11/24/2007 | Supreme Court of Pakistan Validates President Musharraf, Upholds Larger Public Interest and the Safety, Security and Integrity of Pakistan

The Supreme Court of Pakistan on Friday validated the imposition of emergency and the promulgation of the Provisional Constitution Order issued by the Chief of the Army Staff General Pervez Musharraf, and justified all the steps taken after the emergency on November 3.

A seven-member bench of the Supreme Court, headed by Chief Justice Abdul Hameed Dogar, while announcing a brief judgment on the constitutional petitions challenging the state of emergency and the PCO, declared the emergency as valid and all steps taken by President General Pervez Musharraf after November 3 justified.The court ruled that the learned chief justices and judges of the superior courts, (Supreme Court, Federal Shariat Court and high courts), who had not been given, and who had not taken, oath under the Oath of Office (Judges) Order 2007, had ceased to hold their respective offices on November 3, 2007. Their cases cannot be re-opened being hit by the Doctrine of Past and Closed Transaction.

The bench held that the emanating situation in the country prior to November 3 was such that emergency could have been enforced. The bench, after announcing the verdict, disposed of the petitions.Other members of the bench included Justice Ejazul Hassan, Justice Muhammad Qaim Jan Khan, Justice Muhammad Moosa K Laghari, Justice Chaudhry Ejaz Yousaf, Justice Muhammad Akhtar Shabbir and Justice Zir Pervez.

The bench ruled: “Unfortunately, some members of the superior judiciary by way of judicial activism transgressed the constitutional limits and ignored the well-entrenched principle of judicial restraint.“Thousands of applications involving individual grievances were being processed as suo moto cases, ostensibly in the exercise of power under Article 184(3) of the Constitution, which provision is resorted to the enforcement of fundamental rights involving questions of law of general public importance. Instances of transgression of judicial authority at large scale may be found in the cases of determination of prices of fruits, vegetables and other edibles; suspension and transfers of government officials; frequent directions to enact particular laws; stoppage of various development projects, such as New Murree City, Islamabad Chalets, Lahore Canal Road and many more.“They rendered the state machinery, particularly legislative and executive branches of the government paralyzed and nugatory. They made ineffective the institution of the Supreme Judicial Council set up under the Constitution for the accountability of the members of the superior judiciary.”

Read Full Text of the Supreme Court Order HERE.

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