The Pakistan Ex-Servicemen Association (PESA) has supported the decision of Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) Anwar Zaheer Jamali to reject formation of a judicial commission on government’s Terms of Reference (ToRs).
The PESA on Saturday said that the ToRs are impracticable and it had already requested the CJP to take suo moto action to separate the issue of Panama Leaks and deal with it on an urgent basis.
The General Body meeting of PESA presided over by Gen (r) Ali Kuli Khan observed that winning an election is not a symbol of good and honest leadership. Majority of our voters are either captives of our feudal system or are caught up in ‘caste’ loyalty.
Vice Admin Ahmad Tasnim, Air Marshal (r) Masood Akhtar, Brig (r) Kamran Qazi, Brig (r) Arbi Khan, Brig (r) Mian Mahmud, Brig (r) Masud ul Hassan, Capt (r) Akmal Shah (Navy), ex-Naik Muhammad Fazil and others were also present on the occasion.
The participants observed that despite claims of clean elections, process of disqualifications and by-elections is still going on which is unheard of in other democratic countries. The PESA suggested early adoption of bio-metric identification of voters and electronic voting.
They said that “our leaders must not hide behind culprits of the bygone era; they should come clean and regain confidence of the people. Instead of waiting for the judicial commission, our PM must take the initiative and explain the sources of income for the assets accumulated by his family and details of the method adopted for transfer of those funds”.
They said these are matters of personal nature not meant to be dealt with by his political party or the government.
The PESA condemned the hanging of Jamaat-e-Islami (JI) leader in Bangladesh for alleged war crimes. “This issue of so-called war crimes relating to 1971 was settled amicably in the tripartite peace agreement signed in 1974,” they added.
“It is, however, surprising that our Foreign Office has woken up to lodge a protest after the hanging. If our government was serious about the issue, then the matter should have been taken up at the OIC and other international forums when the trial was started,” it concluded.
