Ex-judge says current SC is unconstitutional

LAHORE - Former senior most judge of the Supreme Court Justice Rana Bhagwandas has said the existing ‘apex court’ is unconstitutional and illegal and the validity it gave to the November 3 Proclamation of Emergency has no worth and justification.
Addressing the Lahore High Court Bar Association yesterday, he said since the status of the existing Supreme Court was not constitutional, the position of its judgment under which it validated the unconstitutional, illegal and immoral acts of November 3 was also of no consequence.
The speech was studded with couplets of various poets and the lawyers, through slogans, reiterated their resolve to continue their struggle for the restoration of pre-November 3 judiciary.
Some slogans meant that the struggle would continue till the ‘destruction’ of Gen. Musharraf. The former judge, who had acted as chief justice after President Pervez Musharraf had first filed a reference against Justice Iftikhar Chaudhry, advised the lawyers not to involve themselves in sloganeering. “It’s the actions, not slogans, that can ensure the victory of the struggle.”
Justice Bhagwandas, who lost his job as a result of the imposition of emergency and introduction of PCO on November 3, stands superannuated and has no chance to get reinstated even if parliament, one way or the other, restores the other five dozen judges.
He said only parliament could validate President Musharraf’s steps by a two-thirds majority in both houses of parliament. And unless the bicameral legislature did so, the apex court’s validation would be a futile exercise.
Referring to the criticism that of the sacked judges there were many who had taken oath under the PCOs in the past, Justice Bhagwandas said the PCO enforced by President Musharraf on November 3 was different from the ones promulgated in the past.
While the PCOs brought in 1981 and 2000 had affected all institutions, the one enforced on November 3 specifically aimed at ‘strangulating’ the judiciary. He praised all judges who had refused to take oath under the unconstitutional document.
He lamented that all governments, civilians and others, wanted a weak judiciary for their own interests. However, he said, a weak judiciary could not deliver or come up to people’s expectations.
He urged the lawyers to continue their struggle, assuring them that they were about to achieve their goal. He was confident that as a result of the ongoing struggle the judges would be back to their position in the near future. He was equally confident that parliament would not endorse the unconstitutional acts of President Musharraf.
The lawyers boycotted the courts yesterday and held a rally in the city. On the way, they raised slogans. Leaders of the Jamaat-e-Islami, the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz, the Pakistan Tehrik-e-Insaaf and the Khaksar Tehrik and the Muslim Students Federation also participated in the rally.
Leaders of the Lahore High Court Bar and the Lahore District Bar demanded the dismissal of Attorney-General Malik Qayyum. They also said that President Musharraf should be tried for the unconstitutional steps he had taken during his period.