Switch on any of the news channels, read any newspaper, you will find all and sundry speaking about President Asif Ali Zardai’s immunity. When Article 248 of the constitution states that, “No criminal proceedings whatsoever shall be instituted or continued against the President or a Governor in any court during his term of office.”, then what is reason to create hype on this topic.
The question of writing a letter to the Swiss authorities does not arise till Asif Ali Zardari completes his constitutional tenure as President of Pakistan. “The President’s immunity in criminal cases had been endorsed by accountability anti-corruption courts.”
All over the world, states grant immunity to their representatives. “In February 2001, the US government intervened in the case filing a “suggestion of immunity” on behalf of President Mugabe and Foreign Minister Mudenge. The government asserted that Mugabe and Mudenge were entitled to absolute immunity from jurisdiction under the customary international law doctrine of head of state immunity. The case against Jiang Zemin, then-President of the People’s Republic of China followed a very similar fact pattern to Mugabe.” The Mugabe and Zemin cases address the concept of immunity very well. Recently, Yemen’s parliament has approved that President Ali Abdullah Saleh holds complete immunity from prosecution.
Now, let’s have a look at the presidential immunity granted by the constitutions of different countries: 1) According to article 11 of the constitution of Iceland the president is not accountable and cannot be prosecuted without parliament’s consent. 2) According to the Italian constitution, the president of the Italian Republic is not accountable, and he is not responsible for any act of his office, unless he has committed high treason or attempted to subvert the constitution. 3) Section 308 of the Nigerian constitution of 1999 provides immunity from court proceedings, ie, proceedings that will compel their attendance in favour of elected executive officers, namely the president and his vice and the governors of the states and the deputies. This immunity extends to acts done in their official capacities so that they are not responsible for acts done on behalf of the state. 4) In the constitution of Sri Lanka, the president of Sri Lanka has sovereign immunity.
This should be now clear to the people who have immunity phobia and are biased in their opinions that the president has complete immunity everywhere, whether it be Pakistan or other countries. They should also note that this immunity is not for Mr Zardari, it is for the post of the president of Pakistan, whosoever holds it.
HAFIZ MUHAMMAD IRFAN
Islamabad
