Zardari won't have to appear before courts

KARACHI - Justice (retd) Wajihuddin Ahmed on Tuesday said that if the cases against President Asif Ali Zardari reopened he could not appear before any court being the head of state.
He was talking to the mediamen after addressing the lawyers at Karachi Bar Association (KBA) on the eve of ‘Black Day’ held on the second anniversary of the imposition of emergency rule by the then President Gen (retd) Pervez Musharraf on November 3, 2007.
He said that National Reconciliation Ordinance (NRO) had expired on February 4, 2008, adding that Asif Ali Zardari being the president of the county could not be appeared before any court according to the Article 248.
Earlier, while addressing the lawyers, he said that the parliament was not authorised to approve the NRO because the apex court could challenge the ordinance, as the Constitution is superior to the parliament.
He said that November 3, 2007, has become a history and it was the first time in the history of Pakistan when a dictator targeted the judiciary instead of the parliament and other institutions.
He also termed the former chief justice Abdul Hameed Dogar as the main character of the November 3 emergency, and said that the then dictator had already planned of replacing the Chief Justice of Pakistan, Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry, with Abdul Hameed Dogar on January 2007.
He said that Musharraf must be brought before the justice as the people were still eyeing on his judicial trial, and if it would not happen than the lawyers would start another long march for his trial.
Wajihuddin, in his speech, drew the attention towards the corruption in the judiciary and criticised that the masses of the county, who were the part of the lawyers’ movement, are still deprived of justice.
He pointed out that in many cases the judicial magistrates and session judges give bail orders to their favourite lawyers and if such practice continues the common people would lose their hopes against judiciary.
On the occasion, Vice Chairman of Sindh Bar Council, Mehmood-ul Hassan, President KBA Mohammad Ali Abbasi, secretary Naeem Qurashi, senior lawyer leaders Salahuddin Gandapor, Salahuddin Ahmed and others also spoke, while President SBA Rasheed A Rizvi was also present on the occasion.
Earlier the lawyer representatives demanded the probe of the incidents happened on May 12, 2007, and April 4, 2008, when several lawyers and innocent people sacrificed their lives for the judiciary movement.