Follow Us on Google News
ISLAMABAD: Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) Umar Ata Bandial has said the amendments made to the National Accountability Ordinance, 1999 apparently created to give relief to the accused, question whether the parliament should make a “self-serving legislation” when it’s in a “transitory period just before the elections.
The CJP’s remarks came during the hearing of the apex court that heard PTI Chairman Imran Khan’s petition challenging the amendments made by the coalition government to the NAB law.
Justice Ijazul Ahsan and Justice Syed Mansoor Ali Shah are the other members of the bench.
“We are the guardians of the Constitution and it is not a joyful enterprise for the courts to do legislation instead or show over activism. But we have to protect the Constitution, the constitutional machinery and the rule of law,” observed the CJP.
He said the court will not interfere in the country’s political affairs but will examine the legislation made against the fundamental rights of the people.
“But if the amendments made to the NAB law prove to be a joke with the accountability process, it will be a violation of fundamental rights,” the CJP said.
“These are not ordinary times but exceptional times where the erstwhile ruling party was not performing its duties since it has boycotted out of the parliament while the beneficiaries were amending laws,” regretted the CJP.
Justice Shah wondered if the court should bother about the political temperature outside and asked which forum the people should approach to seek remedy if they were upset in case NAO was completely repealed in future.
Senior counsel Makhdoom Ali Khan, who appeared on behalf of the federal government, replied by citing that the United States Supreme Court always followed the latest election results, meaning they stood with the government in power while deciding constitutional cases.
“We are conscious of the fact,” the CJP observed, adding the court should not enter the political thicket “but we also have to take into view the fundamental guarantees to the citizens like due process, fair trial and fairness in the criminal judicial process”.
Senior counsel Makhdoom Ali Khan, who appeared on behalf of the federal government, said that the forum to enact or oppose the enactment of statutes was parliament. Politicians might succeed or fail in the parliament in pursuit of their objectives and those frustrated could take their appeal to people, he said, adding that was their right but the remedy for their grievances was not with courts.
The court adjourned the hearing until September 1.