State busy in installing, toppling govts: SC judge

Bench notes that no one was held accountable for murder of three prime ministers

ISLAMABAD:

A senior Supreme Court judge has noted that the "state" is busy in installing and toppling political governments in the country while all institutions are engaged in persecuting political opponents.

"As long as state institutions are involved in political engineering, the situation will remain the same. Had the Constitution been upheld, these circumstances would not have arisen," Justice Athar Minallah said on Friday.

The judge was part of a three-member bench that was hearing the pre-arrest bail application of a murder suspect, Ishaq. Led by Justice Jamal Khan Mandhokhail, the bench also included Justice Malik Shahzad Ahmad Khan.

During the hearing, Justice Mandokhail also criticized the state for its alleged lack of will "to do anything". "What can we say about the state? Three

prime ministers have been killed but no one was held accountable," he said in an apparent reference to prime minister Liaquid Ali Khan, prime minister Zulfikar Ali Bhutto and prime minister Benazir Bhutto.

He said a senior judge in Balochistan was also killed but nothing was uncovered. "The real issue is the lack of will to do anything. Compared to other provinces, investigations in Sindh and Punjab are extremely poor," he said.

Talking with reference to the bail application, Justice Minallah said these cases have been pending in the Supreme Court since 2017, while the state remains busy in toppling and forming governments.

Mandokhail noted that people have lost trust in institutions and expect the Supreme Court to handle everything.

Justice Minallah, however, stated that even the Supreme Court is only as truthful as the rest of the society. "It took [us] forty years to acknowledge the assassination of a democratically elected prime minister [Zulfikar Ali Bhutto].

"What crime could be greater than the killing of a prime minister? Someone should have been held accountable and punished," he added.

Justice Malik asked as to what would be the condition of a common man in a country whose prime ministers don't get justice. "One day a prime minister is in the Prime Minister's House, and the next day, in jail. No one knows how long anyone will remain prime minister," he added.

Subsequently, the Supreme Court ordered the superintendent police of the SC to arrest the accused and hand him over to prison authorities. The accused had previously absconded after securing bail.

In the recent past, former prime minister Nawaz Sharif was removed in view of an order of the SC in July 2017. He was later convicted and imprisoned even during his party's rule.

Imran Khan's government was ousted through a vote of no confidence in April 2022. He was arrested under different charges in August 2023 and is still detained.