ISLAMABAD: The main opposition Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) has expressed “surprise” over the Supreme Court’s verdict allowing former military ruler retd General Pervez Musharraf to travel abroad, saying “some forces are more powerful than the constitution.”

Chaudhry Aitzaz Ahsan, the leader of opposition in the Senate and a PPP stalwart, has predicted that the former president will not return to Pakistan to face cases against him, once he leaves the country.

Talking to reporters here on Wednesday, Leader of Opposition in National Assembly, Syed Khurshid Shah, said it seemed that Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif “had no objection” to Gen Musharraf leaving the country as his government was “under tremendous pressure over the issue”.

“Some forces are more powerful than Article 6 of the constitution,” he said. “This article became a part of the constitution during the government of former prime minister Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, who himself fell prey to the tyranny of these forces.”

Mr Shah said.the former ‘military dictator’ had unconstitutionally removed an elected government and Nawaz Sharif himself was the biggest victim of Gen Musharraf’s tyranny. But, he added, if Mr Sharif was silent over the issue then what role other political parties could play.

The PPP leader said his party had no objection to Gen Musharraf’s departure to a foreign country, but it believed that only the court would be responsible if he would not return to the country.

Mr Shah called for eliminating the culture of “sacred and non-sacred cows” and said law should equally be enforced on all people. “It is a great injustice to have different laws for powerful and weak people.”

Meanwhile, Aitzaz Ahsan, who had led lawyers’ movement during the military rule of Gen Musharraf, in a statement expressed “surprise” over the Supreme Court’s decision to allow the former president to travel abroad on medical grounds.

He said Gen Musharraf had failed to appear in courts and was effectively an “absconder from justice.” Non-bailable warrants for his production in courts trying him on serious charges had also been issued. He has also been charged with high treason and the trial is pending.

The general, Mr Ahsan said, had also dragged the criminal cases he was facing to obtain relief. “When will the powerful be made to submit to justice,” he asked, adding that it was unlikely that the general would return to Pakistan.

He said on the parameters of human rights the decision might be sound but then it was hoped that such a facility would be allowed to other accused also without discrimination.

“Court decisions are precedents to be followed in the future and must equally apply to all citizens — rich or poor, powerful or weak. It is an abject lesson how the powerful and arrogant humble themselves,” he said.

Published in Dawn, March 17th, 2016