Pakistan Muslim League-Q (PML-Q) President Senator Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain said here on Saturday that the country's constitution provided disqualification of those parliamentarians who defame the army and judiciary.
Addressing the PML Lawyers Wing convention here at Muslim League House, Shujaat said that those raising noise over Article 6 should also read Article 63 (g) which, he added, clearly stated that "any parliamentarian who tries to defame the judiciary and the armed forces or uses derogatory language will be disqualified from membership of the parliament." "Why the government was not taking action against those ministers who issued statements against the army," he questioned.
Alamgir advocate, Kamil Ali Agha, Muhammad Basharat Raja and Chaudhry Zaheeruddin Khan also spoke on the occasion, while Aslam Zaar, Asif Cheema, Dr Khalid Ranjha, Chaudhry Anwar Bhinder, Mian Munir, Malik Shakeel Sikander, Engineer Shehzad Elahi, Qamar Hayat Kathia, Abdullah Yousuf and others were present.
Expressing strong reservations over Protection of Pakistan Ordinance (PPO), Chaudhry Shujaat said they would never let the bill passed in the Senate. Talking about Pervez Musharraf, the PML-Q chief said the word "traitor" should not be used for Musharraf rather his action could be called violation of the Constitution.
Regarding defeat to the PML-Q candidates in last general elections, he said his party candidates had not lost polls due to votes rather they were got defeated. He added that result of thumb impression verification would not be different from those surfaced in Karachi as a result of this process. "We would not have regretted had we had lost the elections through votes," he said, adding that "every body knows that if any commission was set up or an inquiry was conducted then every bag to be opened would give the same results as that of Karachi.
Shujaat further said that first requirement of law and justice was that all should be kept and seen equally without any prejudice, not that whatever article of the Constitution favoured one it should be thrust upon the opponent and shut eyes from whichever article was against one.
Continuing, Chaudhry Shujaat said, the reports about re-organisation of the party as given by Punjab office-bearers Chaudhry Zaheeruddin Khan and Muhammad Basharat Raja after visiting the districts, it was clear that our party was very much present at the grass-root level and it should be made more active. The PML-Q chief said that he expected from the PML Lawyers Wing to play its constitutional role where the government failed to ensuring supremacy of the constitution.
Shujaat said that it was welcome indeed that the present Chief Justice of Pakistan has put provision of justice at lower as his first priority. He said that we should all try to make Pakistan a welfare state as envisioned by the Quaid-i-Azam where all citizens, including the minorities, should be equal and the State should protect life and property of everyone. He hoped that the Chief Justice would take practical steps, including setting up of a special cell, to save the overseas Pakistanis' valuable properties from forcible occupation by the "Qabza groups".
Resolutions moved by Musharraf Ali Khan, Rana Alim, Saadia Khalid, Kamil Ali Agha, Sardar Abdul Rashid and Rana Zafar Ahmad Khan were unanimously passed at the convention whereby the Protection of Pakistan Bill was rejected, killing of lawyers in Rawalpindi and Karachi were condemned and early arrest of the culprits and an appropriate action was demanded.
Meanwhile, Pakistan Ex-servicemen Association (PESA) general secretary, Brigadier Syed Masud-ul-Hassan (Retd) on Saturday said trial of army has been initiated in the midst of Musharraf's treason trial which is discriminatory. "PESA has always supported democracy in Pakistan and promoted culture of accountability, but it will never accept humiliation of defence forces by certain elements," he added. He said that the case against actual traitor who invited armed forces of enemy countries against Pakistan Army has been deliberately put into the cold storage which is unfortunate and double standard.