During the Senate session here, the recent disappearance of Zardari’s aides—Ghulam Qadir Marri and Ashfaque Leghari—echoed in the House of Federation when raising it as an issue of public importance Senator Farhatullah Babar, Spokesperson of former president Asif Ali Zardari, warned against the consequences of mysterious disappearances of people for purely political purposes. He termed it as an element of political vendetta.
“Until recently, people were kidnapped and remained without a trace for alleged involvement in subversive and anti-state activities. But, now, a new dimension has been added to it by making people disappear for settling political scores with political leaders and political messaging,” said Babar.
Senator Babar stressed that since today Senate is celebrating Constitution Day, it is the dictate of the constitution to produce an accused before a court within 24 hours. “But those who have kidnapped Ishfaq Leghari and Ghulam Qadir Marri have no respect for the constitution and rule of law and think that they are above the law and the constitution,” Babar told the house and demanded that the concerned minister come to the house and make a statement. “The kidnapping is a new dimension of political messaging that must not go unchallenged,” he concluded.
Chairman Senate Raza Rabbani then asked Babar to raise the issue in the Human Rights Committee of the Senate.
Taking part in the discussion on Constitution Day, Senator Farhatullah Babar said that the constitution should be a compulsory subject in academic institutions, particularly in the military academies to inculcate respect for it.
“Historically, the mindset of the establishment knows little respect for the constitution,” he said, while recalling the Quaid’s address to officers in June 1948 in Quetta, where he deplored in his address that senior military officers did not fully appreciate the importance of the constitution and the oath they had taken.
“There is a mindset that believes that a uniformed person is a greater patriot than a civilian and an elected prime minister is a ‘security risk’. Such mindset does not readily come to terms with the constitution made by elected representatives of the people,” he remarked.
The senator told the House that days of abrogation of the constitution and the imposition of PCOs and the LFOs may be over. But the day when all state institutions will willingly accept the supremacy of the constitution is still far away.
“If all the institutions had willingly submitted to the constitution, it would not have been possible for a dictator being tried for treason to escape trial by just barging into a hospital in Rawalpindi, leaving the courts and the Parliament bewildered. With such disrespect being shown to the constitution, clearly, there is a need for teaching the constitution in the military academies,” he concluded.
Later, while talking to the media outside Senate, Babar said that he could not say conclusively if the kidnapping was aimed at pressuring Zardari for anything. “If anyone thought that the party’s leadership can be blackmailed, they will be disappointed. I am concerned because such kidnappings for political messaging, if not checked now, could go far—too far—with grave consequences,” he said.
