Hearing the petition filed by lawyer Fazal Karim Butt, Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry observed that a judicial bench will be constituted to hear the plea.
Rebuffing the registrar’s earlier objection on the the petition’s maintainability, the chief justice said that the registrar “cannot raise such objections.”
The chief justice asked Attorney General Maulvi Anwarul Haq to take directives from the government and inform the court if the government had any reservations on the plea. AG Haq replied to the court saying that the court can admit the petition for regular hearing as per its rules and if the government has any reservations on the maintainability of the petition, it will be informed to the court.
The Supreme Court directed the registrar to present the plea to a judicial bench.
Chief Justice Chaudhry also remarked that the petition could be heard in a chamber, but that the court wanted to keep the public aware of the court’s proceedings in the case.
In the last hearing, the government had told the Supreme Court that it had no intention of sacking the army and ISI chiefs for their ‘unconstitutional and illegal’ replies in the Memogate hearing.
Butt had based his petition on media reports that the government was planning to sack General Kayani and Lt General Pasha over their stance in the Memogate scandal. In Butt’s view, the court would have to ‘restrain’ the government to protect the military heads.
However, the AG had dismissed the claims as media speculation.
COMMENTS (31)
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It is high time that the CJ of Pakistan understands that he has no role to play in the duties of the government. If the government decides to remove either Pasha or Kayani, it is constitutionally allowed to do it! The Chief Justice is becoming more of a dictator day by day with his acts of, as mentioned by another commenter "judicial interference."
This is a humble message to the Chief Justice: instead of doing the job of the government, why not look at issues which are actually under your constitutional mandate, for example aiding in the appointments of members of the higher judiciary; the Sindh High Court is working with 12 judges even though it should be working with 40!
I hope the CJ is not given another extension as is being planned. That would be a bad move on part of the government.
Still it's the best thing because it's constitutional to fight battles in court whereas the army sacking the civilian government would be unconstitutional. Let the courts deal with this issue. And let them carry out any appropriate prosecutions legally endorsed by the law.
@zehra: I Think SC is not to deal with small and every cases There are no. of platforms (Courts) Where small and procedural cases are handled.
General Pasha has already been given another extension anyways ---- this is in the guise of extending the period of the Inquiry Commission to another 3 months. What a silly joke with us all in the name of justice.
there are huge amount of cases of citizens seeking justice from appex court - let the administrative case decided by the P.M.
The Unresolved cases in the courts are in millions. Missing People are still missing. The Abbottabad commission came out with nothing. Raymond Davis is free. Journalist SSS has been killed & the commission came out with nothing.
Yet, Supreme Court is interested in "Removal of Pasha by the Government" when the Government made it clear its not going to remove him. Why waste money, Time and Resources over nothing? The courts have been made redundant by several dictators but it cares a damn.
What do you call this, if not Judicial Activism?
Religious minorities are being prosecuted all over the country and yet this court prefers to spend its time tilting at windmills. Time to ask ourselves - is this the kind of Supreme Court we want? Its not about whether they support one political group or another. Its about them focusing their attention on the real issues facing the country instead of pretending they're on reality TV and inflating trifling matters to get more media attention.
Our beloved PCO chief justice is running the supreme court like Little Brother Shahbaz Sharif. He takes notice of everything just to create news and ripples, but the sum total of his performance is ZERO.
With such corrupt government I am glad Supreme Court is making the most important decisions.
Perhaps it's time for the executive branch of your govt to tell your SC to pound sand? No branch of govt should be held responsible for acts it has not committed.
As a boss, I believe I shouldn't hire anyone any more. Who knows when I intend to fire someone, they go and file a petition.
First our army used to shatter constitution with impunity and bring their dictators to rule, now our judiciary is equally sharing it but democracy will survive although it has to pay a huge price as was paid in the shape of Bangladesh. People of Pakistan should defend itself, army won't do its job.
SC, at least keep the fig leaf in place.
i hope rather than taking interst in only polictical cases the Sc takes notes of the million of cases pending judgment, the number of prisoners under tiral, more concern should be on getting a move on the pending cases. sad that in order to make the gov do its job Sc is missing its mark
There is a army of judges in the country but unfortunately they failed to provide justice to a common man.
@Colonel- Zarrar: i think i should set my name again to "Colonel" if u r not a bot
Well done judge sahab. keep doing stuff like this. We are soooo proud of your activism!
SC should have thrown this petition outside the courtroom. Again overstepping. For how long this will go. If this case is taken up for regular hearing then it will be considered as creating wedge between the Army and democratic government.
Justice Ifthikar Choudhry might as well be the head of the Executive branch of the government. He seems to be running the nation. This is more than judicial activism - more like judicial interference.
Justice Chaudhry needs to be removed
Why is everyone running to SC? Yet they pay little heed as to their decisions ? Some system this Country is developing for its democratic process.
It's about time that Supreme Court tells the traitor regime of Pakistan to stop sabotaging Pakistan's interests in this 4th generation war imposed on us by America, India and Israhell along with NATO.
Now, the admittance of this plea, a baseless and ridiculous, clearly reveals the role of SC and the CJ. They have been siding with non-civilian forces for long and it is gradually becoming visible. Nothing else is needed to confirm the supreme intentions.
These are the most controversial judges ever in the judicial history of Pakistan, although the history is not at all pleasant. Instead of restraining government to perform or exercise its authority, these judges should practice the judicial restraint which is most important convention to develop and maintain the balance of power among the state organs. CJ must remember his limits and also exercise his authority wisely. He should understand the difference between Judicial Activism and Judicial Adventurism. I would also remind him the missing persons’ case which he thinks is more important than worthless memo. This creates many doubts in the minds of educated people in Pakistan.
Nobody should be sacked unconstitutionally and nobody should be above constitution nor anybody should cross limits of power. at the end the sovereignty is above all these such as. Constitution,COAS,PM,President,CJP,DG ISI etc.
Why we need courts to decide even routine matters
No matter what SC always finds something to keep itself busy, and if it could help the Generals, even better.
They must not be sleeping !!! I believe
They must not be sleeping!!!! I believe
interference in executive affair's have become a habit of SC, i wonder if PM will ever be able to sign a single treaty with any country, first Army wanted to run the country now Supreme court is making itself a political force to gain control over the Gov.