Embattled PTI chief challenges Official Secrets Act, Army Amendment Act in apex court
Pakistan
Approaches Supreme Court saying President didn't sign acts
ISLAMABAD (Dunya News) - The incarcerated Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) chairman has moved the Supreme Court to challenge the Official Secrets Act and the Army Amendment Act.
Also read: National Assembly passes Official Secrets amendment bill
The former prime minister has knocked on the door of apex court through Advocate Shoaib Shaheen who has filed a constitutional petition challenging the laws impacting lives of people.
The petition argues that both acts violate the provisions of Article 10A, Article 8 and Article 19, and further claims that the president did not sign the acts into law.
The petition seeks the declaration of the Official Secrets Act and the Army Amendment Act as null and void until the constitutional petition is decided upon.
It is noteworthy that President Dr Arif Alvi expressed his dissent over the Official Secrets Act and the Army Amendment Bill through his personal X (formerly Twitter) account and clarified that he did not sign either of these laws.
— Dr. Arif Alvi (@ArifAlvi) August 20, 2023
The president stated that he had instructed his staff to return these bills without his signature, and verified multiple times that they were duly returned. But, the president said that his staff bluffed him.
He said he returned the services of his secretary over the episode.
It is to be recalled that the apex court had been urged through a petition to ask the federal government to seek its opinion about legal status of Official Secrets Act (OSA) and the Pakistan Army Act (PAA) in the backdrop of President Dr Arif Alvi’s statement that he had neither assented to the two bills nor specified the reasons for returning them to the Parliament for reconsideration.
A petition filed in the apex court through petitioner Advocate Zulfikar Ahmed Bhutta said fate of the two laws should be determined as president said he had neither assented to nor returned the bills.
Read more: President Alvi neither approved nor gave written orders for returning army, secrets bills: secretary
Moreover, there was a likelihood that an accused facing trial under the two amended laws could seek acquittal by taking advantage of the ambiguity surrounding the law taking plea that it had lost its legal standing due to controversy, the lawyer told media.
Bhutta, through a three-page petition, contented that the Supreme Court should order the federal government to invoke Article 186 of the Constitution within 10 days.
Article 186 deals with the advisory jurisdiction of the top court, which the government can invoke at any time by sending a reference to the apex court for seeking its opinion on the question of law regarding the legal status of the bills, especially in view of Articles 71 and 75 of the Constitution.
The petition has been filed under Article 184(3) of the Constitution by invoking the original jurisdiction of the Supreme Court for the enforcement of fundamental rights.
Waqar Ahmad, the secretary to the president, on Monday trashed the allegations levelled by President Arif Alvi that his “will and command” was defied by the staff in connection with the bills related to the Official Secrets Act and Pakistan Army Act. In his official statement, the secretary stated that President Dr Arif Alvi neither assented to the Official Secrets (Amendment) Bill, 2023, and the Pakistan Army (Amendment) Bill, 2023 nor gave a written decision for returning them to parliament for reconsideration.
