Eminent jurist and legal brain of the ruling Pakistan Muslim League (Q), Senator S M Zafar, has said that President Musharraf should doff his uniform, and contest October 6, 2007 presidential election as a civilian, like other candidates.
He was addressing the nine-member bench of the Supreme Court on Wednesday as amicus curiae on the question of dual offices of President Musharraf and his eligibility to contest the forthcoming presidential elections. He said though he was part of the government, yet he had accepted to become amicus with the hope that it might help the cause of democracy.
He said that as a Senator he had opposed the "holding of two offices Act 2004" because President Musharraf had got a golden opportunity to doff his uniform, and relinquish the charge of Chief of Army Staff by December 31, 2004. Zafar regretted that General Ayub Khan , General Ziaul Haq and General Pervez Musharraf did not fulfil their promises made to the nation..
He suggested that the court should write in its judgement that the day General Musharraf is elected as President, (6th October 2007) he should be deemed to have retired from Army service. He said though General Musharraf had assured the court that, "if re-elected" he would put off his uniform, yet the court should specify the date of his retirement from the army service.
Another amicus curiae, Aitzaz Ahsan, also made his submissions on several constitutional and law points. He said the framers of the 1973 Constitution had tried to protect the State from Army occupying civilian, constitutional or political offices.
He said that there aremany constitutional and legal firewall around the Chief of Army Staff and ineligibility of the COAS to contest election of the office of the President for another term. He argued that the impediments in the way of the President to become Army Chief have been removed by the 17th Amendment and the Act 7, 2004.
However, he submitted that the impediments in the way of the Army Chief to become the President (even a candidate for a political office) had not been removed. Aitzaz said that under he law the proposer and seconder of an army officer in uniform seeking an elective office could be punished.
He said that 8th and 17th Amendments had altered the relative status of the Prime Minister and the President, but nothing was changed with respect to the position of the Armed Forces, and the original firewalls were retained throughout.
Earlier, Attorney General Malik Mohammad Qayyum and President's senior counsel Sharifuddin Pirzada completed their arguments saying that there was no impediment in the way of President General Musharraf to contest the 6th October 2007 presidential polls.
Pirzada said that General Musharraf had fully implemented the Supreme Court Judgement in Zafar Ali Shah case, and had restored the constitution institutions. He said that Election Commission had announced the presidential election, and he was happy that a former Judge of the Supreme Court was taking part in it. He adopted the arguments of the Attorney General that these petitions were not maintainable. The third amicus curiae, Abdul Hafeez Pirzada, will address the court after Aitzaz, on Thursday.
The nine-member Bench comprises Justice Bhagwandas, Justice Javed Iqbal, Justice Abdul Hameed Dogar, Justice Sardar Mohammad Raza Khan, Justice Mohammad Nawaz Abbasi, Justice Faqir Mohammad Khokhar, Justice Falak Sher, Justice Shakirullah Jan and Justice Javed Buttar.
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