THIS is apropos the news report ‘Govt seeks review of SC verdict on COAS extension’ (Dec 27), which is about government’s yet another legal manoeuver of filing a review petition against the Supreme Court verdict about the army chief tenure’s extension case.

It is ironical that the text of the petition has, along with legal arguments, weak emotional rhetoric. The government should have avoided writing that the enemies of the state had ganged up to destabilise the state by questioning the incumbent army chief’s extension.

Equally unprofessional was to mention that the reappointment had been warmly welcomed by the people at large and there were several seminars and procession in favour of the extension in the army chief’s service from which the pulse of the public could be appreciated.

Instead of the aforementioned assertions, emphasis should have been upon the legal aspects of the verdict that would have helped the apex court analyse the review petition on legal grounds.

Last 17 months of the current government have witnessed numerous events where it had to take criticism for being incompetent by getting into unnecessary details or bypassing the actual issue.

It is pertinent to mention that the subject review would not have been required had the directive of extension followed the regular bureaucratic flow. Therefore the government stalwarts should lay back for a while, take a deep breath, and ponder as how to act as a proficient executive.

Ch Bilal Hassan
Islamabad

Published in Dawn, January 7th, 2020