Dual-office law made to perpetuate one-man rule: counsel
By Nasir Iqbal
ISLAMABAD, Sept 21: A counsel for the Pakistan Lawyers Forum (PLF) submitted to the Supreme Court on Friday that the law which allowed President Pervez Musharraf to keep two offices had been made to “perpetuate the rule of a military dictator” and thus violated the court’s earlier judgment in the Zafar Ali Shah case.
Counsel A.K. Dogar told a nine-member bench hearing a set of identical petitions challenging the president’s dual offices that the May 2000 judgment had given a three-year period to the military rule. He said the reason given in the verdict was that prolonged involvement of military in civil affairs ran a grave risk of politicising the armed forces which, according to him, had proved to be true.
The President to Hold Another Office Act, 2004, was ultra vires of the 17th Constitutional Amendment, he said, adding that he wanted to emphasise that the affairs of the country would be back on track only if the army stayed out of politics.
Mr Dogar concluded his arguments on Friday after which the court adjourned the hearing for Monday.
The counsel cited some observations from the Hamoodur Rehman report which said that nobody had the right to abrogate the Constitution because it was based on the Holy Quran and Sunnah.
Referring to the oath of armed forces requiring army personnel to uphold the Constitution which embodied the will of people and not to engage in political parties, he said that a military man who breached his oath was not an honest man. Therefore, he should not hold the highest office of the country, he said.
“A person violating the Constitution cannot qualify for the candidature of the highest office of the country,” he said.“Politics is a forbidden fruit for soldiers, which divided the country into two (emergence of Bangladesh).”
Mr Dogar recalled that when the country was dismembered on Dec 16, 1971, the then dictator, Agha Mohammad Yahya Khan, had got the draft of a new constitution prepared which was to be promulgated on Dec 20, 1971, envisaging that Yahya Khan would be the first president and would continue to hold the office of the commander-in-chief for five years, with powers to impose martial law.
He then quoted the sayings of the Holy Prophet (PBUH) and Hazrat Ali (AS) stating that the lust for wealth and power was the biggest enemy of human beings.
He said that Justice Yaqoob Ali in the famous Asma Jillani case had observed that anybody who used force against the assembly was a usurper and that if judges found that the executive organ was unwilling to execute their orders, the only recourse they had was to vacate their offices.
Mr Dogar recalled how six judges, including the chief justice, resigned when Gen Musharraf introduced the Provisional Constitution Order (PCO) on Oct 14, 1999.
The counsel argued that parliament never made a law for the benefit of a single man and said that Article 244 of the Constitution barred Gen Musharraf from contesting the presidential election because he was part of the armed forces.
“The office of the president is impartial and non-partisan and requires the holder to keep himself aloof from political wrangling. But Gen Musharraf is taking part in political activities and has become a political activist and actual head of the ruling Pakistan Muslim League. Gen Musharraf is not an impartial man and in fact a de facto head of a political party,” he argued.
The court, he said, might forgive him, but the country would continue to suffer because of this.
The counsel said that Gen Musharraf had also given an undertaking to the Supreme Court to surrender his powers to the civilians within three years, but he failed to fulfil his promise. “How can a man be allowed to contest election when he has no respect for the Supreme Court judgment,” he asked.
Mr Dogar said that anyone who ridiculed army, exploited its jawans for his personal gains and abused powers should not be allowed to contest for such a high office.
