ISLAMABAD: On the eve of Indepen­dence Day, Supreme Court Bar Association (SCBA) President Kamran Murtaza rushed a hurriedly drafted petition before the Supreme Court; seeking to restrain state functionaries from taking any “extra-constitutional steps”.

Perhaps realising the gravity of the situation, Chief Justice Nasirul Mulk constituted a five-judge larger bench which will commence hearing the petition from Friday.

The bench headed by the Chief justice will include Justice Jawwad S. Khawaja, Justice Mian Saqib Nisar, Justice Asif Saeed Khan Khosa and Justice Mushir Alam.

“I have filed the petition after much deliberation, to allay apprehensions that the democratic set-up may be rolled back through unconstitutional means,” Mr Murtaza, who is also a senator, told Dawn on Wednesday.

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“At least this way, I will have no regrets tomorrow that I did not do my part as president of one of the most distinguished legal bodies in the country,” he said.

When asked why he had not named any individual or institution against whom the restraining order was sought, Mr Murtaza said he had deliberately kept things vague.

In his petition, he asks the Supreme Court to declare that the fundamental rights of the petitioner as well as the citizens of Pakistan may not be violated by anyone, including the administrative or constitutional heads of the state and that they be restrained from taking any extra-constitutional steps that may exacerbate the prevailing situation.

The petitioner has also asked for an interlocutory order (interim relief), which the Supreme Court may deem appropriate.

The contents of the petition are reminiscent of the November 3, 2007 restraining order issued by a seven-judge bench headed by former Chief Justice Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry, moments after the proclamation of emergency, asking all state functionaries, including the army chief and corps commanders to not obey the unconstitutional orders of the government of the time. Shortly after the order was issued, the judges were detained at their residences in the Judge’s Enclave.

But the petition was criticised by Pakistan Bar Council (PBC) Vice Chairman Mohammad Ahsan Bhoon, who described the move as “premature, without seeking prior approval” and something that does not represent the viewpoint of the lawyers’ community. In a statement, Ahsan Bhoon said the petition might have been filed to serve the cause of Senator Murtaza’s own political party, the Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam (F). He said the decision to file the petition had also not been approved by the SCBA executive committee.

Mr Bhoon also took exception to the Lahore High Court’s entertaining of individual petitions seeking directions against political parties to prevent them from carrying out their activities. He said such directions would tarnish the image of the judiciary.

Dragging political issues into courts would undermine the prestige of the judiciary, he said and emphasised that the judiciary should not involve itself in political matters in order to safeguard its image of neutrality and independence. Political matters should be resolved at political forums and it would be in the national interest that these issues are tackled in the parliament, he said.

Islamabad Bar Association President Naseer Ahmed Kiani also urged all political parties to come up with a solution to the prevailing situation.

Published in Dawn, August 14th, 2014