HYDERABAD: Former Chief Justice of Pakistan Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry has endorsed ISPR’s stand on Dawnleaks probe report purportedly released by the prime minister secretariat and said the security institutions’ objection is valid because they are a party to the issue and it is a complainant’s right that his grievance is redressed.

The offence of this nature -- in which minutes of a high-profile meeting on national security were leaked to media -- was dealt with in accordance with the Special Secretary Act, 1923, under which Indian spy Kulbhushan Jadhav was recently convicted by a military court, said Mr Chaudhry, who is also chief of Pakistan Justice Democratic Critic Party (PJDCP).

He was talking to journalists at the residence of the Sindh United Party head Syed Jalal Mehmood Shah in Jamshoro on Saturday morning.

He said the DG ISPR did not reject prime minister’s directives. Since the security institutions were complainant in the case it was their right that their grievance was redressed, he said.

Mr Chaudhry said that it was very unfortunate that if heads of security institutions attended a meeting in prime minister’s office its minutes were leaked. “If the situation has come to such a pass then it will become difficult to hold such meetings in PM’s office where issues of national security and integrity are to be discussed,” he said.

He said the security institutions had taken the position that the news about the meeting was leaked by civilian authorities and “Their objection is valid”.

He advised the government to make public the inquiry report on Dawnleaks and said it could even declare some portions of the report that dealt with national security as classified.

Mr Chaudhry said that if the government had released the report it would not have made much difference. When successive governments withheld Hamdoodur Rehman Commission report it was leaked in India, he said.

He said the prime minister should tender resignation in the wake of Supreme Court verdict in Panamagate case since two of the judges had disqualified PM under Article 62(I)(f) and the other three judges had also not given him a clean chit.

He said that a transparent inquiry could not be ensures if Nawaz Sharif held onto the office of prime minister.

The former CJP advised Nawaz Sharif to avoid showing intransigence because stubbornness had caused greater harm to Pakistan in 1971 and made room for martial laws in 1968-69 and 1977. Again in 1999 when Nawaz Sharif did not respect merit in the appointment of army chief martial law was declared, he said.

SUP chief Syed Jalal Shah said that there were some common grounds between his and Justice Chaudhry’s party. The SUP had launched a campaign against corruption, religious extremism and terrorism and would hold a big show in Karachi in August, he said.

‘Uncertainty prevails in country’

The former CJP said while speaking to media persons at the Sindh Taraqqi-pasand House on Sunday that there was uncertainty in the country and everyone would have to play his role for change.

The same people came to power again and again, he said after meeting STP chief Dr Qadir Magsi. “We have the same agenda for development and progress as STP and other nationalist parties,” he said.

He said the mother tongue issue was debatable. The Constitution had clear-cut provisions guaranteeing that provinces should have first right over their own natural resources.

Dr Magsi called for implementation of 1940 Resolution to settle all important issues and said that politics and religion should be separated.

Talking to journalists after meeting Qaumi Awami Tehreek president Ayaz Latif Palijo at his residence, Mr Chaudhry said that he was in contact with political leadership of Sindh to save people from corrupt rulers.

Mr Palijo said that Pakistan Peoples Party was using Sindh card to serve its vested interest. People of Sindh were struggling to get rid of (corrupt) rulers, he said.

SUKKUR: Addressing a meeting of the Sukkur District Bar Association here a day earlier, Mr Chaudhry said the Supreme Court verdict in the Panamagate case had pushed Nawaz Sharif down to the level of hardened criminals “like [MQM terror suspects] Ajmal Pahari and Kamran Madhuri”.

He stressed that the judiciary must stay strong and warned if it got weak it would be prone to attacks.

He reminded lawyer fraternity that the then military dictator was behind the May 12, 2007, carnage and the case was yet to be adjudicated.

He paid homage to the lawyers and other people who lost their lives in the carnage and said “MQM supremo Altaf Hussain, who ruled Karachi through terrorism is sitting in London to escape justice,” he said.

Published in Dawn, May 1st, 2017