How dictator Musharraf used his colleagues against Justice Iftikhar

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ISLAMABAD: The detailed judgment in the case of the restoration of the Chief Justice of Pakistan on July 20, 2007 reveals that not only Pervez Musharraf but the then Director General ISI and the DG Military Intelligence (MI) had also insisted that the chief justice resign during his illegal detention at the Army House Rawalpindi on March 9, 2007.

The judgment, penned by Justice Khalilur Rehman Ramday, says: “The petitioner CJP went on to depose that ‘the respondent (the president) insisted that the deponent (the CJP) should resign’. He added that his refusal to oblige, ‘ignited the fury of the respondent (the president); he (the president) stood up angrily and left the room along with his MS, COS, and the prime minister of Pakistan, saying that others would show evidence to the deponent’ (about the allegations of misconduct against the CJP).”

“As per the CJP, his meeting with the president lasted for about thirty minutes meaning thereby that the president and the prime minister would have left by about 12.15/12.30 pm and the CJP was then left behind in the company only of the DG MI, the DG ISI allegedly to be shown the evidence in support of the above-noticed accusations.

The CJP alleged that no evidence at all was shown to him and “in fact, no official except DG ISI had some documents with him but he also did not show anything to the deponent” (the CJP). He added that they only accused him of having secured a seat for his son in Bolan Medical College while he was serving as a judge of Balochistan High Court. “The CJP further alleged that the DG MI and the DG ISI kept insisting that he should resign from his office while he continued to assert strongly that the allegations were baseless and were being levelled only for a collateral purpose and that he would not resign at any cost and would rather face the said false charges.”

The judgment states, “While the CJP was still at the President’s Camp Office in Rawalpindi during the said crucial ‘FIVE HOURS’ and when according to the CJP he was being detained there against his wishes after 12 noon and when according to the respondents he was sitting there, in the company of the intelligence chiefs examining the reference and the material available in support thereof, a notification dated March 9, 2007, was issued by the Government of Pakistan in the Law, Justice and Human Rights Division mentioning therein that since the President of Pakistan had been pleased to make a reference called a ‘DIRECTION’ by Article 209(5) of the Constitution) to the SJC against the CJP, therefore, the President had restrained Mr Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry from acting as the Chief Justice of Pakistan or even as a Judge of the Supreme Court of Pakistan.”

The honourable judges of the Supreme Court also made it clear that the case had nothing to do with army as an institution but acts of a person who happened to be chief of army staff. The judgment regarding the statement of Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain that ‘it was a matter between army and judiciary’ states, “This, in our opinion, was a naive attempt to create a wedge between two important and indispensable arms of the State and to put them on a war-path. What was in question before us was an act of the President and it was just an accident or a coincidence that the said President also happened to be the Chief of Army Staff. The matter had obviously nothing to do with the Army as an institution. Needless to add that the Army was an invaluable organ and instrument of the State and was as precious to us all as any other institution of our homeland. We, therefore, take this opportunity to express our disapproval and displeasure about the said statement.”

Political analysts and observers who had watched the situation at the time, however, told The News that the involvement of junior military officers was minimal and on the specific orders of General Pervez Musharraf who had his own personal vested interest to protect.

They said whatever happened at the time was planned and ordered by General Musharraf and no other army or intelligence officer could be blamed for it. “It was Musharraf and Musharraf alone who must be held responsible for the treatment he meted out to the judiciary and the judges have also noted this in their judgment when they said the army had nothing to do with it as an institution,” an analyst said.

It should be noted that both the ISI and the MI were directly under control of the then COAS, General Musharraf, although the ISI is supposed to be under the prime minister.

A retired general who was closed to General Pervez Musharraf when contacted said that Musharraf tried to show the door to the chief justice because he wanted extension in his tenure that was expiring, election results of his own desire and government of his own choice. He considered the chief justice as the only person who could create hurdles in the achievement of his objectives. He said Musharraf’s stakes were very high and he wanted to achieve his objectives at all costs.

Musharraf, he said, used his senior colleagues, to press the chief justice to quit. He said the then DG MI General Nadeem Ijaz, who was relative of Musharraf, crossed all limits in dealing with the opponents of the former dictator. The DG MI was the strong man of Musharraf. He said Musharraf took aggressive steps against judiciary on the advice of the DG MI, who was in fact responsible for spoiling Musharraf’s all matters related to judiciary. The DG IB went too far in bid to protect the interests of his boss (Musharraf).

He said under Musharraf’s pressure the DG MI Ijaz, DG IB Ejaz Shah, the then secretary interior and some others also submitted affidavits in the Supreme Court against the chief justice. He reminded that the DG ISI did not submit an affidavit. It was believed that Musharraf asked the DG ISI to submit his affidavit but the latter said sorry to the former. Musharraf, he said, was reportedly offended by the DG ISI. He said despite Musharraf’s intensive efforts, the then DG ISI Gen Ashfaq Parvez Kayani kept a reasonable distance from this issue in grace.

He said Gen Kayani was popular as a simple soldier. He did not show any interest in Musharraf’s machinations and that was why he did not submit any affidavit.

Observers are pleasantly surprised that Chief Justice Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry wrote the names of military generals including the former DG ISI Gen Kayani, who is present army chief, and the full court also mentioned them in their judgement without showing any fear. They said the chief justice and all the members of the full court deserve praise and esteem for showing rare courage.

Justice Khalilur Rehman Ramday also mentioned the reasons for delay in writing the detailed judgment. The judgment says, “And before I put my pen down, I wish to offer a personal explanation which I owe in connection with this judgment. As is known, the short judgment in the matter was announced on July 20, 2007 and these reasons in support of the said judgment are being recorded after almost 2-1/2 years. This rather extraordinary delay, which was on account of equally extraordinary circumstances, warrants clarification and elucidation.”

He mentioned that after vacations he was a part of a bench hearing the eligibility case of Pervez Musharraf but, when the said matter had almost reached the final stages, martial law (called emergency) was imposed in the country by General Musharraf on November 3, 2007 in his capacity as the Chief of Army Staff. Thirteen out of seventeen Judges were removed from office and some including the Chief Justice were put under house arrest which detention continued till March, 2008. “Thereafter, I was of course a free man but being a ‘REMOVED’ Judge, had no access to the Supreme Court and consequently the entire record of this case, including all the notes, were out of my reach. I, along with the Chief Justice of Pakistan and some other learned brothers, got restored to office in March, 2009 and it is thereafter that I got down to collecting the lost, the forgotten and the scattered threads and this is what I have been able to produce now.”