Loading ...Musharraf’s interpolations rejected by MPs
By: Ashraf Mumtaz - Daily Dawn March 18, 2008
LAHORE, March 17: The new National Assembly has, impliedly, rejected as unconstitutional all steps taken on or after Nov 3 by President Musharraf in his capacity as army chief by declaring that they don’t recognize the “interpolations” as part of the 1973 Constitution under which they are taking oath, says prominent constitutional expert and president National Workers Party Abid Hasan Minto.
He said this clearly meant that the authority that had taken the said steps was liable to be tried under the relevant article of the Constitution.
However, he said while talking to Dawn on Monday, it was for the political parties represented on the parliament to decide what action should be taken against the man who changed the course of the country’s history for his vested interest.
Mr Minto said the legislators’ pre-oath clarification also meant that the validation given by the Supreme Court to the said unconstitutional steps carried no weight.
He said the former army chief had got his steps endorsed from the Supreme Court only to save his skin. “He created a court to get a favourable verdict. This was mala fide. He used force and also violated the Constitution”.
But, Mr Minto said, the parties mandated by the people to rule the country were competent to take a decision on the subject.
In his opinion either the president should now bow to the will of the people and reconcile with the new ground realities or quit without any delay. In the parliamentary system, he said, the president was not empowered to interfere in the matters of the executive.
As for the role of courts, Mr Minto said, they should also not go against the will of the people.
Asked how a dispute between the parliament and the court on the legality and constitutionality of any issue could be settled, the former Supreme Court Bar president said the parliament was the ultimate authority and its verdict would prevail.
He said the infamous ”Doctrine of Necessity” had been rejected by the electorate as the imposition of emergency rule and sacking of the judges was an important subject of the election campaign of all parties that had taken part in the polls as well as the ones that were trying to convince the people to boycott the process.
He urged the judges not to go against the people’s verdict or they would be committing a bigger blunder than the one they had committed by taking oath under the Provisional Constitution Order.
http://www.dawn.com/2008/03/18/nat13.htm
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1 response so far ↓
1 Farooq Malik // Mar 22, 2008 at 7:40 pm
Whatever Mr. Abid and all other right minded people say, it is a historical fact that the likes of Mr. Musharraf neither live with grace nor exit with grace. Musharraf has set the worst traditions in our 61 years charred history. He, just for his power lust, has disgraced the most beloved and respected institution, that used to be, into the most controversial and rather hated institution.
He calls himself a ” commoando ” but he is the most ” coward ” Army Chief the country ever had. No brave man attacks a person who is unable to defend himself, even in the war. But this self proclaimed ” brave man ” puts the most hon’able members of the Superior judiciary into his illegal private prison, not able to reply to the farce allegations putforth by him, using official media. He, like an Insurance Agent, went to European Countries, using public money, to distribute the copies of the “reference” already thrownout by a bench of 13 judges of the highest integrity. By the way he had already accepted the decision of the supreme Court given on 2oth July, 2007. He used the most ” mean ” words against the Chief Justice (dejure) Mr. Justice Iftekhar Hussain and yet he has the guts to say. ” I feel frustrated when Pakistanis degrade their country on the foreign soil “, in his rehearsed interview with Atiq Odho. During his tour he also said that Pakistanis are not capable for a Democratic dispensation.
Now, Mr. (???) Musharraf, sitting in the Army Camp Office, is playing the palace intrigue game to destablise the Govt. in waiting. The shallowness of his slogan, Sab Se Pehle Pakistan ( us se pehle main ) stands fully exposed.
It is high time that a begining should be made to impeach him and bring him to the Court of Law under Article 6 of the constitution, which he has unashamedly acknowledged to breach not once but twice.
The Army must keep itself outside the arena as this Institution has suffered the most during his dictatorial regime, barring few self seekers who preferred to obey him at the cost of the Nation, Religion and Self Esteem of 160 million Pakistanis.
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