Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) has submitted a bill in the National Assembly Secretariat with a view to amending the High Treason (Punishment) Act, 1973 to pave way for the prosecution of Pervez Musharraf under Article-6 of the Constitution.
PML(N) MNA Engineer Khurram Dastgir Khan told Business Recorder on Thursday that he had submitted a bill for amendment in High Treason (Punishment) Act, 1973 in National Assembly Secretariat on Wednesday. He said that after the amendment this bill may be called the High Treason (Punishment) (Amendment) Bill, 2010.
The PML-N leader said he would move the bill in the House on Private Members' Day. According to him, if the concerned Minister does not oppose the bill then it will be referred to the concerned standing committee of the House for deliberations. Dastgir said the bill would remove the restriction in a 1973 law that only the federal government could initiate prosecution for high treason.
According to bill, Amendment of section 3, Act LXVII of 1973: "3.Procedure:- A high Court shall take cognisance of an offence punishable under this Act upon a complaint in writing made by any citizen of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan." The statement of objects and reasons of the bill is as follows:
1) The Constitution is the fundamental law of the land and has superiority over all the institutions it creates, be it the Legislature, Executive, Judiciary or the Armed Forces. 2) Pakistan's history of 63 years is stained with abrogation, subversion or holding in abeyance of the Constitution. These frequent acts of abrogation and subversion have negated the supremacy of the Constitution and have destroyed the rule of law in Pakistan.
3) Many adventures have been encouraged to abrogate or subvert the Constitution repeatedly because none of them could be punished under High Treason (Punishment) Act, 1973 due to the fact that the procedure provided in section 3 of the said Act is debilitatingly restrictive.
4) Every citizen of Pakistan is the custodian of the Constitution. The proposed amendment in section 3 of High Treason (Punishment) Act, 1973 would enlarge the scope of the persons who can file a complaint against the person who has committed the act of high treason.
5) This amendment will create an effective check on future adventures through empowering citizens of Pakistan to act in defence of the Constitution.