Asserting the Supreme Court’s authority as envisaged in the constitution of Pakistan, Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJ) Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry on Tuesday said the apex court was the final authority to decide constitutional matters.
The CJ said that Supreme Court was seriously considering a statement made on Monday, in apparent reference to army chief General Ashfaq Kayani’s speech the other day in which he said no single institution could define national interest or exceeds its role under the constitution. The CJ said national institutions were strong and there should be no doubt about it.
His comments came during the hearing of a petition filed by Sardar Ghazi on the media’s role after the Abbottabad Operation that killed Osama Bin Laden.
The petitioner contended that after the Abbottabad Operation, the media discredited the armed forces and the judiciary.
The petitioner’s counsel Raja Irshad argued that the media was defaming the armed forces on a regular basis. He said it was the media that gave a wrong impression of the army chief and CJ’s statements made on Monday.
The lawyer claimed that the CJ’s statement was made out to seem like he was having a fight with the army chief.
The counsel further contended that the armed forces were being maligned in a planned manner, but the fact was that they always respected the Supreme Court by implementing its orders.
To this, the chief justice said, “Yes, we have witnessed it yesterday (Monday).”
The CJ directed the counsel to refrain from speaking on the subject, saying the court was seriously considering the statement.
In his arguments, the counsel claimed that PEMRA laws needed to be implemented as the media was defaming the army and judiciary.
Upon this, the CJ said there was no conflict between institutions, however, some points raised by the counsel related to implementing media laws would be taken seriously.
During the hearing, the CJ also sought all press releases issued by the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) after the Abbottabad Operation.
The court also sought a copy of article written by President Asif Ali Zardari for Wall Street Journal to ascertain what was defamatory in it, as being claimed by the petitioner.
The chief justice said the case would be heard keeping the article in perspective and adjourned the proceedings until November 22.
The court also sought the terms of reference (ToR) of the Abbottabad Commission and footage of two programmes on Geo TV and all statements of former Pakistani ambassador to the US Husain Haqqani to ascertain whether anyone violated Article 19.
The court said it would decide the maintainability of the cases after finding all the record.
SC ‘seriously considering statement made on Monday’
