Armed forces bound to abide by constitution: CJP

Pakistan

Armed forces bound to abide by constitution: CJP

Close

The hearing of the case adjourned till Friday.

18 October,2012 01:23 pm

Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry observed Thursday it was also binding on armed forces to adhere to the constitution like judges and elected government.CJP gave these remarks while presiding over a 3-member bench of Supreme Court (SC) during the course of hearing of Asghar Khan case.Akram Sheikh counsel for Gen (Retd) Aslam Beg prayed the court to issue orders for introducing reforms in armed forces. ISI be brought under the discipline of army and notification for keeping it under chief executive be annulled.CJP said “ it is not our job. Aslam Beg remained army chief from 1988 to 1991. Aslam Beg could tell president Ishaq he would not become party in the distribution of money. He should have resisted before President Ishaq. It was only your client who could bring any change”.Akram Sheikh told the court Aslam Beg assumed his responsibilities within 3 hours after air crash on August, 21.Earlier Brig (Retd) Hamid Saeed filed his written statement during the hearing saying paragraphs 1 to 8 of his statement be kept secret while there is no need to keep paragraphs 9 to 14 secret.CJP observed it was his discretion that he should file separately what he wanted to keep secret.Brig (Retd) Hamid Saeed said if statement is filed by him separately then it will become difficult to understand other things. Court should not keep the entire matter secret if it deems so, he added. Court said paragraphs No 1 to 8 would not be made public at present.Defence ministry presented details of ISI accounts in the court at the inception of hearing.Attorney General (AG) said these details of the accounts were secret and could not be made public.CJP Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry remarked what he is considering secret is already on the record.Justice Jawad S Khawaja said during the hearing that Asad Durrani told all the money was not distributed and the rest of the amount remained in the accounts.Brig (Retd) Hamid Saeed former MI officer appeared in the court and filed his written reply. He presented his 21 years old diary in the court. All the record regarding distribution of money is available in the diary.CJP while addressing Hamid Saeed said he wanted to keep some matters secret. The contents of Paragraphs from 1 to 8 should be kept secret.If these things were not brought on the record then this would prove only an exercise in futility, Hamid Saeed said.CJP remarked “we are making it part of the record on your insistence. Only paragraphs from 9 to 12 will be discussed in the court as these paragraphs relate to this case”.Hamid Saeed said one paragraph of his submissions could cause defamation to the army and maligning armed forces is an offence liable to be punished under law of the land and constitution. Court should decide on its own if it was to be kept secret or otherwise, he added. “I can be executed under official secret act if army is maligned”, he contended.Akram Sheikh advocate said Aslam Beg had controlled the situation in the country on August, 17, 1988 and PPP government had awarded him “Tamgha-e-Jamhooriat.CJP remarked “when you are citizen of this country then you should abide by the constitution. Bestowing medal on any one can make no difference. Armed forces are also bound to abide by the constitution like judges and elected government”.Reply of Brig Muhammad Aamir, military secretary to the president was also presented in the court wherein it was stated record was traced out in the presidency but file of Election-1990 was not found.The hearing of the case was adjourned till Friday.