Mohammad Jamil
The Senate Chairman Raza Rabbani said that Article 6 of the Constitujtioon had once again turned out to be incapable of protecting the statute itself, parliament and democracy. Referring to the decision to allow former president Pervez Musharraf to leave the country, he called upon the federal government and the legislature to undo the provision by amending the Constitution. Before dwelling on his statement, one has to ask him as to what should be done about other articles in the Constitution about the fundamental rights of the people, protection of their lives and the responsibility of the government to provide education, health facilities and job opportunities. Since the governments failed to protect the lives of the people and provide jobs, should those articles should also be revoked.”
There has been a lot of polemics over the decision of the apex court that upheld the decision of the Sindh High Court to remove the name of Pervez Musharraf from the Exit Control List. PML-N questioned the PPP as to why during its tenure had allowed Pervez Musharraf to leave the country, as the case of Benazir case murder case was pending in the court. In fact, the PPP had promised that in the event Pervez Musharraf resigned from the office of president, it would be a open and shut case. Anyhow, within hours after his name was lifted from Exit Control List (ECL), former president Pervez Musharraf had left for Dubai. Minister for Interior Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan said the government had allowed him to travel abroad for medical treatment after the Supreme Court lifted a ban on his foreign travel.
In fact, the government must be ruing its earlier decision of initiating the treason trial that had roiled its relations with military. On Wednesday, Supreme Court (SC) handed down a tremendous ruling on an appeal of the government against Sindh High Court order for the removal of former president Pervez Musharraf’s name from the Exit Control List (ECL). A five-member bench headed by Chief Justice of Pakistan Anwar Zaheer Jamali upheld the ruling of 2014 Sindh High Court. However, the court said the federation of Pakistan or the special court can pass any legal order for regulating his custody or restricting his movement. The court wanted the government to decide about allowing Pervez Musharraf to travel abroad. The chief justice Anwar Zaheer Jamali regretted that “the government did not want to do anything on its own and was taking shelter behind the apex court order of April 8.”
From the CJ’s remarks, one could conclude that the court did send the ball to the government’s court stating that it may pass any order on the issue. During 5 years of the PPP government, no petition was moved against Pervez Musharraf because it wished to avoid confrontation or conflict with military establishment. It was during interim government’s brief tenure that the apex court had admitted petitions for hearing when Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry was chief justice of Pakistan. Even before the court could move, the media trial of Pervez Musharraf had been started. While the baneful discourse had been on for long, more fire and more intensity had been put by the segments of the chattering classes after Pervez Musharraf’s return to the country. In particular, his trial on the charges of high treason before the special court had been turned into a media event.
Some politicians and commentrat were taunting him for taking recourse to pleas and appeals to seek relief, not realizing that Musharraf was doing what an under-trial would do. If he was seeking to go out of the country, so what? Why they were making a fun of him for what he was doing what an under-trial would ordinarily do? Had they every thought how their silly antics demoralized the soldiers that have been laying down their lives and losing limbs in fighting out terrorists and extremists who tried to destabilize this land. Certainly, their churlish discourse was not coming as music to the ears in the barracks. So precariously placed as it is, the nation cannot afford any undesirable eventuality. Hence, sanity should prevail all round; and diatribe against military should stop.
