Disrespecting Constitution in Supreme Court- by Wusatullah Khan
منگل بیس جولائی کو اسلام آباد میں سپریم کورٹ کے فل بنچ کے سترہ ججوں کے سامنے وہ بھی ہوگیا جو ایک دن ہونا ہی تھا۔ اٹھارویں ترمیم کو چیلنج کرنے والے ایک صحافی درخواست گزار نے ایک ہاتھ میں قرآن اور دوسرے میں آئینِ پاکستان کی کاپی پکڑ کر ڈرامائی انداز میں کہا
’اگر میں ڈوب رہا ہوں اور کوئی مجھے کہے کہ اس میں سے ایک پھینک دو تو میں یہ کروں گا‘ ۔۔۔ یہ کہتے ہوئے صحافی شاہد اورکزئی نے آئینِ پاکستان کی کتاب فرش پر اچھال دی۔ پوری عدالت سکتے میں آگئی اور چند سیکنڈ کی خاموشی کے بعد ایک جج جسٹس ثاقب نثار نے کہا کہ آپ توہینِ عدالت پر معافی مانگیں ورنہ آپ کے خلاف کاروائی ہوگی۔چیف جسٹس افتخار چوہدری نے کہا کہ ججوں نے آئین کی پاسداری کا حلف اٹھایا ہوا ہے۔ لہذا یہ رویہ ناقابلِ قبول ہے آپ فوراً معافی مانگئے۔ جسٹس غلام ربانی نے کہا آپ کو جرات کیسے ہوئی بھری عدالت میں آئین کی کتاب پھینکنے کی۔ شاہد اورکزئی نے کہا کہ میں صرف قرآن پاک سے اپنی وابستگی کا اظہار کررہا تھا۔اگر کسی کے جذبات کو ٹھیس پہنچی ہے تو میں معذرت خواہ ہوں۔
جب عدالت آدھے گھنٹے کی برخواستگی کے بعد دوبارہ لگی تو درخواست گزار نے ہاتھ سے لکھا ہوا ایک پرچہ عدالت میں پیش کردیا۔اور باہر آکر کہا کہ انہوں نے اس پرچے میں صرف خود کو سننے پر عدالت کا شکریہ ادا کیا ہے۔
یہ ایسا ڈرامہ تھا کہ ججوں سمیت کسی کا دھیان اس بات پر ہی نہیں گیا کہ پھینکے جانے والے اسلامی جمہوریہ پاکستان کے آئین کی کتاب میں بھی اللہ کا نام موجود ہے۔
یہ پہلا موقع نہیں کہ قرآن کے نام پر آئین کی بے عزتی ہوئی ہو۔ دو برس پہلے مولانا صوفی محمد نے بھی برملا کہا تھا کہ وہ نہ تو آئینِ پاکستان کو مانتے ہیں اور نہ اس کے تحت کام کرنے والی پارلیمنٹ کو اور نہ ہی عدلیہ کو۔ یہ سب ڈھانچے غیر اسلامی ہیں۔ قرآن میں اس کا کوئی ذکر نہیں۔
مولانا صوفی محمد سے بھی پہلے جنرل محمد ضیا الحق نے قران و سنت کا نظام نافذ کرنے کا اعلان کرتے ہوئے کہا تھا کہ یہ آئین کیا ہے؟ بارہ صفحے کی کتاب؟ جب چاہے پھاڑ دوں! اور پھر جنرل صاحب نے زنجیر بدست عدلیہ کی موجودگی میں معنوی طور پر آئین پھاڑ ڈالا۔
اور ضیا الحق سے بھی ساڑھے تیرہ سو برس پہلے جنگِ صفین میں حضرت علی کے لشکر کے خلاف صف آرا اموی لشکر نے جب اپنے قدم اکھڑتے محسوس کئے تو نیزوں پر قرآن بلند کرتے ہوئے کہا کہ فیصلہ اب اس کے ذریعے ہوگا۔ اس کے بعد کیا فیصلہ و فساد ہوا ۔یہ تاریخ پڑھنے والا عام آدمی بھی جانتا ہے۔
جب کوئی بھی شخص یا گروہ دلائل کی جنگ ہارنے لگے تو قرآن بیچ میں لے آئے۔ سب پیچھے ہٹ جائیں گے۔ کسی میں یہ پوچھنے کی جرات نہیں ہوسکتی کہ خود اس شخص کا عمل قرآن کے کتنا تابع ہے اور آس پاس کے لوگ اس شخص کی شہرت کے بارے میں کیا تاثر رکھتے ہیں۔
قرآن بیچ میں لانے والے شخص کے ذاتی کردار کی پرکھ تو خیر بہت دور کی بات ہے۔یہاں تو صرف اتنی افواہ بھی کافی ہے کہ فلاں شخص نے قرآن کی براہ راست یا استعاراً بے حرمتی کی ہے۔ لاشیں گرنے کے بعد تحقیق ہوتی ہے کہ اصل معاملہ کیا تھا۔
ان حالات میں سپریم کورٹ کے فل بنچ نے بھرے کمرے میں ایک درخواست گزار کے ڈرامے کا سنجیدگی سے نوٹس نہ لے کر فراست کا ثبوت دیا۔ عدالت رہے گی تو انصاف بھی دے گی۔عدالت ہی نہ رہی تو۔۔۔۔
درخواست گزار بھی یہ نازک راز بخوبی جانتا تھا اسی لیے تو اس نے کمرہ عدالت سے باہر آکر سینہ تانتے ہوئے یہ تاثر دیا کہ معافی وافی نہیں مانگی بس تحریری طور پر عدالت کا شکریہ ادا کیا ہے۔
کس مائی کے لال میں جرات ہے کچھ کہنے کی۔ ویلکم ٹو طالبانائزیشن ان کورٹ روم نمبر ون۔
ما خذ: بی بی سی اردو
I think the decession of General Ashfaq Pervaiz Kiyani is good but, in past we have bad experience gained in this extension. But till now we have found Mr Kiyani that he played a a gentleman roll in every decession of country favor. We prey for his success and for his good decessions in favor of country and the trust that President and Prime minister have shown in his right should be remain. We say Best of Luck to Mr Kiyani.
Mr. Shahid Orakzai has been knocking at the doors of justice for the last many years. unfortunately he has been complaining against so called sharif brothers who are the darlings of punjab dominated judiciary. His petition in case of his brother’s murder was dismissed. Has has confessed that his brother had arranged selling of votes of some FATA MPs on the occasion of speaker election in 1993 with nAwaz Sharif. After the PML candidate lost the election Nawaz Sharif went away from the deal and in consequence arranged for his brother’s killing. Now he has come against Shahbaz Sharif with an open and shut case. He is seeking dismissal of SS as CM Punjab. He claims and is supported beyond any doubt by The COnstitution of Pakistan article 223(4)
[223. Bar against double membership.
(1) No person shall, at the same time, be a member of,
(a) both Houses; or
(b) a House and a Provincial Assembly; or
(c) the Assemblies of two or more Provinces; or
(d) a House or a Provincial Assembly in respect of more than one seat.
(2) Nothing in clause (1) shall prevent a person from being a candidate for two or more seats at the same time, whether in the same body or in different bodies, but if he is elected to more than one seat he shall, within a period of thirty days after the declaration of the result for the last such seat, resign all but one of his seats, and if he does not so resign, all the seats to which he has been elected shall become vacant at the expiration of the said period of thirty days except the seat to which he has been elected last or, if he has been elected to more than one seat on the same day, the seat for election to which his nomination was filed last.
Explanation:- In this clause, “body” means either House or a Provincial Assembly.
(3) A person to whom clause (2) applies shall not take a seat in either House or the Provincial Assembly to which he has been elected until he has resigned all but one of his seats.
(4) Subject to clause (2), if a member of either House or of a Provincial Assembly becomes a candidate for a second seat which, in accordance with clause (1), he may not hold concurrently with his first seat, then his first seat shall become vacant as soon as he is elected to the second seat].
Mr. Shahid Orakzai has been denied justice for the last two years firstly by un-constitutional court od Mr. Dogar and now by the independent Darbar e Uzma of iftikhar Ch. Justice Javed Iqbal had been presiding the bench hearing this petition but was making Orakzai toiling from Election Commission to lower courts and now the hearing has been adjourned for an indefinite period since March 18 2010. During this period Javed Iqbal has acted as Chief Election Commissioner in the first week of May. His appointment was made by sole discretion of The Chief Justice of Pakistan who had at least 12 choices for the job. BUt Javed Iqbal was given the job and God knows how much tampering would have been made in election Commission record under his command for bailing out Shahbaz Sharif. these goons (judges) are the most corrupt in our country.
Disrespect to the Constitution
Saturday, 24 Jul, 2010
This is with reference to the flinging of the Constitution in the Supreme Court (July 21) by journalist Mr Shahid Orakzai, a petitioner against the 18th Amendment.
His conduct is not only a big blow to the solemnity and respect of the constitution but also shows his disrespect to the Constitution of Pakistan under Article 5 read with Article 6 that can be an offence against the state. The apex court, in a deep shock, called it contempt of court, but in the larger context it is an insult to all those who sacrificed their lives for democracy and to the nation awaiting the perpetuation of the Constitution of Pakistan under the supposedly free and fair judiciary.
The full bench reacted on the contempt of court and asked for an apology. If this was a civilised democratic state, such an act would have been treated as an insult to the state and the culprit should have been severely prosecuted.
The most ridiculous aspect of the entire episode is that the petitioner disgraced the constitution under the disguise of religion, preferring the Holy Quran over the constitution. Surely, this is a reason why democratic nations suspect our allegiance to the constitution.
Acting like a true protector of the constitution, the Supreme Court should come forward to restore the lost glory of the constitution and teach individuals and institutions to respect it and uphold its sanctity rather than expressing dismay against it for personal and political gains.
Momal Mushtaq
Islamabad
(II)
Mr Shahid Orakzai (journalist-cum-litigant), whilst addressing the apex court on July 20, threw a copy of the Constitution of Pakistan on the floor of the court to create powerful ripples that were felt even outside the courtroom and were enough to drown him on the charges of contempt of court.
However, behind the careless act lurks the shadow of an omnipresent issue which has engaged generations of politicians, judges, lawyers and clergy in our country i.e. whether it is the Holy Quran or the constitution which shall govern all aspects of our lives including the relationship between the state and its people and all the various organs thereof.
The purpose of this letter is to highlight an interesting part of the American history which is similar, in some ways, to the issue at hand. Mr William Henry Seward was the 12th Governor of New York, a United States Senator, a presidential nominee at the Republican National Convention held in May 1860 and then later a Secretary of State under Abraham Lincoln and thereafter Andrew Jackson.
On March 11, 1850 Seward delivered his maiden speech in the United States Senate. In the second half of his speech, he laid the foundations of what was later to be called the ‘higher law’ doctrine. Mr Seward said that not only did the constitution bind the American people to goals incompatible with slavery “but there is a higher law than the constitution, which regulates our authority over the domain, and devotes it to the same noble purposes. The territory is a part … of the common heritage of mankind, bestowed upon them by the Creator of the universe. We are his stewards.”
This speech was, in general, received positively but it was not without scathing criticism from many in the anti-slavery North who regarded it as unnecessary and irresponsible.
Edward Bates, another presidential nominee at the 1860 convention, who later became the attorney general under Abraham Lincoln, condemned the speech and said that “in civil government, such as we have, there can be no law higher than the constitution and the statutes”.
Seward, as time would tell, lost the nomination to Lincoln in the 1860 convention for, amongst other reasons, his higher law speech.
The American people were more religious then than they are now. However, some academics and historians argue that they had enough political and civic maturity to make the Constitution of the United States of America the only document to which they would refer to in their political lives while the Bible (or any other Heavenly testament) would completely govern their personal lives.
Similarly, time is ripe for us to collectively face and address this single most important question which has remained unresolved and which, never before, has been so important to determine the fate of our terrorism-struck nation which has a defiant government in place.
Obaid ur Rahman Khan
Karachi
http://www.dawn.com/wps/wcm/connect/dawn-content-library/dawn/the-newspaper/letters-to-the-editor/disrespect-to-the-constitution-470
Sara Khan;
My point in pointing out the conduct of the Supreme Court in relation with that particular man. The Highest Forum for getting Justice has not been giving him justice for the last two years just because his petition is against Shahbaz Sharif. Otherwise the question raised by him is very important.This mattaer must be resolved soon, because if Shahbaz Sharif is not a member of Punjab Assembly then all his actions deem to be unconstitutional. Shahid Orakzai has sought verdict in the right forum. What if he is right. Who will be responsible in perpetuation of an unconstitutional act? Why are the judges sitting on the petition?. The matter does not involve any long list of documents, just read the constitution and if SS was declared successful from PP-10, with his being member from PP-44 then PP-44 falls vacant according to article 223(4) as soon as the result of PP-10 was announced and since SS resigned from PP-10 he is no more member of Punjab assembly. He is stranger in the assembly and CM house.
Disrespect to the Constitution
Saturday, 24 Jul, 2010
This is with reference to the flinging of the Constitution in the Supreme Court (July 21) by journalist Mr Shahid Orakzai, a petitioner against the 18th Amendment.
His conduct is not only a big blow to the solemnity and respect of the constitution but also shows his disrespect to the Constitution of Pakistan under Article 5 read with Article 6 that can be an offence against the state. The apex court, in a deep shock, called it contempt of court, but in the larger context it is an insult to all those who sacrificed their lives for democracy and to the nation awaiting the perpetuation of the Constitution of Pakistan under the supposedly free and fair judiciary.
The full bench reacted on the contempt of court and asked for an apology. If this was a civilised democratic state, such an act would have been treated as an insult to the state and the culprit should have been severely prosecuted.
The most ridiculous aspect of the entire episode is that the petitioner disgraced the constitution under the disguise of religion, preferring the Holy Quran over the constitution. Surely, this is a reason why democratic nations suspect our allegiance to the constitution.
Acting like a true protector of the constitution, the Supreme Court should come forward to restore the lost glory of the constitution and teach individuals and institutions to respect it and uphold its sanctity rather than expressing dismay against it for personal and political gains.
Momal Mushtaq
SZABIST, Islamabad
Courtsey: Daily Dawn