13 September 2004	Monday	27 Rajab 1425

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ISLAMABAD, Sept 12: The Pakistan Bar Council (PBC) on Sunday declared that under no circumstances could Gen Pervez Musharraf retain the office of the army chief.

The PBC in its meeting held here at the Supreme Court building also decided to call a representative meeting of lawyers community comprising members of the PBC, the Supreme Court Bar Association (SCBA), provincial bar councils and district bar associations on Oct 2 in Lahore to chalk out a future line of action.

The meeting was presided over by PBC vice-chairman Rasheed A Razvi. Mr Razvi told reporters after the meeting that the 1973 Constitution prohibited simultaneous holding of two public offices - the army chief and the president.

Article 43, read with Article 260 of the Constitution, prohibits president from holding any office of profit in the service of Pakistan which includes service in the armed forces.

The meeting was called to discuss a 14-point agenda, of which press statements of Punjab chief minister and other politicians from the ruling party urging Gen Pervez Musharraf to continue holding the post of army chief topped it.

The PBC noted "with shock" the interview of Gen Musharraf on a private TV channel in which he had claimed that 96 per cent people were in favour of his holding the twin posts.

"It is the considered view of PBC," the resolution said, "that such statements are absolutely false, baseless, misleading and unconstitutional. It amounts to perpetuating fraud on the constitution and the people of Pakistan."

The PBC also examined constitutions of different countries and found no provision in any constitution of any true democratic country like USA, India, France, Germany, Canada, Australia, Malaysia and even Russia where an army general was permitted to hold the highest office of the country, the resolution said.

The PBC assured the nation in general and legal fraternity in particular that it would oppose with full force all attempts by the regime to destroy the true spirit of the Constitution.

It also decided to challenge before the Supreme Court the appointment of Mansoor Ahmed as Law Secretary under Article 270 (2) of the Constitution. It also condemned attempts by the ruling party to 'muzzle' the movement of lawyers for the establishment of a democratic civil society.

Another resolution condemned introduction of a provision by the government in the Legal Practitioners and Bar Councils Act, 1973, through a bill in parliament that sought to enlarge the power of suspension by conferring on the superior courts the power of disbarment of advocates not only for alleged professional misconduct but for 'other misconduct'.

The existing disciplinary provisions provide for disciplinary committees comprising elected representatives of the bar, headed by a judge of the relevant superior court.

The PBC is of considered view that the proposed amendment confers a power to the superior courts to usurp the existing jurisdiction of the bar councils. Thus the proposed amendment militates against the independence of the legal profession and confers the power to disbar advocates for contempt, bypassing the ordinary law of contempt of court and seeks to exclude the pronouncement of judgment upon an advocate by his peers in the profession, it said.

The proposed amendment is also fraught with grave consequences for relationship between the bench and the bar, which the ruling elite is consciously trying to subvert for its own nefarious ends, the PBC charged.