LAHORE, Oct 7: The Pakistan Lawyers’ Forum on Tuesday sought the review of the Lahore High Court’s observation given in an objection petition that it lacked constitutional jurisdiction to hear any matter relating to the acts of the army officials.
The court gave this observation while upholding the LHC office objection to a PLF’s petition seeking probe against the army generals on the charges of misuse of public funds and receiving kickbacks in defence deals.
The office refused to mark this petition for regular hearing, saying the court could not question the actions of the army generals, including President Pervez Musharraf, as mentioned in Article 199 (3) of the 1973 Constitution.
While challenging the court’s verdict through a review petition, PLF President A K Dogar pleaded that the court had not considered the judgment of the Supreme Court given in Lt-Col Anwar Aziz’s case in which it had been held that the high courts had the jurisdiction to hear cases against the armed forces’ actions provided those were carried out without jurisdiction or with mala fide intentions.
“The federal government is bound under the Military Act 1952 to take action against an army general, but no such action has been taken so far. This shows the federal government’s mala fide intention which the LHC must take notice of,” argued the petitioner.
In the original petition, the LHC had been requested to set up a judicial inquiry commission, comprising SC judges with unblemished repute, opposition leader and the Pakistan Bar Council president and secretary-general, to probe charges of plundering by the army generals, who assumed power from 1958 to 1999.
It was also requested that during the pendency of this petition, Gen Pervez Musharraf, Chairman Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee Gen Aziz, Punjab Governor Khalid Maqbool, former interior minister Moinuddin Haider, Lt-Gen Muzaffar Usmani (retired) and Lt-Gen Muhammad Afzal Janjua (retired) should be restrained from alienating their assets so as to avoid the judicial probe to be made by the commission.
The petitioner claimed that former air chief marshal Abbas Khattak had allegedly received Rs180 million kickbacks in the purchase of 40 old Mirage fighters, while another air chief marshal, Feroze Khan, was suspected of receiving five per cent commission on the purchase of 40 F-7 aircraft worth $271 million. In 1996, he alleged, the army had bought 1,047 GS-90 jeeps for $20,889 each against its market value of $13,000. The NAB sources had reportedly claimed that some senior army officials had pocketed Rs510 million out of this purchase deal.
He alleged that 111 armymen got 400 plots in Bahawalpur and Rahim Yar Khan at a throw-away price of Rs47.50 a kanal against the actual price of Rs15,000 to Rs20,000 a kanal, in addition to 35,000-kanal land distributed among them. All the six respondents, said the petitioner, got 400 kanal each at different places in the Punjab.
According to the report of defence services director-general, Rs5 billion loss had been incurred through such an allotment of land to the army generals. Besides, the Pakistan Navy had spent Rs13,112 million on the installation of air-conditioners at the Islamabad Golf Club without any justification in 1996, the petitioner concluded.