* Developments highlight Muslim Conference is up against major rift with party chief
* Justice Riaz’s supporters believe Pakistani apex court not authorised to hear AJK matters
By Irfan Ghauri
ISLAMABAD: The judicial and political polarisation emanating from a crisis in Azad Jammu and Kashmir – where two separate Supreme Courts and as many supreme judicial councils are operational – is likely to have far-reaching implications for the political nomenclature of the region.
The crisis was sparked last week with the removal of AJK SC Chief Justice Riaz Akhtar and the filing of a reference against him with the Supreme Judicial Council by former acting president Shah Ghulam Qadir on AJK Prime Minister Raja Farooq Haider’s advice. This was followed by President Raja Zulqarnain’s cancellation of the orders, which were defied by the executive – leading to a seemingly unbridgeable rift not only between three pillars of the state, but also within the judiciary. An amicable solution appears unlikely, and some heads would have to roll for normalcy to return.
Subsequent developments over the last few days highlight that the ruling Muslim Conference, with a third prime minister in office in the fourth year of its current tenure, is up against a major rift with the party president, who is backing President Zulqarnain, as the prime minister remains adamant in defending decisions that were “in line with the law and constitution”.
On the advice of the prime minister on April 3, the AJK Law Department issued a notification on the filing of a reference with the SJC against Justice Riaz under Section 42E of the AJK interim constitution, deposing the CJ until the completion of the council inquiry.
Under Section 42-8 of the interim constitution, the former acting president Shah Ghulam Qadir – speaker of the Legislative Assembly – also appointed Justice Manzoorul Haq Gilani the acting chief justice and administered oath.
In addition, the acting president terminated the services of an ad hoc judge, Justice Muhammad Azim Khan, and replaced him with Chaudhry Muhammad Ibrahim Zia.
The SJC, formed by the acting president, is headed by Justice Manzoor and includes AJK High Court Chief Justice Ghulam Mustafa Mughal and a newly-appointed ad hoc judge, Chaudhry Ibrabim Zia.
On the orders of the acting CJ, the AJK High Court chief justice later suspended the services of Justice Younis Tahir and Justice Rafiullah Sultani, two other high court judges.
AJK President Zulquarnain, who was in the UK at the time of these developments, directed the government on his return to withdraw the reference against Justice Riaz and other notifications, including the one on the removal of Justice Azim.
However, the executive, led by Prime Minister Farooq, refused to comply with the directives of the president, who later constituted a parallel supreme judicial council to hear counter references against the acting Supreme Court CJ Gilani and the chief justice of the AJK High Court.
This council is headed by the deposed, Justice Riaz, and includes Justice Khawaja Shahad Ahmed of the AJK SC and Justice Younis Tahir of the AJK High Court.
The deepening crisis has a history of events and several stakeholders, not only from AJK but also from mainstream Pakistani politics.
Justice Riaz was appointed chief justice on October 20, 2006, only 24 days after his elevation from high court to the Supreme Court, superseding Justice Gilani – who was senior to him in the SC by 29 months.
Under the AJK constitution, the chief justice is appointed by the president on the advice of the prime minister of Pakistan, who is also chairman of the AJK Council.
Justice Gilani challenged the appointment of Justice Riaz through his attorney, Akram Sheikh, in the Supreme Court of Pakistan, however, the case is still pending.
Authority: Justice Riaz’s supporters believe the Supreme Court of Pakistan has no jurisdiction to hear matters related to AJK, and if any reference is to be filed in AJK, it should be filed with the SJC headed by Justice Riaz.
The emanating situation has pitted judges in the superior judiciary against each other, with politicians – according to sources – all set to cash in.
Backing: It has been learnt that the AJK prime minister and his close aides have the backing of the PML-N, which has also contacted an ally, Barrister Sultan – who has four members of his party on opposition benches, in the legislative assembly to back premier Farooq Haider.
Many of the parliamentary party members of the ruling Muslim Conference were siding with their party President Sardar Attique Ahmed Khan, alleging that their prime minister has not taken them into confidence before acting against Justice Riaz.
The ruling party has constituted two committees with mandate to hold dialogue with all the stakeholders and come up with an amicable solution to the abysmal situation.
Emergency: Under the prevailing political situation in Pakistan, the federal government is unlikely to use Article 56 of the interim constitution and impose emergency in the area as demanded by some political stakeholders of AJK during their recent meeting with Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani.
In such a situation, if the matter keeps lingering on for some more days, the ruling Muslim Conference sources do not rule out a fourth in-house change and the replacement of Raja Farooq with some other contender.
This would make things ripe for the PML-N to launch its AJK chapter, inculcating a possible split among members of the Muslim Conference and other groups and come up with a significant force to contest elections for the legislative assembly scheduled for June next year.
[Daily Times]
Posted on 11 Apr 2010 by
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