June 15, 2007	Friday	Jamadi-ul-Awwal 29, 1428

ISLAMABAD, June 14: Former Chief of the Army Staff General (retired) Mirza Aslam Beg has said the independence of the judiciary would change the nation’s destiny.

Speaking at a seminar here on Wednesday he said March 9 marked turning point of the political scene in Pakistan as the events which followed shattered the plans to maintain the status quo and bring the same coterie into power.

The subject of the seminar was: “Struggle for unity of (the) Ummah,” but it turned into a debate for and against the reference filed by President Gen Pervez Musharraf against the Chief Justice.

Gen Beg and former Inter Services Intelligence (ISI) Chief Gen (retired) Hameed Gul criticised the filing of the reference, terming it as an assault on judiciary while the minister of state for education, Zubeida Jalal, defended the government move by saying the reference was in accordance with the Constitution and was to be decided by the judiciary and not the GHQ, the defence ministry or the PM House.

Gen Beg said the judiciary had in the past validated military rules under the “doctrine of necessity.” He lauded Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry for refusing to resign when he was asked to do so by Gen Pervez Musharraf. “The entire nation is with him after the bold decision taken by him,” he remarked.

He said Muslim countries should learn a lesson from the European Union, which was using a common currency and was in the process of formulating a joint defence and foreign policies.