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Tuesday, March 11, 2008
Parliamentary resolution can’t restore judges: Qayyum
ISLAMABAD: Attorney General Malik Muhammad Qayyum said on Monday that the sacked judges could not be restored by a mere parliamentary resolution, and predicted it would ultimately prove a futile exercise since their dismissal was ‘purely constitutional’. He told Daily Times the November 3, 2007, emergency and Provisional Constitution Order (PCO) had been validated by the Supreme Court, had constitutional cover and had also been validated through a parliamentary resolution. A parliamentary resolution on the restoration of sacked judges, if passed, would have no legal standing, as a resolution could not be transformed into a law, he said. The judges could be restored if parliament was willing (through a 2/3rd majority in the National Assembly and Senate). But, he asked, how could the incumbent judges be sacked since many of them were appointed after the revival of the Constitution? “I think the legal position of the judges issue was not properly explained to the party leaders,” he added. “The president can hold a referendum on the judges issue, but its result would not be binding on him,” Qayyum said. masood rehman
Courtesy Daily Times