KARACHI, Dec 15: The deposed chief justice of the Sindh High Court, Justice Sabihuddin Ahmed, on Saturday questioned the legality of the amendments made to the Constitution during the state of emergency imposed on the country on Nov 3.

Addressing a seminar titled ‘Constitutional Amendments and their Impact on Society’ held at the University of Karachi, Justice Ahmed pointed out that although the emergency rule had been lifted, the changes made to the Constitution were permanent. He questioned how the Constitution could be amended by one man when actually, such changes required approval by a two-thirds’ majority in the National Assembly and the Senate.

Saying that the independence of the judiciary was guaranteed in the Objectives Resolution, Justice Ahmed pointed out that today, judges could be fired or made subservient to presidential orders by a mere stroke of the pen. “Whether this should be called the restoration of the judiciary, I leave to you,” said.

Citizens’ rights, such as justice, education, employment etc could be given either as a matter or right or grace, he said, but in our neo-colonial society, the executive provided them as a matter of grace. Justice Ahmed explained that the “thorny issue” was that the judiciary safeguarded the rights of the people and the executive, upon feeling threatened, alleged that the judiciary was interfering in its affairs.

Earlier, the president of the Sindh High Court Bar Association, Rasheed Rizvi, reminded the audience that this was the only juncture in Pakistan’s history when there existed the opportunity to make the judiciary independent. He pointed out that the movement of the lawyers and civil society was based on principles, not geared towards gaining power. While the political parties were interested only in power, said Mr Rizvi, the lawyers’ struggle would continue until their principled demands were fully met. — Salman Siddiqui