obvious reasons to have qualification and disqualification criteria for members in any constitution, the articles our Constitution contains have serious lacunae which can always be used to politically victimise any elected member.
The terms like good character, good moral reputation, moral turpitude, practising obligatory duties prescribed by Islam, abstaining from major sins, Islamic injunctions, Ideology of Pakistan, bringing into ridicule the judiciary or the armed forces, etc are vague, immeasurable and hard to establish in a just way.
For instance, in legal terms, public life is affected by crime and not sin. Morality is a relative concept and good reputation is highly subjective. There was a two-nation theory when Pakistan was created. The Ideology of Pakistan became a usable term only after Gen Sher Ali Pataudi promoted it in 1969, soon to be desecrated in the eastern wing of the country. Besides, what does ridiculing mean?
If some of the judges used the law of necessity in the past, legitimised dictatorships or ruled under duress, can no parliamentarian of Pakistan raise her concerns? If some generals abrogate the Constitution, manipulate political events and violate the limits put by the Constitution, can no parliamentarian raise his voice?
I share my view of Articles 62 and 63 with also Imran Khan, whose politics I otherwise find without substance. He said in June 2007, when the MQM presented a resolution against him, that these articles can only be applied to angels and not human beings.
The writer is an Islamabad-based poet and author. Email: harris.khalique@gmail.com
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