December 24, 2005	Saturday	Ziqa’ad 21, 1426

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ISLAMABAD, Dec 23: PPP MNA Chaudhry Aitzaz Ahsan on Thursday refused to be a member of a committee on constitutional and legal reforms due to inclusion of Sharifuddin Pirzada in it, saying that his name should never be equated with the name of a man, who had supported all the four military regimes.

In a letter addressed to the Supreme Court Bar Association (SCBA) president, Malik Mohammad Qayyum, who nominated his name as one of the committee members, Barrister Ahsan said that with Sharifuddin Pirzada on it, the committee should be termed a committee on “constitutional deviations”.

Soon after becoming president of the association, Malik Mohammad Qayyum had established the committee and included Advisor to the prime minister Syed Sharifuddin Pirzada and Aitzaz Ahsan in addition to the other members of the committee.

Needless to say, Pirzada always faded into a relative eclipse during the rule of democracy and constitution but was a willing partner in each of the four military regimes that this country has been afflicted with, he said in the letter.

“None of us nominated to the committee by you is an angel,” the senior advocate said, adding, “We all have faults but senior advocate Sharifuddin Pirzada stands out as an example of all that a lawyer and jurist must not be,” he deplored.

Pirzada was the attorney general during military regimes headed by Generals Ayub Khan, Yahya and Ziaul Haq. More recently, he has been a senior member of the cabinet and of the controversial National Security Council nominated by General Musharraf, Barrister Aitzaz Ahsan said.

At least thrice (1977, 1981 and 2000), Pirzada has been a party to the subversion of the judicial establishment by mandating oaths upon judges of the superior courts that were contrary to the oath that they had taken by their conscience on their induction as judges, Barrister Ahsan lamented.

The oath devised by Pirzada and colleagues omitted vital words (to protect, uphold and defend the constitution), endeavouring to free the retained judges of this crucial constraint. By this contrivance, Pirzada also enabled military adventurers to weed out some independent judges deemed a threat to the regimes, he said.

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