Gulf between govt, political parties on amendment widens

ISLAMABAD: The gulf between the government and political parties on the question of amending the Constitution to establish the military courts or amending the Army Act 1952 to try hardcore terrorists has widened.
The consensus between the government and political parties seems to be evaporating in thin air after a high-level meeting chaired by Prime Minister Muhammad Nawaz Sharif here on Thursday, as the decision makers and those who matter wanted a constitutional umbrella for the establishment of military courts.
The government’s legal and constitutional team also shared the opinion of constitutional umbrella for the establishment of military courts believing that the purpose of punishing terrorists could not be achieved through an amendment to the Army Act 1952, as the superior courts could declare the establishment of military courts null and void if established through an amendment to the Army Act.
The problem with the government is that it doesn’t have a two-thirds majority in both the houses of parliament to amend the Constitution and for this reason the government had agreed to amend the Army Act.
An important meeting between Prime Minister Muhammad Nawaz Sharif and Co-chairman PPP and former president Asif Ali Zardari is expected today (Friday) in which the former will try to win the support of the latter to amend the Constitution for establishing the military courts.
The prime minister will also place the whole situation before the parliamentary party leaders at the Prime Minister’s House today (Friday).According to sources, the government’s legal and constitutional team on Thursday briefed the prime minister on the legal and constitutional aspects and informed him that the purpose of establishing the military courts could not be achieved by amending the Army Act and the constitutional umbrella was must for this purpose.
When the military courts were established after imposing a martial law during the last days of Zulfikar Ali Bhutto government in 1977 after amending the Army Act, the Lahore High Court had declared the decision null and void. The dominant perception is that the superior courts can declare the military courts as unconstitutional.
Sources said Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif had been told that superior courts see the military courts as a parallel judiciary, so it was necessary to make an amendment to the Constitution.A simple majority is needed for amending the Army Act which the government enjoys in the National Assembly.
After the amendment to the Army Act, the federal government would prepare a list of terrorists that would be sent to the military courts.Sources said the legal and constitutional team of the government, in its briefing to the prime minister, had mentioned many articles of the Constitution which could not be implemented unless an amendment was made to the Constitution.
In the corps commanders meeting, it was told that the military leadership had presented its proposals to the prime minister for complete constitutional protection to the military courts and their judges to avoid any legal and Constitution hiccups.
In view of this situation, the prime minister has convened a meeting of political leaders today (Friday) to put the opinion of the government’s legal and constitutional team before them and also to share the opinion of military leadership with them so that a decision could be taken on whether to set up the military courts through an amendment to the Constitution or the Army Act 1952.