ISLAMABAD, April 21: A special bench of the Supreme Court, consisting of nine senior judges, would start day-to-day hearing of five constitutional petitions challenging the assumption of office of president by Gen Pervez Musharraf and then holding referendum to cement his position for five years.
The petitions were originally slated for hearing on April 17, but were put off as one member of the bench, Justice Munir A. Sheikh, was not available for personal reason. The apex court is left only with six working days to decide about the fate of referendum, due to be held on April 30.
The petitions which will be taken up for hearing on Monday are filed by Qazi Hussain Ahmad, Amir JI; Alliance for Restoration of Democracy (ARD); Supreme Court Bar Association; Lahore High Court, Rawalpindi Bench Bar Association, and Shahid Orakzai, a self-styled pro bono publico.
The petition filed by Moulvi Iqbal Haider, of Awami Himayat Tehrik, is not likely to be taken up due to some procedural lapse on the part of petitioner. Iqbal Haider had asked the apex court to declare that there was no bar in the Constitution to prevent Gen Pervez Musharraf from referendum to fill the vacuum created after the resignation of elected President Mohammad Rafiq Tarar. He also stated that Jamat-i-Islami had supported referendum, for the same purposes, held by Gen Ziaul Haq.
Qazi Hussain Ahmad, in his petition, has mainly challenged the assumption of office of President by Gen Pervez Musharraf on June 20, 2001. He has also challenged the holding of referendum, but his emphasis is on the removal of elected president Rafiq Tarar and assumption of office by Gen Pervez Musharraf.
The Supreme Court Bar Association also filed a constitutional petition, “to bring on record that SCBA was against this exercise.” Hamid Khan, president of SCBA, however, had also expressed his pessimism about the outcome of the petitions.
The SCBA in its petition stated that under the SC judgment, validating military takeover, the military government had been empowered to make only such laws which were not in conflict with the provision of the Constitution. The Referendum Order, 2002, it stated, was designed to change the whole parliamentary structure of the Constitution.
The SC bench will consist of Chief Justice Sheikh Riaz Ahmad, Justice Munir A. Sheikh, Justice Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry, Justice Qazi Mohammad Farooq, Justice Mian Mohammad Ajmal, Justice Deedar Hussain Shah, Justice Hamid Ali Mirza, Justice Abdul Hameed Dogar and Justice Mohammad Nawaz Abbasi.