ISLAMABAD: The federal cabinet decided on Wednesday to uphold the rule of law and separation of powers between the executive and the judiciary and to ensure that state institutions acted in accordance with the constitutional parameters, laws and the given framework.
Information Minister Dr Firdous Ashiq Awan stated this at a press conference where she read out a handout issued after a cabinet meeting.
She said former law minister Senator Babar Awan who had attended the meeting at special invitation gave a three-hour briefing on emerging constitutional and political situation.
He discussed recent judgments of the Supreme Court regarding privatisation, power projects, sugar price hike, the NICL, NRO, NAB, appointment of ad hoc judges and removal of PCO judges.
In a clear reference to a controversy over postings and transfers of government officials by the Supreme Court in the Haj corruption and NICL cases, Mr Awan was quoted in the handout as saying: “This government has never interfered in the matters of the judicial and essential services’ postings, transfers and appointments. The government can neither appoint nor dismiss a judge of a constitutional court through a notification except the mechanism given in various articles of the Constitution.”
A minister said the cabinet had unanimously decided to defend its executive authority as the de jure entity to run affairs of the government and Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani would hold consultations with constitutional experts.
The minister said some members of the cabinet were disturbed by the confrontation between the executive and the judiciary and they urged the prime minister to lower the temperature before the situation went out of control.
However, there was complete agreement at the meeting that the Constitution provided clear protection to powers of the prime minister as chief executive of the country, which no other state institution could encroach upon. Therefore, keeping within the constitutional parameters the government should take every measure to protect its executive authority.
The cabinet discussed the National Insurance Company (NICL) case in which Moonis Elahi, son of Senior Minister Chaudhry Pervaiz Elahi, is an accused.
It was informed that an accused had the right to demand a change of investigation officer if he did not have confidence in him. The case was discussed in view of repeated written requests by Moonis Elahi for changing the investigation officer, Zafar Qureshi. The government suspended Mr Qureshi this month when he was brought back to investigate the scam.
Mr Awan said the present government, for the first time in the country’s history, had implemented all judgments of the Supreme Court.
He briefed the cabinet on the powers and responsibilities of different state institutions and separation of powers among the legislature, judiciary and executive, the information minister said.
On the issue of making Establishment Secretary Sohail Ahmad an OSD for transferring Gilgit-Baltistan police chief Hussain Aghar to the FIA to resume investigation of the Haj corruption case, Mr Awan said it was clearly laid down that the posting of chief secretary and inspector general of police would be made by the federal government in consultation with the chief minister and governor of Gilgit-Baltistan. Therefore, the secretary could not transfer on his own any officer posted in the region.
The cabinet was apprised of the objection raised in writing by Gilgit-Baltistan Chief Minister Syed Mehdi Shah to the transfer of the inspector general. He said the government had promulgated the Gilgit-Baltistan Empowerment and Self-Governance Order on Sept 9, 2009, whereby the people of Gilgit-Baltistan had got their identity and were granted the basic right of self-governance.
Since there was an acute shortage of appropriate human resource at the disposal of the nascent Gilgit-Baltistan government, a transition plan was approved by the federal government to make a smooth transition to the new system of governance. To meet the urgent requirement of officers, a vacancy-sharing formula was reached under which a committee comprising the establishment secretary, principal secretary to the prime minister and chief secretary of Gilgit-Baltistan would finalise the posting orders of police and All Pakistan Unified Grade (APUG).
The information minister said a special briefing would be arranged by the law ministry to answer all legal queries.
She rejected a perception about a confrontation between the executive and the judiciary. “PPP’s leaders and workers have laid down their lives for the protection of the Constitution and state institutions. Therefore, it cannot think of such a situation.”
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