Re: Mass detentions - A sign of a weak government?
fraudia bhai, it’s always a good idea to keep things in perspective:
**The ‘free and fair’ syndrome **
By Ardeshir Cowasjee
‘FREE and fair elections’ — it’s the phrase of the day. Repeated by President General Pervez Musharraf each time he speaks, by Benazir Bhutto and her arrogant acolytes on the frequent occasions they bombard us with their demands, ultimatums and vows, and by Mian Nawaz Sharif when he tells us why he is homeward bound.Ironically, the first ‘free and fair’ election was conducted in 1970, by another President General – by the Rangila Raja, Agha Muhammad Yahya Khan. Ironically, the fairness and freeness remains undisputed. Of course, had the fairness and freeness been allowed to run its normal course our history would have been different. The man who won a clear majority, Mujibur Rahman, leading East Pakistan’s Awami League would have come to power as head of the government and Zulfikar Ali Bhutto of West Pakistan’s PPP would have been an able and shrewd leader of the opposition.But leading the opposition has never been good enough for any man or woman aspiring to power in Pakistan. It is top dog or nothing — and no holds are barred when it comes to getting to the top.
In 1970, as we all know and for which we must all share the blame, the country had to literally be hacked into two so that the man in second place could usurp the first place. Zulfikar had the honour of being the first civilian martial law administrator. In 1973 he produced a constitution that was accepted by consensus, though not unanimously as is often claimed. Many of the National Assembly members of those days felt that any old constitution would be better than no constitution. Articles 8 to 28 of this Constitution guarantee us our fundamental right.The Constitution was promulgated at noon on August 14, 1973. Four hours later, at 1600 hours, the new prime minister, Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, prevailed upon his hand-picked president, Fazal Elahi Chaudhry and had him sign an Order. The relevant page of the government gazette records, “The Gazette of Pakistan, Extra, August 15, 1973. Islamabad, the 15th August 1973, No.F.24(1)/73-Pub. – The following Order made by the President on the 14th August 1973 is hereby published for general information.“Whereas Article 280 of the Constitution of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan provides that the Proclamation of Emergency issued on the 23rd day of November 1971 shall be deemed to be a Proclamation of Emergency issued under Article 232 thereof;
“And whereas clause (2) of Article 233 of the said Constitution provides that while a proclamation of Emergency is in force the President may, by Order, declare that the right to move any court for the enforcement of such of the Fundamental Rights conferred by Chapter 1 of Part II of the Constitution as may be specified in the Order, and any proceedings in any court which is for the enforcement, or involves the determination of any question as to the infringement, of the Rights so specified shall remain suspended for the period during which the Proclamation is in force;“And whereas the aforesaid Proclamation of Emergency is in force;“Now therefore, in exercise of the powers conferred by the said clause (2) of Article 233, the President is pleased to declare that the right to move any court, including the right to move the Supreme Court, vide clause (3) of Article 184, for the enforcement of the Fundamental Rights provided for in Articles 10, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 23, 24, 25 and 27 of the Constitution, and all proceedings pending in any court which are for the enforcement, or involve the determination of any question as to the enforcement, of any of the said Rights shall remain suspended for the period during which the said Proclamation is in force.“Signed : Fazal Elahi Chaudhry, President; Countersigned under Article 48(3) of the Constitution: Shah Nawaz Khan, Joint Secretary; Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, Prime Minister.”Within four hours the order effectively deprived the people of 10 of their fundamental rights which had just been guaranteed. Was this not premeditated fraud? Were the people not duped and deceived? The reason for so doing was to have arrested Zulfikar’s main political rivals and jail them on trumped up charges. Unmitigated fraud is what was perpetrated upon the people. Did the president have no sense? Did he not have a mind of his own? Could he not have refused to sign this infamous order — did honour have no meaning?This fraudulent act was followed by seven amendments to the sacred Constitution in the four years to follow. Rules of procedure were suspended and the bills were rushed through parliament, sometimes within the space of hours (a custom that has continued with all amendments made subsequent to the Eighth Amendment).
The Second Amendment, with one stroke of a pen, infringed upon the rights of an entire community which was shorn of its majority rights and declared a minority. The Third, Fourth and Seventh Amendments, inter alia, enlarged the scope of preventative laws and restricted the guaranteed freedoms. For instance, a person could be detained without trial for up to three months for crimes ranging from voicing dissent to the theft of a chicken. The Fifth and Sixth Amendments were made solely to favour judges already in favour. The period for separating the executive from the judiciary was extended from three to five years. The tenure of supreme and high court chief justices was fixed at five and four years respectively. In the case of preventative detention high courts were restrained from granting bail before arrest or from ordering the release of a person on bail. The Sixth Amendment was primarily made so that the term in office of the then Chief Justice of Pakistan could be extended even though he had reached the age of retirement (65).Zulfikar also chose to rule by ordinances when the assembly was not in session, 219 of which were promulgated during his parliament’s four year’s reign. He also had some 100 presidential orders issued.All this is eerily familiar, and now we have last weak men such as the Gujrat Chaudhry of sinister fame and our information minister, the hapless Durrani, talking in terms of the possible necessity of a state of emergency — and even martial law if worse comes to worst.
We also have in the air much talk of a ‘deal’ being negotiated with a disgraced politician, and all for the sake of Musharraf remaining ‘on top’. How and by which law is he entitled to forgive a grand larcenist at the expense of the deprived 160 million of this country? Whatever deal is being cooked up between the government of President General Pervez Musharraf and Benazir Bhutto, or whoever, involves the people’s money. The dropping of corruption cases against former and present parliamentarians is tantamount to bribery at our expense.
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http://www.dawn.com/weekly/cowas/cowas.htm
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