The parliament recently made numerous fundamental changes in the Constitution of Pakistan by passing the 18th Constitutional Amendment under which the province of NWFP has been renamed as Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, the spellings of provinces of Baluchistan and Sind changed as Balochistan and Sindh, the scope of offence of high treason enhanced, three fresh fundamental rights added.
Moreover Gen Zias name deleted from the Constitution, concurrent list abolished, besides various other changes. This has been regarded a significant step towards maturing the democratic process.
Previously, high treason was defined as abrogating or subverting the Constitution by use or show of force or by other un-constitutional means or attempting or conspiring to do so.
The practices by two former military dictators Gen Zia and Gen Pervez Musharaf indicated that they neither abrogated nor subverted the 1973 Constitution as was done with the Constitutions of 1956 and 1962 but they cleverly either suspended it or held it in abeyance to exonerate themselves from the charges of high treason.
The new amendment provides that whoever abrogates, subverts, suspends or holds in abeyance the Constitution by use or show of force or by other un-constitutional means or attempts or conspires to do so shall be guilty of high treason.
This amendment further adds that any High Court or Supreme Court of Pakistan shall not validate the act of high treason. The Constitution has now explicitly prohibited the superior courts from validating the act of high treason for the first time.
MUHAMMAD SALEEM
Islamabad
