SC adjourns hearing regarding extension in tenure of COAS till 1pm

ISLAMABAD: Chief Justice of Pakistan Justice Asif Saeed Khosa adjourned hearing of the petition challenging extension in tenure of Chief of the Army Staff General Qamar Javed Bajwa till 1pm.

A three-member apex court bench, headed by Chief Justice of Pakistan will resume the hearing after 1pm today. Farogh Naseem, who has resigned from the law minister, would represent Army Chief in the Supreme Court today.

During the early morning hearing, CJ clarified that the SC is hearing regular petition and it has not taken any suo motu notice.

Attorney General (AG) Anwar Mansoor Khan said that he wished to “clarify something” as he took the rostrum at the start of the hearing. “I referred to army rules yesterday. The court wrote ‘law’ in its order,” said the AG. “The court had given its order after looking at your documents,” replied the chief justice.

Justice Mansoor Ali Shah, referring to the point raised on Tuesday that only 11 cabinet members had earlier approved the extension, said: “Answers had not been submitted in the time fixed for cabinet members.”

“According to Rule 19, silence means ‘yes’,” the AG said. “According to Rule 19, [silence] is considered ‘yes’ only if there is a fixed time [to answer],” said Justice Khosa. “Mistakes pointed out by the court yesterday have been admitted and rectified,” said the CJP.

“The government has not said anywhere that it made a mistake,” replied the AG.

“If the situation is similar to the past, so let’s make the judgement as per the law,” said Justice Khosa.

The attorney general presented a new summary for ‘extending’ the tenure of the army chief in the SC.

The Supreme Court on Tuesday had suspended until today a government notification of reappointment of General Bajwa for another three-year term.

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