The Hindu : International : Plea for full court hearing turned down

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Tuesday, Sep 18, 2007
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International

Plea for full court hearing turned down

Nirupama Subramanian

Nine-judge bench headed by Justice Bhagwandass will sit daily

ISLAMABAD: The Supreme Court of Pakistan has rejected a demand for a full court in the hearing of several petitions challenging President Pervez Musharraf’s candidature and his holding two offices at the same time.

The nine-judge bench headed by Justice Rana Bhagwandass began hearing arguments on the merits of the petitions on Monday, and will sit daily.

The judges said they wanted to decide the 10 similar petitions by the end of this week.

How deep political passions run on the issue of Gen. Musharraf’s re-election came to the fore in the court room in a heated verbal duel between Ahmed Raza Kasuri, lawyer representing the government and Aitzaz Ahsan, one of the three senior advocates who are acting as amicus curiae.

Mr. Kasuri objected to Mr. Ahsan’s appointment and accused him of bias against Gen. Musharraf.

He said Mr. Ahsan, who is a PPP parliamentarian and represented Chief Justice Iftikhar Chaudhary, held a personal grudge against the President.

Counsel walks out

Declaring that he was raising the matter “on instruction” [from his client], Mr. Kasuri said if the court did not withdraw the appointment, he would not allow Mr. Ahsan to speak in court, and warned that the environment of the court would be spoilt.

Shocking those present in the courtroom, he also made the remark that he could handle Mr. Ahsan with ease, as he was a “nobody” compared to his late leader Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, who he had “sent to his fate”.

Bhutto was executed after being sentenced for ordering the murder of Mr. Kasuri’s father.

Mr. Ahsan walked out in protest, declaring his withdrawal as “friend of the court” unless the judges took action against Mr. Kasuri.

But the bench rejected his withdrawal, and turned down Mr. Kasuri’s objections.

Speaking to reporters later, Mr. Ahsan said he was not satisfied with just a turning down of the objections, and he would decide his course of action.

The decision of the bench not to constitute a full court was a disappointment for the petitioners, who include the Jamaat-i-Islami, its leader Qazi Hussain Ahmed, cricketer-turned-politician Imran Khan, the Pakistan Lawyers Forum among others.

Their concern is that the present bench is not evenly weighted. Additionally, Chief Justice Chaudhary, who the Opposition parties had begun to depend upon a lot after his re-instatement, excluded himself from the bench when he constituted it last week.

His decision has been widely praised.

During the arguments for and against a full court, Akram Sheikh, Jamat-i-Islmai lawyer, listed 10 cases of similar importance that had been heard by a full court, while the lawyer for Pakistan Lawyers’ Forum said the case was one of “grave importance, serious importance and constitutional importance”.

But Attorney-General Malik Qayuum said the only time the candidacy for a presidential election was challenged was that of Rafiq Tarar’s, and at the time, a two-judge bench had heard the case.

The bench did not give any reason for turning down the petitioners’ demand, but said it was not a unanimous decision.

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