Musharraf’s trial a test case between civilian, military supremacy

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan is presently going through a cold war between its civilians and the military as General (retd) Musharraf’s high treason trial has become a test case on whether the country is heading towards civilian supremacy and the rule of law.

“It’s a transition from military supremacy to civilian rule and rule of law,” a top PML-N leader told The News on condition of not being named.

He added that if the government gives a safe exit to Musharraf then how could you justify trying thousands of others, including former President Asif Ali Zardari, ex-Prime Ministers Yusuf Raza Gilani, Raja Pervez Ashraf and Amin Faheem.

Key PML-N leaders agree that Musharraf’s treason trial has become the main irritant between the civilian and military leadership.

Despite top PML-N leaders, including Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif and Interior Minister Ch Nisar Ali Khan, having confidence and trust in General Raheel Sharif, rarely does anyone in the party deny tensions in the civilian-military relationship.

It is said that some influential pro-Musharraf elements are putting pressure on General Raheel to get Musharraf off the hook at any cost.

The PML-N, which has always been demanding Musharraf’s trial under Article 6 for twice abrogating the Constitution, today stands divided on the issue.

Amongst the senior PML-N leaders, many are now in favour of letting Musharraf go abroad to save the system. A small minority, however, insists that letting Musharraf off the hook means seriously compromising the transition to civilian supremacy and badly denting the struggle for rule of law and constitutionalism.

Informed sources said that Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif wants to leave Musharraf’s fate to the legal course and believes that any concession by the executive of the former dictator would mean compromising the rule of law.

The sources said that for the same reason, the prime minister decided to challenge in the SC the SHC decision of removing Musharraf’s name from the ECL in 15 days.

Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif and Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan are said be the leading voices in the PML-N demanding leniency in Musharraf’s high treason trial.

These voices fear that Musharraf’s case may lead to the cropping up of serious misunderstandings between the civilian and military leadership which may endanger the future of democracy as was pointed out by Mahmood Khan Achakzai in the National Assembly.

Many politicians and media observers believe that certain pro-Musharraf elements are allegedly behind the recent but sudden emergence of the anti-government, anti-system alliance of the PML-Q and PAT and the possible joining in of Sheikh Rashid to exert pressure on the PML-N government.

As highlighted by editorials in leading newspapers, a campaign has been launched recently to suggest that the PML-N government has failed to deliver and unless removed Pakistan will collapse. These editorials term this view as “nonsense” and rightly point out what they call the “so-called sins” of the NS government which prominently include Musharraf’s trial.

It is suggested by the PML-Q-PAT, Shaikh Rashid and others, including some in the media, the last one-year rule of Nawaz Sharif has been the worst in the history of Pakistan. They argue that the government must be removed and the system be overhauled to save the country from collapse.

The last one-year rule of the federal and provincial governments may not be up to the mark, but it is generally believed and even authenticated by the international agencies that Pakistan has improved as against what it was under the previous regime. Transparency International reported less corruption in Pakistan and there have been no mega scandals of corruption during the last one year. The World Bank, IMF and other international institutions see an improvement in Pakistan’s economy.

Accountability and governance have been the weak areas of the government but still, they have not been as bad as was the situation during the previous regime.

With the recent emergence of the thoroughly known trio—the Chaudhrys of Gujrat, Allama Tahirul Qadri from Canada and Sheikh Rashid of Lal Haveli—warnings are being issued by the likes of Raza Rabbani, Mahmood Khan Achakzai, I A Rehman and others that if the present system is derailed it would be a serious blow not merely to the system but to the Federation and its unity.

Plea to work together for supremacy of Constitution

KARACHI: Kamran Khan, the host of Geo News programme, ‘Aaj Kamran Khan Kay Sath’, on Monday said that Geo has for the first time offered its apology regarding its coverage on April 19 after the murderous attack on Hamid Mir. Geo said to the Army, the ISI and Gen Zaheer-ul-Islam that the channel offers its apologies on the said coverage.

Kamran Khan said that the apology, which had been published on the front pages of Jang and The News, was also aired on the 9.00pm news bulletin on Geo on Monday.The apology also refers to the background of the whole issue, and it also says that the need of the hour is to move forward together and to join hands for the supremacy of the Constitution in the country.

Geo management says that after the process of sincere self-accountability, editorial debates and the public opinion, we have arrived at the conclusion that our transmission on April 19 after the murderous attack on Hamid Mir had not only gone too far but it was also very emotional. Although the ISPR version was repeatedly telecast on April 19, yet we sincerely offer our apologies on the pain our transmission caused to the ISI as an institution, its Director-General Lieutenant-General Zaheer-ul-Islam, his family, the people affiliated to the armed forces and our viewers.

Meanwhile, the Islamabad High Court on Monday issued several orders. In the first order, the meeting that had been summoned by Pemra and which was supposed to take up the Geo case was suspended. The court also suspended the show-cause notices issued by Pemra to its private members. In yet another order, the IHC suspended the notification of the appointment of Kamaluddin Tipu who the government had appointed in Pemra.

Kamran Khan said that these were the three important developments which cannot be said to be in favour of Geo.On the other hand, hearing into Geo applications was held at the Supreme Court where an extraordinary situation has developed in the form of a campaign against a Supreme Court judge, Justice Jawwad S. Khawaja. Not only the campaign was seen on a television channel, but banners were also hoisted against him in Islamabad.

During the Supreme Court proceedings on Monday, Justice Jawwad S. Khawaja asked the Islamabad administration as well as the Intelligence Bureau to trace those who had hoisted those banners and to ensure that no such incident happens again. He also said that Pemra is bound by a previous order by the Supreme Court issued in 2010 in which it had been said that Pemra was bound to see that Geo channels must be telecast in the cable operation right at the spots which had been reserved for it. Pemra must act against the cable operators if they are found to have violated the arrangement.

Senior journalist Arif Nizami, while speaking on the programme, said that the matter now should come to an end after Geo’s apology. He said that the future of the cause of the freedom of the press is at stake.

Arif Nizami said that he had gone through the apology offered by Geo, and as a professional journalist he would like to say that it is not enough and it has come too late.Arif Nizami said that the wordings used in the apology should have been simpler. He said that things have deteriorated so much that the apology Geo has offered will not be considered as an unconditional apology.

He said that the government is apparently saying that it is supporting Geo and it is supporting freedom of expression, but the matter is not so straightforward as far as Pemra is concerned.

In a different segment of the programme, Kamran Khan said that today has been a historic day: the Indian prime minister was taking oath at a ceremony where Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif was also in attendance. The two prime ministers shook hands today, and tomorrow they will meet for an hour which is a good beginning. The world is watching the development with interest since Narendra Modi had been a very harsh critic of Pakistan.

Kamran Khan said that Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif in an interview to an Indian television channel has said that he wants to resume the talks’ process with India from where the process had collapsed in 1999.

In a yet different segment of the programme, Kamran Khan, while commenting on the MQM rally in Karachi, said that the Muttahida Qaumi Movement exhibited its political might, and MQM activists from all over Sindh converged on the venue of the rally in Karachi and expressed solidarity with their leader, Altaf Hussain.

Kamran Khan said that the purpose of the rally was to convey a message to British Prime Minister David Cameron. There were several questions addressed to the British government and its prime minister. The questions referred to the matters which are being investigated by the Scotland Yard concerning the MQM leadership in Britain.

Kamran Khan said that the main speech of the rally was delivered not by Altaf Hussain but by Farooq Sattar.A very important question concerned the disruption that some of the actions of the British government and that of its police have been causing to the education of Altaf Hussain’s daughter, Afza Altaf.

Kamran Khan said that it has been weeks since the ceasefire between the government and the Taliban expired and there have been terrorist incidents since the ceasefire expired. He said that six terrorist incidents took place in the last three days in which 25 people embraced martyrdom. There is a serious threat of terrorism incidents, and the government is working hard to deal with the eventuality. The provinces have been asked to do their own contingency planning. The planning is also being conducted in Islamabad for which the Army and the police will coordinate their efforts. The corps commander of Rawalpindi has recently presided a meeting on the security of Rawalpindi-Islamabad which was also attended by the IG of Islamabad and other high police officials. A comprehensive plan has been devised. From Islamabad, three companies of the 111 Brigade have been told to be ready to assist the civil administration.

Commenting on the international affairs, Kamran Khan said that the West wants to improve its ties with Iran while Pakistan is also trying to improve its relations with Iran.Besides, the Arab countries in the region are also aspiring to improve their relations with Iran.

Musharraf case proves supremacy of law: LHC CJ

 

LAHORE: Lahore High Court Chief Justice Umar Ata Bandial has said the judiciary is committed to dispensing justice to the affected people.
He was addressing a seminar on the topic of ‘Court Reporting and Dispensation of Justice’, organised at the Punjab Judicial Academy by the Press Council of Pakistan (PCP) here on Saturday.

About the Pervez Musharraf issue, the LHC CJ said he did not want to comment on the case as it was a sub judice matter. But, he added, he would like to say one thing that the developments in the Musharraf case had proven the supremacy of the law.

Justice Muhammad Anwarul Haq, Justice Ali Baqar Najfi, Justice Abdus Sami Khan, Raja Muhammad Shafqat Abbasi, Chairman PCP, Muhammad Ramzan, Mujeebur Rehman Shami, President CPNE, and journalist Saeed Aasi were also present on the occasion.

The CJ said justice could not be judged by the number of verdicts but by the authenticity of the verdicts. He said the services of the legal fraternity would be remembered for long. Pakistan was created by a lawyer, Quaid-e-Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah, its idea was presented by another lawyer, Allama Muhammad Iqbal, and a number of other prominent lawyer leaders of the Pakistan Movement had struggled for the creation of this homeland.

The CJ recalled that the lawyers’ movement of 2007 wasunique in the sense that not a leaf was disturbed or any public property damaged as the movement was totally peaceful, pursuing its cause through talks, the most trusted weapon of the lawyers. The LHC CJ hoped that in the future too the judiciary, lawyers, civil society and the media would jointly ensure the supremacy of the rule of law.

The LHC chief justice said the role of the media was very important for the rule of law in the country and the restoration of constitutional rights of the public. He said the contempt of court law was used as a tool in the past to intimidate the journalist community, but the present judiciary has the courage to face positive and constructive criticism and it has not invoked the draconian law in the near past. He said the language of law was more difficult than ordinary language and it requires vast knowledge and expertise to fully comprehend legal terminology. We, the judges, also go through law books while dictating judgements; therefore, journalists should also take extra care while reporting judicial matters so that their news may not prejudice court proceedings.

He further said judges could not decide cases without assistance from the legal fraternity and the role of the lawyers in the dispensation of justice could not be undermined. At the end, the chief justice lauded court reporting in the Lahore High Court and saluted media persons for their responsible reporting.

Speaking on the occasion, PCP Chairman Raja Muhammad Shafqat Abbasi said the era of press releases was over and now the media was an independent entity, like other state institutions, and it was a need of the hour that it should be self-accountable now. Each institution should endeavour for more services to the masses, he added.

The Pakistan Bar Council vice chairman asked media persons to curtail the fashion of tickers on the electronic media.Agencies add: LHC Chief Justice Umar Ata Bandial said the judiciary was a vibrant institution and its verdicts should not be made controversial.

Justice Bandial said the accused were freed by the courts due to poor investigation by the police, but the courts are accused of freeing culprits. He said the judiciary wanted to reform society.