In the commando's footsteps?

By Kamran Shafi

REALLY, now! It is one thing to renege on repeated solemn, signed, public promises; it is quite another to use one’s powerful office to rub an honourable man’s face in the dirt.

Indeed, to trample so cruelly and thoughtlessly a most honourable and brave and courageous movement’s face into the ground.

I refer to Asif Zardari’s statement: “The way these ‘former’ judges are delivering speeches similar to that of politicians, I would advise the prime minister to give them a party ticket for the Senate elections to be held next year.

“I do not see even a minute judicial crisis except a few judges delivering political speeches … 42 out of 62 judges have taken new oath and now it’s a problem of only four, five people as many of them have already retired.” A newspaper added: “When asked whether these 4/5 judges also included Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry, [President Zardari] said in a lighter tone that [Justice Iftikhar] was so popular that he might pose a threat to the government, as they had assumed the role of politicians and we would invite them to join politics and contest the Senate elections. He said the president has the power to lift the two-year ban before any judge or government servant contests polls.” I am not shocked, for anything might happen in a country where for the very first time the leader of the largest (so far anyway) political party has the gall to say that a political promise was just that, politics; that it was not the word of God.

What saddens, and greatly angers me, is that an honourable man, and from what I have seen and heard of him, a damn good judge, is being treated the way he is. Let me clarify here and now that I have only once attended My Lord Iftikhar Chaudhry’s court, on the day that he had suo motu remanded Mukhtaran Mai’s case to the Supreme Court after the Lahore High Court had released her rapists and their henchmen.

The way the judge, helped by his brother justices Bhagwandas and Syed Saeed Ashad, disposed of the seven or eight cases before Mukhtaran Mai’s was exemplary. Indeed, one of the lawyers who I have known for more years than I care to count told me that the judgment against his client was exactly right! Justice Chaudhry’s many achievements have been recounted in this column too many times before; suffice it to say that a man of his stature and standing does not deserve the ignominy being heaped upon him by none other than the highest in the land. Indeed, going to the extent of sarcastically saying that Iftikhar Chaudhry had become so popular that he “might pose a threat to the government” is a blow that reminds one of Musharraf calling My Lord Chaudhry “the scum of the earth”.

Not to be left behind, Attorney General Khosa — a fitting successor to the much disgraced Malik Qayyum who was actually forced by the Supreme Court to resign from judgeship of the Lahore High Court for conspiring with Saifur Rahman to award a heavy sentence to Benazir Bhutto — has invited My Lord Chaudhry to take a fresh oath and become a judge of the Supreme Court! Khosa has, once again, aired the New Pakistan Peoples Party’s line that whilst Musharraf’s actions of November 3, 2007 were de facto improper there is no way other than a constitutional amendment to put his actions right. And that there is no constitutional way of doing that other than a constitutional amendment. Then why don’t you move an amendment, Attorney General?

It is no use trying to talk to the purposely deaf. One can only shake one’s head in dismay at the way the mightiest (thus far, but certainly not for long) political force in the country is heading towards certain disaster.

Elsewhere now, and while some Indians are protesting the expense of $76m on sending a moon probe on an indigenouslymade Indian rocket that will reportedly do what no probe has done before (thank you, Star Trek), the Pakistan Navy is procuring a 35-year-old frigate from the US which will refurbished at a cost of (a further?) $54m! Talk of priorities! What do we need a 35-year-old frigate for, please? Who does the Pakistan Navy intend to frigate, specially in light of President Asif Ali Zardari’s ringing recent pronouncement that India has never been a threat to Pakistan? Another toy for the boys, what, such as the F-16s which are programmed not to leave Pakistan’s airspace and which will mean another $3bn down the tube?

And another thing. I have asked this question before, let me ask it again: who are the Pakistani agents for these two deals? Why is this a deep dark secret? And while we are at it, who is the agent for the two Saab early warning system aircraft which were procured two years ago (way before the rupee’s dive into oblivion, mark) for US$1.2bn, which was double their offer price in 1995?

And yet another thing. Why is the army going ahead with the new GHQ project in Islamabad the Beautiful at this time when the poor have neither food nor electricity nor potable drinking water? It has a very plush headquarters in Rawalpindi already; we are living in the Information Age where the headquarters of the three forces do not have to be in the same city for ‘coordination’. So why?

Finally, there is a great debate raging on whether the Commando will enter politics to try and resurrect his ‘golden era’ — I swear someone said this just yesterday! My answer is this: Musharraf can do what he wants but the man must be tried first in an open court of law for his sheer ineptness, and for setting this country alight with the fires of hate and malice and rancour.

Above all, since he was the allpowerful Commando-in-Chief, he must be asked why both the crime scenes where two deadly attacks on Benazir were made, the one in Karachi resulting in the death of over 150 poor innocents and the maiming of hundreds of others and the one in Rawalpindi resulting in her own tragic death and that of many others, were sanitised inside of minutes while every other bombing was cordoned off for days on end while forensics experts scoured the area for clues.

Let him answer the charges, then jump off a bridge if he must. ¦

The article was published in Dawn on October 28, 2008 (Tuesday).
'In the Commando's footsteps?'Dawn ePaper - Digital replica of Print Edition.

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The flea of inanity and the ‘PPP-Q’

By Saira Minto

IN ‘A plea for sanity’ (May 28), Murtaza Razvi focused on trashing the lawyers’ movement by indicating that it lacks vision and is isolated, a movement that was being carried on “in [a] vacuum … from day one”. He also alleged that lawyers and their representatives were acting with a “tunnel vision” without any assurance of light at the end and that their one-point agenda of restoration of the judiciary was making them miss “the only window of opportunity”, that is an agreement with Mr Zardari.

One can admire the writer’s boldness in loyally advocating participation in pro-establishment mainstream Pakistani politics and the brazenness with which the PPP is promoted as the only saviour of the current imbroglio. The PPP? A party that has always jumped at the slightest opportunity to strike deals with the establishment and which may just be renamed ‘PPP-Q’ in due course!

The lawyers confronted Musharraf and his establishment when it attempted to remove the chief justice in March 2007 by force, coercion and several manipulative devices including the pretence to act under Article 209 of the constitution. The lawyers, the public and the media thwarted that attempt by exposing it and by supporting the Supreme Court to provide it with the confidence needed to stand up to Musharraf. Political parties (especially mainstream) supported it marginally and cautiously.

The lawyers’ community is representative of a wide-ranging socio-cultural spectrum of Pakistani society and within itself it adheres to democratic norms. Estimated to be 100,000 in number and spread all over the country from grassroots tehsils and subdivisions to provincial and federal metropolises, the lawyers do not belong to any one political persuasion. They are a diverse lot.

What brings them together is their profession which is dependent on the existence of an independent judiciary and the prevalence of a system of governance based on the constitution. Their bar associations and councils are professional bodies duly elected from top to bottom. They act in unison whenever there is a threat to the constitution, to the rule of law and the independence of the judiciary. This is not the first time that they have done so.

In the time of Ziaul Haq, leading lawyers suffered harassment and long terms of imprisonment for raising their voices. The political parties did not unite with the lawyers even then but taking their cue from them established their own Movement for the Restoration of Democracy (MRD) in Feb 1981. After the lawyers had held their conventions in Lahore, Karachi, Peshawar and Rawalpindi and resorted to street protests, the MRD undertook an anti-martial law campaign independently. The two movements were separate but complemented each other in working for the same objective.

Today, when the lawyers’ movement, aided by the people’s approval, the media and the real judges, has already pushed back the establishment a few steps, the political parties, especially the ‘PPP-Q’, only seem to want to enter into deals and bargains with the junta purely for personal benefits, shamelessly disregarding their commitment given in the Charter of Democracy.

Musharraf’s Nov 2007 martial law (aka emergency) which was imposed against the backdrop of the lawyers’ movement should have been a time to consolidate political forces, speed up agitation against the regime and wrap up matters effectively and finally. Nothing of the sort, however, was forthcoming from the mainstream parties, and it was again the lawyers supported by civil society and the media who agitated against the president and his coteries. The complicity of the ‘PPP-Q’ was the most glaring when the party failed to launch a movement against this group even after Ms Bhutto’s ghastly murder.

The Feb 18 elections were held under grave circumstances. The election result is now widely acknowledged to be the people’s pronouncement against Musharraf, the establishment and the emergency/martial law. While all elected representatives agreed that the Nov 3 actions were unconstitutional and that Musharraf’s continuation in power would hamper the transition to democracy, the new Assembly delayed asserting its sovereign authority to overturn the acts of Nov 3 which could have been done by restoring the judiciary to its Nov 2 position.

The drafting and development of ‘constitutional packages’ were offered as justification for the delay and even now a partial and limited restoration is being proposed — while paying lip service to the formulations in the Bhurban Declaration and the independence of the judiciary.

It is strange, indeed, in this scenario for any serious and mature commentator to propose that the lawyers, civil society and the media simply shut up and fall in line with those who have not only once again reneged on their word but are also looking for excuses to hang on to the remains of a dictatorship for their own benefit and protection.

The lawyers’ approach has been focused and to call their integrity in pursuing it ‘tunnel vision’ qualifies as either an inane and ignorant joke or cruelty or both. Lawyers have not only acted wisely but exactly according to Jinnah’s principles of unity, faith and discipline. They have kept themselves away from political manipulators and self-seekers — something that helps them stay united and strong.

It should also be pointed out, for the record, that it is wholly incorrect that the lawyers’ movement is restricted to Punjab. The huge number of people that turned out for Chief Justice Chaudhry on his visit to Peshawar on May 31 is sufficient to refute that baseless assertion.

All over the world, movements are led by trade unions under one red flag, unpolluted by political vested interests. Lawyers are doing something similar in that sense through the common bond of their profession. Their movement is neither isolated nor apolitical. It is a movement of professionals who are themselves the mainstream and their politics comprises a campaign for true democracy, not hobnobbing with the establishment. To a lot of people, there seems to be a more real and brighter light at the end of this tunnel than there is at the end of the one that the ‘PPP-Q’ wishes to drag this country through.

The long march of June 10 is well timed. If they happen, and hopefully they will, both Musharraf’s exit and the restoration of judiciary will be events that will come about as a result of the lawyers’ movement, and not because of this or that ‘constitutional package’ and the mass deception that accompanies it.

DAWN - Editorial; June 06, 2008

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Article inserted by Musharraf

The following is the text of Article 270AAA inserted in the Constitution by President Pervez Musharraf last year.

In the Constitution, after Article 270AA, the following new Article shall be added, namely:- “270AAA. Validation and affirmation of laws etc. (1) The proclamation of Emergency of 3rd November, 2007, all President’s Orders, Ordinances, Chief of Army Staff Orders, including the Provisional Constitution order No.1 2007, the Oath of Office (Judges) Order, 2007, the amendments made in the constitution through the Constitution (Amendment) Order, 2007 and all other laws made between the 3rd day of November, 2007 and the date on which the Proclamation of Emergency of the 3rd Day of November, 2007, is revoked (both days inclusive), are accordingly affirmed, adopted and declared to have been validly made by the competent authority and notwithstanding anything contained in the Constitution shall not be called in question in any court or forum on any ground whatsoever.

“(2) All orders made, proceedings taken, appointments made, including secondments and deputations, and acts done by any authority, or by any person, which were made, taken or done, or purported to have been made, taken or done, on or after the 3rd day of November, 2007 in exercise of the powers derived from any Proclamation, Provisional Constitution Order No. 1 of 2007, President’s orders, ordinances, enactments, including amendments in the Constitution, notifications, rules, orders, bye-laws, or in execution of or in compliance with any orders made or sentences passed by any authority in the exercise or purported exercise of powers as aforesaid, shall, notwithstanding anything contained in the Constitution or any judgment of any court, be deemed to be and always to have been validly made, taken or done and shall not be called in question in any court or forum on any ground whatsoever.

“(3) All proclamations, President’s orders, ordinances, Chief of Army Staff Orders, laws, regulations, enactments, including amendments in the Constitution, notifications, rules, orders or bye-laws in force immediately before the date on which the Proclamation of Emergency of the 3rd day of November, 2007 is revoked, shall continue in force until altered, repealed or amended by the competent authority.

“Explanation.- In this clause, “competent authority” means,- (a) in respect of President’s orders, ordinances, Chief of Army Staff Orders and enactments, including amendments in the Constitution, the appropriate Legislature; and (b) in respect of notifications, rules, orders and bye- laws, the authority in which the power to make, alter, repeal or amend the same vests under the law.

“(4) No prosecution or any other legal proceedings, including but not limited to suits, constitutional petitions or complaints, shall, notwithstanding anything contained in the Constitution or any other law for the time being in force, lie in any court, forum or authority against any person or authority on account of or in respect of issuance of the legal instruments referred to in clause (1) and on account of or in respect of any action taken by the Chief of Army Staff, the President or any other in exercise or purported exercise of the powers referred to in clause (2).

“(5) For purpose of clauses (1), (2) and (4) all orders made, proceeding taken, appointments made, including secondments and deputation, acts done or purporting to by made, taken or done by any authority or person shall be deemed to have been made, taken in good faith and for the purpose intended to be served thereby.”

Article inserted by Musharraf -DAWN - Top Stories; June 02, 2008

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Lawyers for unconditional reinstatement of judges

Lawyers will not accept any constitutional package and amendment that affects reinstatement of the deposed judges including deposed Chief Justice of Pakistan Justice Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry.

If any steps are taken against the Murree Declaration, the lawyers will relaunch their movement, said Supreme Court Bar Association member Sheikh Ahsanuddin here on Friday.

He said conspiracies were being hatched against the Murree Declaration, whereby the coalition partners had made a commitment to have the deposed judges reinstated within 30 days of the formation of a new government.

The conspiracy is aimed to sabotage the plan of the new government about the reinstatement of all the deposed judges, he added.

The deposed judges are a beacon for the people and nothing short of their unconditional and complete restoration would satisfy them, he said.

He said lawyers’ struggle was aimed at strengthening national institutions including parliament and the judiciary. He paid tribute to the deposed judges for not bowing before the rulers.

Agencies adds: Lawyers have said they will announce their future strategy if deposed judges were not reinstated within the period as promised under the Murree Declaration.

“Lawyers community supports the decision of Barrister Aitzaz Ahsan, president Supreme Court Bar Association (SCBA), giving a timeframe to the government for reinstatement of the deposed judges,” this was stated by Sardar Asmatullah Niazi, president Rawalpindi High Court Bar Association, and Athar Minallah, member Pakistan Bar Council, while talking to journalists outside the residence of the deposed chief justice in Islamabad on Friday.

They said lawyers would not create any problem or difficulty for the government during these 30 days.

Lawyers for unconditional reinstatement of judges -DAWN - National; April 05, 2008

lawyers clearly oppose the method being adopted by PPP... so do I... n so should everyone of us... unconditional reinstatement would make future vioators think that their orders can be reversed, they r not the ultimate power... adopting any other means for reinstatement would strengthen their belief that they own the country n can do whtever they want to do with it, nobody wiil b able to challenge their decision

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Aitzaz, Zardari stick to their positions on judges

There was "no agreement, no disagreement" on the issue of restoration of deposed judges in the Thursday night meeting of Supreme Court Bar Association (SCBA) President Aitzaz Ahsan with PPP Co-chairman Asif Zardari.

The two stuck to their respective stand on the question of sacked superior court judges, an informed PPP leader told The News. Aitzaz Ahsan wants instant reinstatement of the deposed justices, saying the talk of amending the Constitution to restore them, amounts to accepting as legitimate unconstitutional actions taken by the then chief of the Army staff (Pervez Musharraf) on Nov 3 last. It would open a Pandora's box for the future, he believes.

Instead of restoration of these judges, Zardari wants to cautiously move for the "independence of the judiciary". He is not inclined to reinstating the deposed judges. However, lawyers, supporting deposed chief justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry, say it would not be possible for the new PPP-led government to keep him and other judges under house arrest and they have to be freed immediately.

"Once the top judge is released he will be addressing bar associations all over Pakistan and will be visiting different cities in processions," a senior lawyer, aligned with the SCBA and the PPP, told this correspondent.

He admitted that this would throw up a grave challenge to the new government, which would face street trouble from day one. He conceded that this would also lead to an intense clash between the government and the lawyers' community.

In the Punjab, the provincial government to be led by the PML-N would not be opposed to the lawyers' movement and would, in fact, encourage it because of this party's unambiguous stand on deposed judges' restoration.

Another lawyer said the attitude of the federal, Sindh and NWFP governments to the lawyers' renewed movement would be different because these would not be backing it in any way. He said pressure would be kept on the PPP government to restore the judges but it would be given some time, enabling it to act in the right direction without much delay.

As far as Aitzaz Ahsan is concerned, lawyers said, it would be difficult for Zardari to tolerate him in the party if he continued to embarrass and put pressure on the PPP through his powerful street campaign.

Lawyers associated with the PPP apprehend that their party would further damage itself if it stood by its non-committal policy on the issue of restoration of judges. They feel that Nawaz Sharif, who came out with a better showing in the Feb 18 elections compared to the PPP, would further gain ground because of his stand on deposed justices.

They said had the PPP matched, if not surpassed the stance taken by Nawaz Sharif on the judges issue, combined with the massive sympathy wave in the wake of assassination of Benazir Bhutto, it would have convincingly won the elections.

Aitzaz, Zardari stick to their positions on judges

zardari is not willing to restore the judges the way ppl want... the constitutional package would assert tht whtever mush did on november 3 is justified... do we want this? atleast I dont.... i want mush to b an example for potential violators n breakers of constitution... a true -ve example so that ppl stop playin with the constitution... n the country progresses in the right direction... but for now it seems that the parliament is also gonna compromise under the logic of 'doctorine of necessity'... among all the major parties I believe only PML-N is respectin the mandate it got... reason for which could be any but its stance is very clear n brave unlike the stance of PPP... see the following for details on the constitutional package n aitzaz's response

To diffuse the judicial crisis, Mr. Zardari has offered the Chief Justice Iftikar Chaudhry the position of Governor of Baluchistan. Instead of humiliating Mr. Musharraf and the Army, he has also asked the president to create a resolution on restoring the judges. Mr. Zarzari is planning to ask parliament to accept the dismissal of all the judges and then reappoint them under a fresh mandate. This may prclude Mr. Iftikhar Chaudhry from the position of the Chief Justice. more...

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The word Scrutiny invites bars’ ire -DAWN - National; April 05, 2008

LAHORE, April 4: Reacting to the reports about judges’ scrutiny after their restoration, the bar associations have warned parliament of ‘consequences’ in case it links revival of the pre-emergency judiciary to any constitutional package.

At a joint press conference on Friday, the Lahore High Court Bar Association and the Supreme Court Bar Association said they would resist any deviation from the Murree Declaration which sought restoration of the deposed judiciary to what it was on Nov 2.

LHCBA President Anwar Kamal, Lahore Bar Association head Manzoor Qadir, Supreme Court Bar Association Secretary Chaudhry Amin Javed and Vice-President Ghulam Nabi Bhatti and Lahore Tax Bar Association president Mohsin Nadeem were among the participants. Former SCBA chief Hamid Khan also was present at the press conference held on the high court bar premises.

The LHCBA president said lawyers would not accept any step of parliament intending to sabotage the restoration of all the deposed judges. Any attempt to curtail the tenure of the chief justice of Pakistan or provincial chief justices would also be frustrated, he said.

....

LBA President Manzoor Qadir said the political parties, now in the government, had won a heavy mandate because of the issue of the judges’ restoration. The lawyers now felt that they were not only trying to wriggle out of the declaration, but also betraying their mandate too, he added.

“Let me make it clear that the lawyers will not allow parliament to cast aside its word on the restoration of the judges,” he said. He criticised Federal Law Minister Farooq H Naik for stating that “Musharraf is a national asset”. He said such a statement not only hurt the lawyers, but also lacerated the feelings of the people who had rejected a dictator through the ballot.

Hamid Khan said the lawyers were aware of the conspiracies originating from the presidency to sabotage the process of revival of the pre-emergency judiciary. He added that the restoration of the judges and the constitutional or the so-called reform package were two separate issues which could not be tied to each other. He asked Mr Naik to make public all the steps being taken for the restoration of the judiciary.

Mr Khan said he saw no justification for President Musharraf to stay in the office because he had lost the day his party (PML-Q) faced a humiliating defeat. Parliament, he said, would have to consult the bar associations before introducing any ‘constitutional package’, otherwise, it would have no value.

The word Scrutiny invites bars’ ire -DAWN - National; April 05, 2008

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Interim govt. trying to make the SC 'validated' amendments a part of constituition

By Nasir Iqbal and Ashraf Mumtaz

ISLAMABAD / LAHORE, Feb 23: Controversy lies in store for the opening session of the new National Assembly as the interim government’s legal experts have decided to get printed a fresh edition of the Constitution, incorporating all amendments introduced by President Pervez Musharraf during the emergency rule.

The question haunting the PML-N and PPP’s legislators-elect alike is: will they take oath under the amended Constitution, which has been ‘validated’ by the Supreme Court?

Both parties have already rejected these amendments and termed them “unconstitutional and invalid”. They contend that the amendments have been made by an individual instead of the parliament.

The government insists the imposition of emergency (on Nov 3), the enforcement of the Provisional Constitution Order, sacking of judges and other steps taken by the president during emergency had been validated by the apex court and made part of the Constitution.

It also asserts that the legislators-elect taking oath under the amended Constitution would, by implication, be endorsing all these steps.

The PPP has said that it would not give a blanket cover to all steps taken by President Musharraf during emergency.

A PML-N leader said on Saturday that the matter was under consideration and some solution would be found by the time the National Assembly holds its inaugural session.

“Obviously (the new version of) the Constitution would contain Article 270AAA under which amendments made before and during the … emergency rule were given perpetual legal cover,” said a senior government official.
Full Story

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Justice Iftikhar rejects Musharraf blames to justify 'Emergency'

ISLAMABAD:Former Chief Justice Iftikhar Chaudhry has rejecting the blames leveled by President General Pervez Musharraf to justify declaration of emergency.

Listen the Speech of Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhary

The rulers had feared that Supreme Court would give decree in Musharraf eligibility contrary to their wishes so they imposed emergency in the country, Justice Iftikhar said.

Iftikhar Chaudhry was addressing the lawyers first time after imposition of the emergency. He said that thecharges framed by President Musharraf against SupremeCourt are baseless and unfounded.

Declaration of emergency has damaged the constitution, he said, adding that Supreme Court had always worked within constitutional framework.

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