The burden of proof lies with the federal government after the Supreme Court settled a 16-year-old case filed by former Air Marshal Asghar Khan, directing it to take action against elements involved in the disbursement of substantial amounts to manipulate the 1990 general elections.
Experts noted that immediately after the court order in the instant case, it is the responsibility of the federal government to authorise a complainant for procedural adjudication of the apex court's verdict. Former principal law officer Shah Khawar maintained that there a complainant should be authorised by the government to take action against all elements involved in receiving and distributing money to manipulate the 1990 elections.
He said that the federal government should proceed under the Criminal Procedure Code against people involved in the case, adding that the government should approach civil courts for the recovery of the disbursed money. Interpreting the court order, Khawar said that the court has asked the government to take action against former chief of army staff Aslam Beg and ex-Director General Inter Service Intelligence (ISI) Lieutenant General Asad Durrani for violating the Constitution.
He went on to say that disobeying the Constitution "comes under the purview of Article 6 of the Constitution, which refers to high treason". He asserted that a special law, the 'High Treason Act of 1973', identified the procedure for the trial of an accused for violating Article 6 of the Constitution.
Khawar said that although the court had not focussed on the President in the short order, but it generally observed that the Presidency should not be involved in politics, saying Article 41 of the Constitution stipulated that the President "is a symbol of the federation". However, Attorney-General for Pakistan Irfan Qadir said that the court could not dictate or influence any investigating agency in any way with regard to its decision.
"Once the investigation or inquiry starts, it must be independent...the investigators should not be influenced by the views of the court and reach a logical conclusion whether somebody has committed a criminal act or not," he maintained. Commenting on the burden of proof, he said that it was yet to be decided by the authorities concerned who was a criminal in the entire episode. "It will be premature to say anything on the implementation of the court order."
He said that the office of the President "is respected and everybody is bound to maintain its dignity", adding that being the head of the state, the President "cannot be dictated in any case". Responding to a question about political activities of the President, he said that they "must be focused on the prosperity of the country" and reminded that the founder of Pakistan Quaid-e-Azim Muhammad Ali Jinnah was also head of a political party.
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