ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Imran Khan on Wednesday decided to stand by self-exiled former military ruler retired Gen Pervez Musharraf, who was handed death sentence for high treason, and explained he had skipped the Kuala Lumpur summit of Muslim states because of “national interest”.

The prime minister directed the government’s legal team and parliamentary committee of the ruling Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) to forge consensus with the opposition for appropriate legislation on the extension of service of the army chief as per the Supreme Court directive.

The prime minister barred government’s spokespersons from commenting on the special court’s verdict.

The decisions were taken at a PTI core committee meeting chaired by the prime minister soon after his return from Saudi Arabia, Bahrain and Switzerland.

The meeting considered some changes in the procedure of appointment of the chief election commissioner. The CEC is presently appointed [under the Constitution] by the prime minister with the consent of the leader of the opposition in the National Assembly. The meeting termed the prevailing procedure “undemocratic” as it did not ensure participation and consent of other parliamentary parties, especially those in the ruling alliance.

PM says he skipped Kuala Lumpur summit because of ‘national interest’

At a post-core committee meeting press conference, Special Assistant to the Prime Minister (SAPM) on Information Dr Firdous Ashiq Awan said the government’s legal team apprised the prime minister of all legal aspects of the high treason case against former president Musharraf in which he was awarded death sentence on Tuesday.

It has been learnt that the special court will issue the detailed judgement in the high treason case on Thursday (today) after which the government will chalk out its strategy how to deal with the issue.

The prime minister was of the view that there should not be any conflict among institutions of the country and there must be complete harmony among them. “We have to give strength to our institutions and should stand by them,” he was quoted as saying.

According to Dr Awan, the prime minister told the meeting that institutions were pillars of the state and the state’s interest would always be supreme at any cost. “We have to support the state institutions and make them independent and stand by the rule of law.”

“PM has no individual point of view; he is with the stance of state that we have to stand by justice and to defend the law and Constitution,” said Dr Awan while endorsing Attorney General’s remarks on Tuesday that the verdict of the special court was based on “injustice” and he will stand by the ex-president.

Kuala Lumpur summit

About the government decision not to attend the Kuala Lumpur summit, Dr Awan said the prime minister had skipped the event in the “national interest”. “PM Imran and Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi informed the core committee about the decision not to attend the Kuala Lumpur summit and said Pakistan has strategic interest in the region, especially with regard to the OIC (Organisation of Islamic Cooperation),” she added.

The SAPM hinted at some differences between Saudi Arabia and Malaysia and said: “Pakistan will act as a mediator between Arabs and non-Arabs. Pakistan wishes to play the role of a country that unites Muslim Ummah.”

Responding to a question about media reports that Mr Khan had shelved his visit to Malaysia due to Saudi influence, she said the prime minister’s vision to bring together the Muslim world meant that Pakistan did not wish to align itself with any country’s individual interest.

Maryam on ECL

About an application filed by Maryam Nawaz, daughter of former prime minister Nawaz Sharif, seeking removal of her name from the Exit Control List, Dr Awam hinted that the government might not accept her request. “The prime minister and the core committee reiterated their resolve to uphold the belief that no one is above the law and there are no holy cows,” she added.

The SAPM said the issue of Maryam’s request to travel abroad to meet her ailing father in London also came under discussion. She said the government would decide the matter based on the recommendations of a sub-committee. “The government will free the law of the land which is in the iron grip of ‘wishes and desires’,” she added.

ECP appointments

Talking about the pending appointments in the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP), Dr Awan said the meeting was of the opinion that issue was being delayed due to a lack of consensus in parliament. She said the prime minister had directed the parliamentary committee comprising leaders of the PTI and its allies to sit together with the National Assembly speaker and decide a final course of action and forge consensus with the opposition. “The committee was tasked with developing consensus on a candidate and fulfilling its constitutional and legal responsibility to restore ECP’s functioning,” she added.

Dr Awan termed the practice of two parties getting together to decide on the appointment of a regulator “contrary to the parameters of democracy” and said a regulator was never handpicked or appointed out of choice.

She suggested that parliament review the criteria of appointment for the future because a regulator must be appointed “on merit, competency, qualifications, and overall, with a fair and free mechanism”. “It is important to empower an institution rather than parties or individuals,” she said.

The prime minister, she said, had instructed the parliamentary committee to figure out the constitutional and legal way forward to get rid of the current method of ECP appointments.

PM Khan called for reactivating the PTI’s lawyers wing and the party’s secretary general and chief organiser were asked to work with the law ministry to review the areas where the services of lawyers had not been effectively utilised and to develop a framework in which the government’s law officer — who acts as a bridge between the benches and the bars — was able to assist in the quick dispensation of cases of public interest.

Indian citizenship act

The core committee strongly condemned India’s new Citizenship Amendment Act and the prime minister informed the meeting that at the Geneva conference on refugees he had unmasked India’s true face before the world that its extremist thinking disguised in the cloak of the state was aimed at targeting minorities.

Published in Dawn, December 19th, 2019