Lawyers-media campaign dislodged Musharraf: Aitzaz

ISLAMABAD: Chaudhry Aitzaz Ahsan Wednesday said that Pervez Musharraf’s expulsion and judges restoration were not merely the result of a dialogue but were caused by the joint campaign of lawyers, media and civil society.

While Minister for Information and Broadcasting Qamar Zaman Kaira said that trial of Pervaiz Musharraf for subverting the Constitution should start from Oct 12, 1999, rather than Nov 3, 2007.

While addressing a seminar organized by National Press Club on the third anniversary of November 3 emergency imposed in 2007,the Minister said “the PPP after coming to power adopted the path of reconciliation as the country could not afford confrontation at this critical juncture”.

He said that the PPP has a coalition government and it has to take along all its partners and some partners were not in favour of his trial. He said no doubt November 3 is a black day in the history of the country, though Oct 12, 1999 was similar black day when a democratically elected government was toppled.

Kaira said that “emergency plus” imposed by Musharraf on Nov 3, 2007 was unconstitutional as he took this step as Chief of Army Staff and not as the President. Some people are demanding his trial under Article 6 of the Constitution, but on Oct 12, 1999 he had done even worse.

Kaira said that the PPP has given its stance several times on the issue, but those who want Musharraf’s trial under Article 6 can knock the door of superior judiciary, or bring resolutions for this purpose in the assemblies.

They should also file petition in Supreme Court for review of Zafar Ali Shah case verdict which validated to Musharraf’s take over of 1999 and allowed him to amend the Constitution.

“The PPP as a political force has always sacrificed for democracy, judiciary and media freedom,” he said.

Kaira said that in October 2007 Shaheed Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto had returned from exile for uniting political forces, despite knowing that her life would be in danger.

Referring to the resignation of Pervaiz Musharraf as President he said that the PPP-led government forced him to vacate presidency through political pressure without any bloodshed, which was a big achievement. He said that after Musharraf’s resignation Mian Nawaz Sharif had congratulated Asif Ali Zardari for ousting the dictator so cleverly.

He said that the PPP did not demand any NRO, as even Musharraf has admitted that Shaheed Benazir Bhutto had demanded abolishment of 58-B (2) and end of ban on third term for the Prime Minister.

He also said that PPP leadership accepted NRO only to return home and not for going abroad as a similar deal was done in 2000 for allowing the Sharif family to go abroad.
Elaborating major achievements of the PPP-led coalition government, Kaira said the 7th National Finance Commission (NFC) award, Aghaz-e-Haqooq-e-Balochistan package and the 18th amendment were prominent steps towards provincial autonomy and to improve living standard of the common man.

He said that the PPP has always supported and respected media freedom and struggled along with media persons for this purpose. Kaira said that despite the fact that a media house was indulged in unprofessional practices but the present government has not imposed curbs on this group, but as political party it had right not to respond to its allegations.

“That particular house has filed a criminal case against a journalist for what they called false news items and the government could have done the same thing with this group but it did not do so.”

Kaira said that the PPP believed that without free and responsible media democracy cannot be strengthened. He said that Pakistan was a growing democracy but the critics of the government say that its attitude should be like centuries old democratic countries like the United Kingdom and the United States.

He made it clear that the PPP government may have made mistakes but its intentions were not wrong.