SC gives till May 2020 extension to COAS Qamar Javed Bajwa

A three-member bench of the Supreme Court of Pakistan headed by Chief Justice Asif Saeed Khosa has given six months extension (Till May 2020) to the Chief of the Army Staff Qamar Javed Bajwa and asked the parliament to pass the law in this regard.

The court has given six months period to the government to formulate law over the extension of the COAS as there was no law in the constitution.

The court upheld its decision for the suspension of federal government notification, in which the COAS was given three years extension. The court in its verbal order said, “we are giving six months extension to the COAS to formulate law in this regard.” The court would take up the matter after six months extension.

In the first half of the hearing, the Supreme Court has reserved judgment of the case and asked the government to submit an undertaking that the parliament will pass legislation in this regard within six months period, amendments will include the elimination of the name of the Supreme Court, duration of the army chief’s tenure, the description of army chief’s salary and incentives.

As General Bajwa is set to retire at midnight, today’s hearing is the last opportunity for the government to satisfy the bench — comprising Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) Asif Saeed Khosa, Justice Mian Mazhar Alam Khan Miankhel and Justice Syed Mansoor Ali Shah — on the legal grounds of the move.

Earlier in first half, the chief justice told Farogh Naseem that the government should submit a written statement to ensure that the parliament will legislate on the matter within six months.

“If legislation is not done within six months, the appointment will become illegal,” the court warned.

The chief justice observed that there was “ambiguity in the Army Act”. “Parliament has to remove that ambiguity,” Justice Shah said and added, “there is no better forum than the parliament to fix the system.”

Justice Miankhel said that it should also be clarified if, in future, the tenure would be extended or if there will be a reappointment.

Addressing Attorney General of Pakistan Anwar Mansoor Khan, the top judge remarked: “Put your house in order.”

It is pertinent to mention that over the past two decades, Gen Raheel Sharif is the only army chief to have retired on time. Gen Kayani’s tenure was extended for another three years by the PPP-led government in 2010. Interestingly, the service extension given to Kayani was also challenged in the Islamabad High Court in 2012. However, it was dismissed by the bench as “non-maintainable” because Article 199 (3) of the Constitution barred the high court from hearing a case against persons subject to the Pakistan Army Act (PAA).

 

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