NEW YORK, July 10: Former Chief of Pakistan Army, Gen (Rtd) Jehangir Karamat told a meeting of Pakistanis on Saturday that he refused to send troops to dispel mob attack on Pakistan’s Supreme Court in 1997 despite pleas from the Chief Justice of Supreme Court since he was obliged to uphold the constitution of Pakistan.

Asked as to why he declined to respond to former Chief Justice Sajjad Ali Shah’s request for help against the imminent attack Gen Karamat said he upheld the supremacy of the constitution of Pakistan.

The question was asked following his address to the delegates attending a Convention of Overseas Pakistanis held at the Pakistan Consulate-General in New York.

Gen Karamat pointed out that there was an established chain of command and any instructions of that sort should have come from the elected prime minister and the president, who is also the supreme commander.

Reinforcing his argument Gen Karamat said a precedent would have been established if he had acted on the former Chief Justice Shah’s request, promoting chief justices of provincial high courts to make demands on corps commanders to deal with certain situations. That’s why, he said, he decided to keep the army out of the political trappings .

Gen Karamat who stepped down as army chief following his showdown with the former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, said as army chief he was expected to act under the constitution and he was prepared to defend his decision.