'm on cordial terms with every judge, I exchange greetings with every judge, I can easily get access to every judge, I can have tea with every judge, I can raise minor relief requests with every judge, and if I'm a well-known lawyer, every judge will pay attention to me, thinking, we have to keep working as judges while remaining at this bar, we were posted here, he has influence, let's go along with him, all these problems and difficulties exist. But if you use your head instead of your emotions, countless steps will present themselves to you, through which you can establish that, to fulfil the requirements of justice, obtaining justice specifically in this tehsil or district is not workable, that justice cannot be obtained there, that it is impossible. When you bring the case to this point wisely, you file an application for transfer of the case, requesting that it be transferred from this tehsil or district to another district or tehsil, where they have no access, because every person has their own domain. I might be a lawyer for all of Pakistan, there's no doubt about that, but if I'm being unjust, it may be that in the bar where I'm practising, the lawyers and judges there will feel a sense of shame, saying, yes, there is injustice here, Irfan has done wrong, but what can we do, he's one of our own, so somehow get him transferred to another tehsil or district. There, you'll find some lawyer or other who will stand up boldly, saying, you have been wronged, this lawyer has wronged you, this bureaucrat has wronged you, this politician has wronged you, or the judge has wronged you, because your opponent could even be a judge, or a judge's family. This may not happen often, but the point I'm making is: you should somehow create circumstances that give you clear grounds, that if this isn't transferred from here, I cannot get justice. This lecture is not for those lawyers who are themselves in the right and themselves being ground down, who, as lawyers, feel ashamed and, in the end, quietly step back and carry on their work, those poor souls are already being ground down. This is for those lawyers who have no fear of Allah, who don't remember that they must die, for whom this world is everything, this is for them, this is for those politicians for whom this world is everything, this is for those influential men who have forgotten the hereafter, who don't bear in mind that tomorrow, on the Day of Judgment, they must answer for every act. When you step outside that domain, outside that sphere of influence, there's another benefit to it too, because this person is influential within his own domain, once you step outside it, believe me, justice will be waiting for you, saying, come, and take me with you. I hope I have explained this to you.