Justice Qazi Faiz Esa has said that criticism could be made of any person but not of the institution. He also said that the armed forces are part of the executive, not an institution but the judiciary and legislature are institutions; generals and we (judges) are paid servants of the state.
He was speaking at the Asma Jehangir Conference in Lahore and said that you can condemn a bureaucrat by name but don’t condemn the executive, because that is the important distinction in Pakistan.
Justice Esa said that Pakistan needs democracy and if it is taken from the people you’ll be an enemy of the people and the state.
He said that he was deeply honoured and truly humbled in the name of a great lady who was passionate. He also mentioned the first case confronting Asma Jahangir in which he was a member of the bench.
Justice Faiz Esa said that the distribution of power was important; the legislature makes law while the executive implements on that and the judiciary ensure that everyone is served equally.
He said that the first assembly of Pakistan was dissolved when Maulvi Tameez-ud-Din was removed and that was the first attack on the constitution by a bureaucrat.
Justice Faiz Esa further said that the constitution was again attacked in 1956 by General Sikandar Mirza and later by General Ayub but the case presided over by Justice Muhammad Munir had endorsed General Ayub’s rule.
He also said that Pakistan had come into being to the world stage as an idea of awakening Muslims’ minds by crossing linguistic and cultural barriers; the Ethos of Pakistan was Islamic, the foundation was democratic and the structure was constitutional.
Then the constitution of 1973 was another significant achievement by representatives of the people and then PM Bhutto; further adding that the third attack on the constitution and democracy was by General Zia-ul-Haq in 1977 when he arrested Bhutto and was tried by the civilian court (unfortunately) and was hung with a razor-thin majority.
General Musharraf made some amendments to the constitution in his era and then later Benazir Bhutto was assassinated.
He said that later a PM was removed through contempt removal while another PM had been removed for not disclosing the income he had received.
Talking about FATF he asked whether any international body could impose on us to do things according to them as FATF did and upon compliance, we are included on the white list from the grey list.
He also said that he would put General Ayub, General Zia and General Musharraf on the black list and two white English men general Sir Frank Walter and General Douglas on the white list for their roles and conduct.
