Constitutional anarchy and rule of law
By: DR FAROOQ HASSAN
It was a great honour for me to address the National Press Club ‘Newsmakers Event’ on January 24, 2008 in Washington DC. In my Keynote address on the current political crisis in Pakistan, I emphasised that Musharraf’s rule in Pakistan and supremacy of law are two contradictory concepts. His rule is backed merely by the army and despite several ‘official’ manoeuvres through illegal methods, it remains illegitimate. That supremacy of law cannot exist under army backed rule is self-evident. We have seen judges not merely being sacked and imprisoned but the entire constitution being ’suspended’ by a military general which is a legal impossibility under any form of known jurisprudence. Absence of the rule of law and prevalent constitutional anarchy in Pakistan is thus truly unprecedented in the annals of established jurisprudence on this subject.
First a general stages coup against a government which he is already heading under convoluted ‘legal’ stratagem; then he transfers all such usurped powers to himself as president. Through a press conference he imposes 36 changes in constitution while addressing the country on state run TV when he has banned all independent from analytically reporting this matter! All exiting superior courts are disbanded and the reshaped judiciary is made to take another oath of allegiance to this system, after incorporating all these patently repulsive measures in the constitution he revives!
Speaking to this highly influential gathering of the world’s most renowned journalist body on Pakistan exhibits the keen interest that the American media is taking in this explosive topic. As such a word of special thanks is due to Cary O’Reilly, chairman of the NPC Newsmaker Committee and Bob Webb, Chairman, ICF-A Board for appreciating and conceptualising the grave significance of this matter. While my observations have been largely reported in the US, I am writing for people in Pakistan the thematic issues addressed by in this talk.
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