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Friday, April 19, 2013
‘Musharraf case an opportunity to end duality of laws’ISLAMABAD: Speaking on a point of order in Senate on Thursday, Senator Farhatullah Babar said that all political parties, civil society and the Senate should join hands to bring Musharraf to justice for subverting the constitution.
The Musharraf episode had provided an opportunity to undo the duality of laws in the country; one for the civilians and politicians and the other for the security establishment, whether serving or retired. He said that if the bail of Benazir Bhutto or Nawaz Sharif or any other political leader had thus been cancelled and the court had ordered their arrest, they would have been immediately whisked to Adiala, but Musharraf was allowed to flee.
Babar said that he did not blame the caretakers, as they too were helpless in addressing the issue of the two different yardsticks. He said that the Senate had an added responsibility and recalled its resolution of January 23 last year wherein the Upper House had unanimously called upon the government to arrest Musharraf on return and prosecute him for treason.
Now that the IHC had cancelled his bail and ordered his arrest, it was time that the civil society and political parties got together to address the issue of punishing those who subverted the constitution, he said.
He said that Musharrat was a different kind of a dictator whose actions had been nullified both by parliament and the Supreme Court. It was therefore incumbent upon the political parties and the civil society to move fast and decisively to seek punishment for Musharraf on the charges of high treason, he said. He said it could not be achieved overnight, and it would be a long drawn battle. “However, a decisive beginning can and must be made,” he said, adding that as a first step, the government should be asked to remove the portraits of Musharraf from official buildings. He proposed to move a consensus resolution in the Senate for this purpose. staff reportCourtesy www.dailytimes.com.pk