Shafaqna Pakistan:All eyes are on the Supreme Court as it reconvened again on Thursday – a day after the chief justice-led bench grilled the country’s top law official over the extension/reappointment of incumbent army chief General Qamar Javed Bajwa.
General Bajwa is set to retire at midnight Thursday if the government fails to satisfy the apex court.
The three-judge bench headed by Justice Khosa announced that the court will announce a short order later today. He further instructed that the “parliament should pass legislation on the matter within six months”.
“If the legislation is not passed during the given time, the appointment will become illegal.”
Announcing an adjournment till 1 pm, the apex court further instructed the government to correct the notification and the summary. “Make the required changes and bring it to the court. We will announce the judgement today,” said the chief justice.
Previous extensions under focus
At the start of the day’s proceedings at 9:30 am, the court directed the AG to submit documents related to the retirement Gen (retd) Raheel Sharif and the extension of Gen (retd) Ashfaq Pervez Kiyani. A brief adjournment then took place to provide time to the attorney general for submission of said documents.
“The documents will be presented in the court shortly. The army chief was reappointed as per Article 243,” said AG Anwar.
Going through the documents after resuming the hearing, the chief justice said that the documents do not mention who granted an extension to General Kiyani and neither do the documents mention “under which law he was given the extension”.
“There should not be any confusion over such an important post.”
“We want to see what is written on those documents. We have been told that a general never retires. If a general never retire then there must be no pension and if there is no retirement for generals, then what is their mode of earnings,” questioned the chief justice.
“How is the appointment that took place today different from the previous ones? You will have to convince us, how the latest appointment is accurate,” continued Justice Khosa.
“Extensions were happening in the past but no one took notice of it. No one is watching what is happening in cantonments. Under which law does is this practice continuing? Now a constitutional institution is reviewing this matter. The appointment procedure should be clearly written on the constitutional post,” said the CJP.
Justice Mansoor Ali Shah said that the appointment of an army chief should be as per the law.
‘Bear your own burden’
During Thursday’s hearing, AG Anwar also submitted a new summary of the draft notification for extension in Gen Bajwa’s tenure prepared by the government after the court adjourned on Wednesday.
An emergency meeting was called at the Prime Minister House to decide on the future course of action. The meeting was also attended by the army chief.
The bench took strong exception to the mention of the court’s proceedings in the draft notification.
“Bear your own burden, why are you using our name,” said the chief justice and added that the government should “do its own work”.
Justice Khosa directed the AG to eliminate the court’s mention from the summary. “Take out the part about the court’s advice.”
“If the president seeks our advice, that would be a different matter,” added the chief justice.
The government was directed by the apex court after the court resumes, to submit an undertaking that the parliament will pass legislation within six months and to present an amended notification. It further directed that the amended notification will eliminate the mention of the SC, the duration of the army chief’s tenure and the specifics of an army chief’s salary and incentives.