PCO judges case: Judges should have adhered to the Constitution, says Justice Siddiqui

Defendants’ counsel says they were acting on the president’s orders.

ISLAMABAD: Justice Mahmood Akhtar Shahid Siddiqui on Wednesday remarked that judges of the superior courts should have abided by the Constitution on November 3, 2007, when former president Pervez Musharraf deposed the judges of the Supreme Court and imposed emergency.

He gave these remarks while hearing the case of the judges of the superior courts who took oath under the PCO promulgated by ex-president Musharraf. The Supreme Court had declared the PCO void ab initio, a legal term used to describe a law as illegal right from the beginning.

The four-member bench is headed by Justice Mahmood Akhtar Shahid Siddiqui.

The Supreme Court is currently hearing some eleven petitions filed by PCO judges, who did not offer unconditional apology and decided to contest their case in court. Naeem Bokhari, counsel for Justice Jahanzaib Rahim argued that the history of Pakistan is witness to the fact that judges of the superior courts always take oath since they cannot be appointed without this formality.

During the course of hearing, he referred to the judgment in Zafar Ali Shah’s case which had declared the oath taken by PCO judges to be legal. “The PCO judges did not take an illegal oath because they acted on the president’s order,” he said.

Justice Jawad S Khawaja reiterated that it is the collective responsibility of every institution to abide by Article 6, which states that any person who subverts the Constitution, shall be guilty of high treason.

Justice Abdul Hameed Dogar’s counsel, Ibrahim Satti requested the court to announce its verdict since he has concluded his arguments in defence of the former chief justice.

Advocate Bokhari will continue his arguments on Monday when the Court resumes the proceedings.

S M Zafar, counsel for Justice Zahid Hussain, a PCO judge maintained on Tuesday that judges of the superior courts could not be served contempt of court notices under any circumstances.

“PCO judges may be tried by the Supreme Judicial Council under Article 209 of the 1973 Constitution,” he argued.

Published in The Express Tribune, January 6^th, 2011.