Elevation to field marshal: IHC dismisses appeal

Court upholds earlier decision of single bench

ISLAMABAD: The Islamabad High Court on Monday dismissed an intra-court appeal seeking to elevate Army Chief General Raheel Sharif to the rank of field marshal.

Justice Athar Minallah and Justice Miangul Hassan Aurangzeb dismissed the petition while declaring it unmaintainable. The division bench noted that there is no provision in the law for passing such directions.

Earlier, Justice Aamer Farooq, while dismissing the petition, had stated that the petitioner’s contention regarding elevation to the post of field marshal “falls within the domain of the legislature and no direction can be issued to the legislator to this effect.”

While quoting an earlier Supreme Court order, Justice Farooq had stated that “directions to take administrative actions or measures required by the Constitution can be issued against the federation, but no direction can be issued to the legislature to legislate a particular law.”

The petitioner has earlier admitted that no post of field marshal exists in the Constitution or in the legal statutes of the country.

Sardar Adnan Saleem, through his counsel Raja Saimul Haq Satti, had challenged the single bench’s order, saying that the elevation is an emergent need in the present circumstances of the country.

The petitioner had sought the IHC’s help to elevate Gen Raheel to the rank of field marshal in the greater national interest by taking into consideration his services and sacrifices for the nation.

He had made the federation through the Cabinet secretary, the prime minister through the principal secretary to the PM, and the defence secretary respondents in the petition.

Former president Ayub Khan is the only person to have been granted the rank of field marshal in the history of the Pakistan Army. Khan, who became president of Pakistan in 1958 after a military coup, gave himself the promotion in 1965.

Following the arguments, the court dismissed petition.

Published in The Express Tribune, November 1^st, 2016.