The Speakers said it was in the interest of justice to try the former president for the takeover of October 12, 1999. PHOTO: AFP/FILE
The forum was chaired by former foreign minister Mian Khurshid Mahmud Kasuri. Begum Mehnaz Rafi, Mujeebur Rehman Shami, Dr Hasan Askari Rizvi, Irshad Arif, Salim Bukhari, Saeed Aasi, Brig (retd) Farooq Hameed, Farrukh Sohail Goendi, Taufiq Butt, Hafiz Tariq, Mazhar Qayyum, Salman Abid, Tanwir Shahzad, Qayyum Nizami and Dr Ajmal Niazi spoke at the forum.
The speakers said since the 18th Amendment had taken away the legal cover accorded to the military takeover in the 17th Constitutional Amendment. They said it was in the interest of justice to try the former president for the takeover of October 12, 1999. Selective justice was no justice and people would not be fooled by it, they said.
The government’s ongoing targeted operation against extremist and sectarian groups, target killers, extortionists and the land mafia in Karachi was showing positive results, the participants said. They said it was necessary to keep up the momentum of the operation. They said that there was a need to depoliticise the Police Department.
Talks with the Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan, they said, were the only way to achieve lasting peace in the FATA. However, the writ of the state must be established and law and order restored in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and the FATA before the peace process began. The members appreciated the restraint and caution shown by the media in not airing the footage of the bloodshed and violence in Rawalpindi on Ashura. The participants said the administration officials responsible for the incident should be held accountable.
Published in The Express Tribune, December 2nd, 2013.
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"Selective justice was no justice and people would not be fooled by it, they said" I agree 110 % .Since the chief cheap justice came we saw a lot of selective justices and a lot of targeted injustices.Thanks he is about to be out!!.
It is always in the interest of the people to try a case that is strong, provable and win-able. The burden of proof is on the people and it is clever strategy for a prosecutor to take a case that has mountains of clear evidence and is winnable. In this case only second time breach of constitution will involve less and is winnable without contradictions. Other cases can be opened latter on and with some other participants if this one is proven. Not an easy task if judiciary is taking an independent decision.