KARACHI, Feb 13: An All Parties Conference on Wednesday unanimously rejected the reforms and amendments introduced recently by the present government and vowed to launch a joint struggle against them.
The APC on “Electoral Reforms and Constitutional Position of Inducting Army Officials in Judiciary”, organized by the Jamaat-e-Islami at its office in Karachi, was attended by the leaders of various politico-religious parties.
The JI’s acting Amir, Syed Munawar Hasan, speaking on the occasion, termed the amendments to anti-terrorism laws illegal, unconstitutional, and harmful to the judicial process and supremacy of law.
He expressed the apprehension that the decision would pave the way to the supremacy of army officials on civil judges.
He said that his party, with the help of lawyers and other political and religious parties would struggle against the policies of the present government which suggested that the government did not believe in the present judicial system.
“Apprehensions and unrest among the masses is increasing gradually due to the unexpected decisions by this government. The decision will not only destroy the judiciary but also harm the efforts to restore democracy, as the judiciary and the administration are the two separate pillars of any system” he added.
Referring to some past experiments of former governments regarding army courts, He said that all those experiments had proved useless despite some bold steps. He added that every new anti-terrorism law became a tool of terrorism, instead of blocking it.
He recalled a verdict of the Supreme Court in the Shaikh Liaquat Case in which the apex court had brushed aside the idea of army courts in the constitution.
N. D Khan, central leader of the Pakistan Peoples Party, said the present government had no right to introduce constitutional amendments, adding that although some of the points were beneficial for his party, it would not accept them because the right to make those changes rested with an elected parliament only.
He emphasized the need for launching a joint struggle against the government decisions in order to ensure the proper working of the judiciary in the country.
Vice-chairman Pakistan Muslim League (PM-N), Ejaz Shafee, urged civil judges to raise their voice against the moves and demanded that the government not touch the issues which had been decided by the elected parliaments of the previous governments.
He strongly opposed the allotment of extra seats for women and termed it unnecessary as, according to him, they could contest elections on the general seats.
General secretary Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf, Meraj Mohammad Khan, advised the government to keep alive the spirit of the unanimously adopted constitution of 1973.
“The procedure for constitutional amendments has been mentioned in the constitution clearly, even the Apex Court has no right to interfere here,” he added.
He emphasized the need for constituting an independent election commission with the consultation of political parties and said that “if that EC proposes amendments, they can be given consideration, but still the parliament will be the final authority”.
Amir Khan, general secretary of the Muhajir Quami Movement, said that the idea that the decisions made by the present government could be in accordance with the spirit of constitution was a mistake as the takeover by this government was also unconstitutional.
Amin Khatuk, provincial chief of the Awami National Party, also criticized the government reforms and recalled a number of steps taken by Gen Ziaul Haq which, according to him, damaged the interests of the country.
The JI’s Karachi Amir, Dr Merajul Huda Siddiqui, Abdul Aziz of the Muslim Conference, Hafiz Mushtaq Abbasi, Mufti Usman Yar, Qazi Zahid Hussain, Abdul Sami Khan, Jamshed Ahmed Khan, Mian Irshad, Khan Amanullah Khan, Bisharat Mirza, Dr Khurshid and Allama Abdullah Ghazi also spoke on the occasion.—PPI