ISLAMABAD: The Supreme Court of Pakistan Friday declared the steps taken on November 3, 2007 by former president Pervez Musharraf as unconstitutional.
The judgment came after the 14-judge larger bench headed by Chief Justice of Pakistan Justice Iftikhar Muhammed Chaudhry completed the hearing of constitutional petitions regarding PCO judges, appointments of judges of higher judiciary and November 3, 2007 steps.
The Supreme Court in its short verdict declared the steps of November 3, 2007 taken by former president Pervez Musharraf as unconstitutional. Article 279 of the Constitution was violated on November 3, 2007, it said.
It termed as illegal and unconstitutional the sacking of Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry and the other higher judiciary as well as the appointment of Justice Abdul Hamid Dogar as chief justice.
The oath taken by President Asif Ali Zardari will not be affected by the SC verdict, is said.
All the appointments made in the higher judiciary of Justice Abdul Hamid Dogar have been termed illegal.
It termed as unconstitutional all the appointments of judges during November 3, 2007 to March 24, 2008.
It said the number of Supreme Court judges will continue to remain 16.
It declared unconstitutional all the steps taken by Pervez Musharraf during November 3, 2007 to December 15, 2007 including the increasing of number of superior judges through finance bill.
Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry announced the verdict.
The verdict said all the appointments of judges on and after November 3, 2007 under PCO were unconstitutional. The case of PCO judges will be referred to the Supreme Judicial Council, it said.
The announcement of today’s verdict sent a wave of jubilation outside the Supreme Court and at all the bar associations. Sweets are being distributed as people and lawyers are chanting slogans in support of the judiciary.
The 14-judge larger bench headed by Chief Justice of Pakistan Justice Iftikhar Muhammed Chaudhry reserved the judgment after completing the hearing of the case and announced it after a delay of over four and a half hour.
The News, App,
The decision of Supreme Court as projected by media is the biggest Fraud in Judicial History of Pakistan when it says that PCO judges have been sent home. PCO Judges are still working and non PCO judges have been sacked, packed and sent home. The beneficiaries of the recent judgment are Chief Justice Iftikhar Chaudhry, Mr. Justice Javed Iqbal, Mr. Justice Sardar Muhammad Raza Khan, Mr. Justice Khalil-ur-Rehman Ramday Mr. Justice Mian Shakirullah Jan, Mr. Justice Tassaduq Hussain Jillani etc. All these judges violated the constitutional oath and took fresh oath under the PCO of General Musharaf after Pakistan army ousted Nawaz Sharif in October of 1999.
The other set of PCO judges are Justice Faqir Muhammad Khokhar and Justice Javed Buttar etc. including other judges in High Courts who took oath under the PCO on 3rd of November 1999. All of them are judges even today and are still continuing.
Interestingly the judges who have been sent home had never taken oath under any PCO. Most of these Judges were not even appointed in General Musharaf’s period. Infact they were appointed after the restoration of democracy in the country. The name of these judges who took oath under the constitution are as under:-
1) Mr. Justice Pervez Ali Chawla
1) Mr. Justice Habib Ullah Shakir
2) Mr. Justice Nazir Ahmed Ghazi
3) Mr. Justice Abdul Sattar Goraya
4) Mr. Justice Syed Ihtasham Qadir Shah
5) Justice Ms. Jamila Jahanoor Aslam
6) Mr. Justice Mahmood Akhtar Khan
7) Mr. Justice Jamshed Rahmat Ullah
Mr. Justice Pervez Inayat Malik
9) Mr. Justice Arshad Mahmood
10) Mr. Justice Irfan Qadir
11) Mr. Justice Syed Zulfiqar Ali Bukhari
12) Mr. Justice Ch. Naeem Masood
13) Mr. Justice Anwar-ul-Haq Pannu
14) Mr. Justice Muhammad Shafqat Khan Abbasi
15) Mr. Justice Imtiaz Rasheed Siddiqui
16) Mr. Justice Bin Yamin
17) Mr. Justice Khalid Ali Z. Qazi
18) Mr. Justice Salman Ansari
19) Mr. Justice Abdul Rehman Farooq Pirzada
20) Mr. Justice Abdul Rasheed Klwar
21) Mr. Justice Zafar Ahmed Khan Sherwani
22) Mr. Justice Syed Mehmood Alam Rizvi
23) Justice Ms. Soofia Latif
24) Mr. Justice Maqbool Ahmed Awan
25) Mr. Justice Safdar Ahi Bhutto
26) Mr. Justice Moharram G. Baloch
27) Mr. Justice Malik Muhammad Aqil
28) Mr. Justice Syed Shafaqat Ali Shah Masoomi
29) Mr. Justice Muhammad Iqbal Mahar
30) Mr. Justice Khadim Hussain M. Sheikh
31) Mr. Justice Muhammad Ismail Bhutto
32) Mr. Justice Arshad Siraj Memon
33) Mr. Justice Aamir Raza Naqvi
34) Mr. Justice Muhammad Karim Khan Agha
35) Mr. Justice Salman Talibuddin
36) Mr. Justice Shaji Rehman Khan
37) Mr. Justice Ghulam Mohayuddin Malik
38) Mr. Justice Ziauddin Khattak
39) Mr. Justice Syed Mussaddiq Hussain Gilani
40) Mr. Justice Syed Yahya Zahid Gilani
41) Mr. Justice Muhammad Alam Khan
The aforesaid 42 judges have never ever taken oath under the PCO. They have been ousted. The nation is celebrating and all the PCO judges are still continuing as judges.
In short the fight between post November 3 PCO judges and post October 12 PCO judges has resulted in ouster of judges who took oath only under the Constitution of Pakistan and never ever under the PCO. The media, PML[N], the lawyers and other political forces are mixed up and are rejoicing the ouster of constitutionally appointed judges and PPP seems ignorant of this fact. Such things can only happen in Pakistan.