News
Wednesday, December 28, 2011
Court should not have role in removal of anyone: Asma* News about army, ISI chiefs’ removal echo in SC
* CJP says court has to decide matter if it comes to it
* Attorney general says PM has highest regard for judiciary
ISLAMABAD: The media reports about possible removal of Chief of the Army Staff Gen Ashfaq Parvez Kayani and ISI Chief Lt Gen Ahmad Shuja Pasha echoed in the Supreme Court on Tuesday during the hearing of memo case.
During the hearing, when Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry, heading a nine-member larger bench, noted that the news about possible removal of the army and ISI chiefs were published and came under discussions, Asma Jahangir, counsel for former ambassador to US Husain Haqqani, stated that there should be no role of the court if prime minister removes any one.
The chief justice noted that it was published in the newspapers that the army and ISI chiefs would be removed. He said, in this situation, if the matter came to the court, it would have to decide it.
Asma, however, stated that the court had no concern with the removal of the army chief and it should not interfere into it as the prime minister was empowered to remove the army chief.
Arguing on the maintainability of the petitions filed by PML-N President Nawaz Sharif and others seeking probe into the memo issue, Asma contended that these petitions were not maintainable as neither fundamental rights of the petitioners were affected due to the memo issue nor the petitioners mentioned in their pleas about it.
Asma contended that memo was just an assumption, thus no fundamental rights of anyone were infringed upon due to it. Justice Mian Saqib Nisar noted that the law gives right to the court to probe the matter and collect evidences. “The parliamentary committee also has the same right,” Asma contended.
She said that the court was hearing the ISI pleas, but his client was not heard and a decision was given against him. She said that if ISI reports are examined, Wali Khan, Benazir Bhutto and many more, including the members of the superior judiciary, would be found stigmatised.
She said the court only had to see the law, adding that it should not be worried about the security of the country’s frontiers, as the institutions were there for the purpose. She said that the control of nuclear assets should be with the president and the prime minister. She said that the army was not the sole owner of the nuclear assets, instead it was the ownership of the entire nation. She said the BlackBerry messages of Mansoor Ijaz did not mention about the memo. She said Mansoor Ijaz had published his article after his meeting with the ISI chief.
When Attorney General Maulvi Anwarul Haq read out federation’s rejoinders over the memo issue, the court asked him if memo was just a piece of paper, why a meeting was called in the Presidency over it.
The chief justice observed that the Pakistani nation was a living nation, which did not tolerate things written in the memo. He said that the nation wants that there should be no compromise over the country’s interests and sovereignty. He said that Benazir Bhutto was a great leader, however, no progress took place on her assassination, despite the fact that today was her fourth death anniversary.
The attorney general submitted that Presidency had contradicted the alleged memo on October 29, whereas the prime minister had ordered its investigation on November 22.
The chief justice noted that the federation had stated in its reply that the memo was just a piece of paper, adding that if it was just a piece of paper, then what had necessitated the Presidency to call a meting over it. Justice Jawwad S. Khawaja noted that it would be known after the probe whether it was a piece of paper or anything else.
The attorney general told the court that Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani had the highest regard for judiciary and had no abguity in his mind about its independence. staff report/app
Courtesy www.dailytimes.com.pk