Beyond jurisdiction: SC refuses to rule on drone strikes
Dismisses plea to declare the US an ‘enemy state’.
The Supreme Court dismisses plea to declare the US an ‘enemy state’. PHOTO: FILE
ISLAMABAD:
The Supreme Court on Wednesday dismissed a plea against the controversial US drone programme in Pakistan’s tribal areas because matters pertaining to defence, security and foreign policy did not fall under the judiciary’s domain.
The petition, filed by the Wukala Mahaz Barae Tahaffuze Dastoor (Lawyers’ Front for the Protection of the Constitution), urged the court to direct the federal government to declare the US an ‘enemy state’ and ‘command the armed forces of Pakistan to defend the country against external aggression currently being carried out by American forces.’
The petitioners also requested that ‘if the nuclear arsenal is found to be incapable of protecting Pakistan and instead poses a threat to its survival, the federation may be directed either to sell it in the international market to the highest bidder or place it in safe custody of Iran.’
Upon hearing the plea, the two-member bench comprising Justice Mian Saqib Nisar and senior-most SC judge Justice Tassadaq Hussain Jilani ruled that making any ‘executive decisions’ on such matters did not fall within the judiciary’s purview. Upholding earlier decision of the Lahore High Court on the matter, the judges observed that the court could not declare the US an enemy state since it was the responsibility of parliament and the government to declare war against a state.
The petition had earlier been dismissed by a single-member LHC bench on October 9, 2009.
Published in The Express Tribune, September 5th, 2013.
The Supreme Court on Wednesday dismissed a plea against the controversial US drone programme in Pakistan’s tribal areas because matters pertaining to defence, security and foreign policy did not fall under the judiciary’s domain.
The petition, filed by the Wukala Mahaz Barae Tahaffuze Dastoor (Lawyers’ Front for the Protection of the Constitution), urged the court to direct the federal government to declare the US an ‘enemy state’ and ‘command the armed forces of Pakistan to defend the country against external aggression currently being carried out by American forces.’
The petitioners also requested that ‘if the nuclear arsenal is found to be incapable of protecting Pakistan and instead poses a threat to its survival, the federation may be directed either to sell it in the international market to the highest bidder or place it in safe custody of Iran.’
Upon hearing the plea, the two-member bench comprising Justice Mian Saqib Nisar and senior-most SC judge Justice Tassadaq Hussain Jilani ruled that making any ‘executive decisions’ on such matters did not fall within the judiciary’s purview. Upholding earlier decision of the Lahore High Court on the matter, the judges observed that the court could not declare the US an enemy state since it was the responsibility of parliament and the government to declare war against a state.
The petition had earlier been dismissed by a single-member LHC bench on October 9, 2009.
Published in The Express Tribune, September 5th, 2013.