LAHORE, Aug 24: Attorney-General of Pakistan Justice (retd) Malik Mohammad Qayyum says the remission in sentence was conditional on Nawaz Sharif’s adherence to the exile agreement, and that President Pervez Musharraf may withdraw the same on an advice of the prime minister if the other side is not keeping its commitment.
However, former president Rafiq Tarar, who is a former judge of the Supreme Court, has rejected this argument and said that the president has no power to take back the concession granted to Mr Sharif.
Mr Tarar said if Gen Musharraf took such a step, the Supreme Court could declare it illegal and unconstitutional.
The attorney-general said he had only explained the constitutional position on the issue, and it did not mean that the government had decided to withdraw the concession.
He said that if the “Sharifs claimed there was no agreement at all, the government would also be justified to go back to the pre-agreement position. This would mean Mr Sharif would have to serve the rest of the term in prison.”
A former judge of the Lahore High Court, Malik Qayyum said if the Sharifs claimed that the remission was not conditional, then they would have to explain how they were able to go abroad.
Asked if there was any precedent for the withdrawal of remission, the attorney-general said there was no need for a precedent.
“This must be a unique case. We have to apply well-established legal principles.”
When asked if the Supreme Court was competent to look into the legality of the use of powers by the president in withdrawing remission granted to a person, Malik Qayyum said in the prevailing situation “it can take up any matter”.
“The court can always assume jurisdiction citing its inherent powers”.
But, Mr Tarar dismissed the arguments and said the agreement referred to by the attorney-general had been rejected by the apex court.
Mr Tarar accused the president’s advisers of giving him wrong advice to get closer to “block the Sharifs’ return to Pakistan”. “They will not be successful in their designs.”
The former president, who was certain about Mr Sharif and his family’s return to Pakistan, said that the Supreme Court had the powers to see if the president had rightly used his powers on any particular issue. “Everything is amenable to courts, especially when fundamental rights of someone are at risk.”
He said if Gen Musharraf withdrew the remission it would be “violative of the fundamental rights of the Sharifs, and the Supreme Court would be justified to take cognizance of the matter”.
APP adds: Minister of State for Information Technology and Telecommunication Ishaq Khan Khakwani said that the president could retain his dual offices till end of 2007 and all criticism was uncalled for.
He said that the government had wholeheartedly accepted the Supreme Court’s verdict on Nawaz Sharif’s return.
“The comments of Minister for Parliamentary Affairs Dr Sher Afgan about the court decision do not in any way reflect the government’s viewpoint. They are his personal opinion,” he told media personnel after the concluding session of a three-day workshop on ‘Implementing Mobile Number Portability’.
He said there was no chance of the imposition of martial law and said President Musharraf had rejected such rumours.
