ISLAMABAD: The Supreme Court on Tuesday has issued the written orders over the suspension of the government’s notification of Army Chief Gen Qamar Javed Bajwa’s tenure extension until the top court’s hearing tomorrow.
The chief justice observed in his written orders that “the summary and approval of the army chief’s extension is not correct”.”The petitioner has failed to appear in person nor anybody else has appeared on his behalf. The application received does not carry any date and the same is not accompanied by any affidavit.
There is nothing before us to accept or to presume that the said application has actually been submitted by the petitioner himself or that he has submitted the same voluntarily,” noted the CJP in the written order after the hearing.
“If the notification was issued on August 19, then what did the prime minister approve on August 21?” Justice Khosa inquired during the proceedings.
“Cabinet’s approval was required,” Attorney General (AG) Anwar Mansoor Khan responded. “The prime minister signed [the notification] after the cabinet’s approval.”
“After the cabinet gave its approval, did the president approve it again?” the chief justice asked, to which the attorney general responded in the negative.
“Only the president of Pakistan can extend the tenure of the army chief,” said CJP Khosa.
“We can take approval from the president again,” the attorney general said.
Justice Khosa then noted that out of 25 cabinet members, only 11 had approved the extension.
“Fourteen members of the cabinet did not give any opinion due to non-availability,” Justice Khosa said. “Did the government take their silence as agreement?”
“Those who did not say ‘yes’ had not taken part in the voting,” the AG informed the court.
“Does the cabinet not want to give members the time to think? The 14 members of the cabinet still have not said ‘yes’ to army chief’s extension,” the top judge noted.
