Musharraf summoned in judges case

[Khalids]

Musharraf’s counsel to skip SC hearing
By Nasir Iqbal
Wednesday, 29 Jul, 2009 | 05:38 AM PST |

ISLAMABAD: The Supreme Court will take up on Wednesday the judges’ case without former president Gen (retd) Pervez Musharraf who has been invited to defend his extra-constitutional actions, either in person or through a representative.

‘We have decided not to represent Gen (retd) Musharraf unless the notice issued by the court in his name is served’ and no one from his side would appear in the court on Wednesday, former caretaker minister Advocate Mohammad Ali Saif told Dawn.

The name of Advocate Saif, who regularly appears in TV talk shows to defend Gen (retd) Musharraf, was being tipped to be in the panel of counsel formed to defend him.

The lawyer said no one would represent the former general, who was in the United Kingdom, until he received the court notice.

He said the court should resort to the legal ways available for serving notices in other countries.

Senior counsel Abdul Hafeez Pirzada, who is acting as the leading legal aide to Gen (retd) Musharraf and has held a long session with him, is still in the UK.

Former attorney general Malik Mohammad Qayyum was consulted by Advocate Pirzada but he did not appear to be interested at present to be in the team. He said he wanted to avoid getting involved in controversies that were bound to emerge during the hearing.

The Supreme Court bench headed by Chief Justice Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry includes Justice Javed Iqbal, Justice Sardar Mohammad Raza Khan, Justice Khalilur Rehman Ramday, Justice Mian Shakirullah Jan, Justice Tassaduq Husain Jillani, Justice Nasirul Mulk, Justice Raja Fayyaz Ahmed, Justice Chaudhry Ijaz Ahmed, Justice Ghulam Rabbani, Justice Sarmad Jalal Osmani, Justice Mohammad Sair Ali, Justice Mahmood Akhtar Shahid Siddiqui and Justice Jawwad S. Khawaja.

While hearing the case of two Sindh High Court judges and the Nadeem Ahmed case last week, the bench had shown interest in revisiting the Tikka Iqbal Mohammad case and the entire gamut of issues relating to imposition of ‘emergency’ by inviting Gen (retd) Musharraf to defend his unconstitutional actions.

DAWN.COM | Pakistan | Musharraf?s counsel to skip SC hearing

 

[Interceptor]

Oh yeah Before Oct 1999, Pakistan was doing so good! We weren't a 3rd world nation at the brink of default.

So thats the excuse for taking over the country.

If say Musharraf was on trail and that would have been his statement he would have made a poor case.

 

[Khalids]

Report sought on violence during emergency period
Updated at: 1655 PST, Wednesday, July 29, 2009

ISLAMABAD: Chief Justice of Pakistan Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry Wednesday said the judiciary is often blamed but the regrettable aspect is that the parliament passed resolution, approving imposition of emergency.

The CJP said this in his remarks while hearing the constitution petition regarding appointment of high court judges and PCO judges.

Attorney General Latif Khosa said that Pakistan People’s Party was not the part of that resolution.

Chief Justice Iftikhar Chaudhry also said no such precedence exists in the world where marshal law had been imposed with an aim to target judiciary. “General Cromwell’s body was exhumed and hanged in country like Britain,” he pointed out.

He said other cases are suffering delays because of the ongoing hearing of petition on judges appointment, as the entire nation awaits the court’s judgment.

The CJP said the role of judiciary was being appreciated until September 6, 2007 and it was being said the Supreme Court served the country and nation by allowing Pervez Musharraf to contest the presidential election.

He discussed with Advocate Hamid Ali Khan as to what happened during October 22, 2007 and November 2, 2007 that necessitated an extreme decision of declaring emergency in the country.

At one point Justice Khalil-ur-Rehman Ramday said in his remarks that baseless observations were made for maligning the judges during Tikka Iqbal case.

Earlier, Hamid Khan in his arguments said the verdict on Tikka Iqbal case was based on the observation that the country’s defence was in jeopardy but nothing was explained as to what threats the country’s defence was facing at that time.

He said 5 more judges were appointed between November 23, 2007 and February 15, 2009 only to show that the decision was made by a 13-member bench.

 

[Awesome]

So thats the excuse for taking over the country.

If say Musharraf was on trail and that would have been his statement he would have made a poor case.

Depends on when that trial would've been held.

In 1999 sweets were distributed all over Lahore. Freakin Lahore! Nawaz Sharif's adda.

I don't believe in kaam chalaoo democracy which brings these luterays to power. Like Nawaz really won with a 97% mandate anyway.

 

[Murshad]

Originally Posted by Asim Aquil

Depends on when that trial would've been held.

In 1999 sweets were distributed all over Lahore. Freakin Lahore! Nawaz Sharif's adda.

I don't believe in kaam chalaoo democracy which brings these luterays to power. Like Nawaz really won with a 97% mandate anyway.

Dear don’t worry, his trial is not going to be that which he deserves, after all he is not only a retired general but a retired Chief of Army staff. And in near future he will be hiddenly protected by his “immediate” juniors until a major tactical shift seen or unseen occurs. Don’t forget current Chief of Army staff was active partisan of all “deal dialogue” with BiBi.
So in punjabi people say”natha singh and khalsa singh are same singh”

In 1999, you are right sweets were distributed but “all over Lahore” is a over cooked curry and who says Lahore is Nawaz Sharif’s adda, this is entirely different topic.

Democracy is the only system for Pakistan as stated by the Quaid, and lastly about 97% mandate of Nawaz Sharif, its written in holy books,
“when evil competes with good, angles descend from heaven to help good”
and in 1997 Nawaz Shrif was symbol of good forces so “angles” came down to help him. Still some idiots still think 97% mandate was another agencies saga, idiots.

 

[Spring Onion]

Why Musharraf alone?

Remember them, anyone? What happened to the puppies he sported in the first weeks in power? Given our sudden desire for punishing Musharraf, he could now also be accused of first using them to offend the faithful and then abandoning them to their fate as he made off to London. Animal rights activists of civil society, please step forward.


The cacophony surrounding the demands to bring the former president-general to justice makes a spectacle of the way we do politics. Retribution, when it is a one-sided affair, is vendetta; and justice cannot be served by certain individuals in power bent on settling scores, albeit with a wrongdoer.



It is a sorry commentary on our system that an independent judiciary should now appear to succumb to popular demands as opposed to the wishes of autocratic rulers in the past. In doing so the so-called ‘doctrine of necessity’ will still seem to be playing itself out, where the popular will can be seen as replacing the shackles put on the judiciary by autocratic rulers earlier on. It is well worth asking: what, then, has changed since the dawn of this new brave era of democracy, post-Musharraf?



Public memory anywhere is short-lived. In Pakistan it is also steered by the shortsightedness of those who insist on erasing it from the record altogether. The transition to democracy is hardly a fait accompli as we speak. Democratic institutions weakened by Gen Musharraf’s tinkering with the constitution are far from being stable entities today. While anyone in their right mind must blame the general for the mess at hand, the judiciary should also show the moral courage to shoulder its part of the blame.


The fact that it was the Supreme Court headed by the same honourable chief justice which gave Gen Musharraf the right to amend the constitution single-handedly in May 2000 cannot be overlooked. This was far more than what the then chief executive had expected to get from the apex court; he had just sought indemnity for the circumstances under which the Oct 12, 1999 coup took place. The general himself did not stage the coup from mid-air, aboard a PIA commercial flight which was not even in Pakistani airspace when the 111 Brigade struck to depose the prime minister.



How could the same judge(s) now be prevailed upon by those wishing to settle vendetta against the general to indict and punish him for a deed, and all that followed it, for which he was only partially responsible? When the dust kicked up by Musharraf’s opponents settles, public sensibilities based on moral grounds can equally challenge the judiciary’s acquiescence in the whole sordid affair. Can the judiciary survive yet another fall from grace in the public eye that history books will ultimately assign it if it succumbs to the temptation of punishing someone who was also its tormentor?



Speaking of tormentors and violators of the constitution, and of public trust, there have been many. Any attempt at retribution in the past has only remained just that. Remember the post-1971 Hamoodur Rahman Commission Report, which has only gathered dust all these years? No one, including Zulfikar Ali Bhutto’s fiercest opponents, has had the courage to act on the facts ascertained in that document, and bring those held culpable to justice. Before that, the Liaquat Ali Khan murder and subsequently, the Zia plane crash still remain shrouded in mystery. What the very expensive UN commission on Benazir Bhutto’s murder will accomplish in real terms will be also there for all to see.



In the 1990s — that brief interlude when democracy struggled to strike root — we also saw the then discredited policies pursued by the elected leaders who were readily manipulated by the civil-military establishment to their own disadvantage. In the process, besides using the judiciary to set up their rivals in courts of law, presidents and army chiefs were removed, the Supreme Court was attacked, a chief justice was humiliated and thrown out of office.

Then, the removal of the last army chief proved a case of one too many; the army for the first time struck as an institution, and not as an instrument of its commander’s ambition to pack up a democratic order that had become more of a disorder. The tragedy is that Pakistan’s elected leaders have also acted like autocrats.



While no military coups can ever be justified, especially when our ambitious generals have overstayed their welcome every time they overthrew a government in the past, the popular perception of politicians’ failings has also remained a sad constant. Democracy does not mean a free-for-all arrangement; it means first and foremost, living up to the people’s expectation, leading to good governance. It also means engagement and dialogue aimed at consensus-building among political and social stakeholders, which should lead to effective and transparent governance that is accountable to voters.



Given our sudden zeal for retribution, and the sense of urgency that some are attaching to bringing the autocratic Gen Musharraf to justice, what an ailing polity like Pakistan really needs is a consensus-based truth and reconciliation commission if the demons of the past are to be exorcised. Such a commission must be representative of all political parties and opinions, including those of marginalised and consistently wronged sections of society. Among such groups, the poor, women, the religious minorities, the Baloch and the Ahmadi community readily come to mind.

If the urge is so strong today to start with a clean slate, all old and new holy cows must be brought to the altar of justice which, when dispensed, must also be seen by all to have been done.

DAWN.COM | Pakistan | Why Musharraf alone?

 

[Enigma SIG]

Why Musharraf alone?

Yup; why musharraf alone? If hanging is what they want; i'd like to see the leaders of PPP; PML and every other major party hanged as they have willfully looted; raped and plundered the nation by their own hands...

 

[Interceptor]

Depends on when that trial would've been held.

That would be an eye opnener if it happens, trail of Musharraf.

In 1999 sweets were distributed all over Lahore. Freakin Lahore! Nawaz Sharif's adda.

What goes around comes around. There is little difference when Musharraf went out, other than more sweets and a lot of partying happened through out Pakistan.

People were more than satisfied with the outcome.

I don't believe in kaam chalaoo democracy which brings these luterays to power. Like Nawaz really won with a 97% mandate anyway.

In the end those luterays went on into Musharraf's Gov (PML-Q). You recieved the same dose with a new name for 10 years. What more do you want. You could ask How did Musharraf mange two thirds majority, with same cronies from Nawaz-party?

Hardly a change if you ask me.

 

[Murshad]

Originally Posted by Imran2006g
Yup; why musharraf alone? If hanging is what they want; i'd like to see the leaders of PPP; PML and every other major party hanged as they have willfully looted; raped and plundered the nation by their own hands...

You are right why Mushraf alone, Mushraf now “sole living legend” among military dictators, is symbol of ruling elite class. If people demand to hang him, it is deeply rooted hate in the hearts of Pakistanis. If we want his trial then other group should not worry. Years back, a retired chief of army staff was summoned by Supreme Court what happened then? How many of us still remember?

 

[ejaz007]

Islamabad court directs to register case against Musharraf
Updated at: 1130 PST, Monday, August 10, 2009


ISLAMBABAD: A session court has directed police to register a case against former President Pervaiz Musharraf on petition regarding house arrest of apex court judges.

Additional session judge Muhammad Akmal Khan passed this order during hearing of a petition filed by Aslam Ghuman advocate.

The petitioner in his petition stated that Musharraf put judges of apex court and their under illegal house arrest to prolong his rule.

The judge said federal law ministry didn’t present its stand on the petition despite giving time to them. The court has directed SHO Secretariat police station to record statement of petitioner against former president and register FIR. Deputy Attorney General Mehfooz Paracha was also present in the court during today’s hearing.

Islamabad court directs to register case against Musharraf