News
Saturday, December 24, 2011
Question of military takeover out of place* CJP says gone are the days when unconstitutional governments used to get extensions from courts
By Hasnaat Malik
ISLAMABAD: Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry, heading a nine-member larger bench of the Supreme Court, made a categorical statement on Friday that the question of a military takeover was out of place as the judiciary would never endorse any unconstitutional step.
Hearing the memo case, the chief justice observed that gone were the days when unconstitutional governments used to get extensions from the court. “There is no question of take over”, the chief justice remarked after Syed Ghous Ali Shah, a petitioner, argued that after May 2 Abbottabad incident, an impression had been created that the army was behind it and wanted to take over the government.
The chief justice also noted that there was no question of any military takeover, adding that after passing a restraining order on November 3, 2007, the court had declared all actions taken by adventurers as void and illegal. He said constitution has prevailed in the country and there was a rule of law and supremacy of the constitution, which was a great achievement.
He said that constitution would prevail, system would run and good time would come.
The court also questioned the resignation of former ambassador to the US Husain Haqqani if he was not guilty.
On the contention of PML-N Senator Ishaq Dar that the issue of memo writing was not controversial now as almost all the petitioners and the respondents were agreed that memo was written, the chief justice noted that it had yet to be decided.
Meanwhile, the court rejected the prime minister’s reply over the assertions made by the sitting ministers in a press conference on December 1, ridiculing the judiciary and criticising the order of the court for formation of a commission to probe the memo issue.
The court also issued notices to the president, the prime minister, the ISI chief and all other parties to submit their replies over a constitutional petition filed by one Shafqatullah Sohail, a Canadian citizen of Pakistani origin. Later the hearing was adjourned till December 27.
Courtesy www.dailytimes.com.pk