Executive order can restore judiciary, says Bhagwandas

LAHORE: Former judge of the Supreme Court Justice Rana Bhagwandas has said that the only purpose of imposing the martial law on November-3 in the garb of emergency and the PCO was to strangulate the judiciary for protection of the illegitimate rule of an individual.Addressing the General House meeting of the Lahore High Court Bar Association prior to the lawyers’ weekly protest rally, he said it was later proven that neither the National Assembly nor the provincial governments were dissolved due to the unconstitutional act. Justice Bhagwandas said the judiciary in Pakistan was not attacked for the first time on Nov 3 but it happened for the first time that more than 60 judges declined to bow before a dictator. To a query, he said two-thirds majority was not required for the restoration of the judges. After passage of a resolution in the National Assembly, the judges could be reinstated through an executive order, he maintained. However, he said that curtailing the tenure of the CJ was a constitutional issue, which required two-thirds majority in parliament. He denied that there was no difference between the present judges and the previous ones who had not taken the oath under the PCO. He explained that in the past when the judges were removed under the PCO, they immediately accepted it and obtained their pension benefits. Later, Supreme Court condoned that unconstitutional steps and parliaments made them part of the Constitution by approving it with two-thirds majority.This time, however, the situation was different. None of the judges, nor the people of Pakistan, considered them as retired. They were still sitting judges because none of them had enjoyed pension and other benefits, he said. Earlier, Justice Bhagwandas was accorded a warm welcome on his arrival by hundreds of lawyers who showered rose petals on him. However, he stopped the lawyers from shouting slogans against Musharraf.