Lifetime disqualification: ‘If you debar someone for life, you condemn him for life,’ says CJP – Pakistan

At the outset of today’s hearing, Advocate Khurram Raza, who is in favour of lifetime disqualification, came to the rostrum. The lawyer raised questions about the maintainability of the proceedings.

“Under what provision of law are these proceedings being conducted?” he asked. However, the bench directed Raza to stick to his petition.

Resuming his arguments, the counsel said that the election tribunal could only grant a declaration and that the right could not be exercised by the high court or SC directly. However, he continued, cases against orders passed by the tribunal could be heard by the apex court under the scope of appeal.

Here, the CJP said this debate won’t resolve the problem before the court. “Let us not go into the powers of the election tribunal. This is not the question of the election tribunal or election commission exercising a power, it is about a power exercised by a constitutional court,” he highlighted.

For his part, Raza said any declaration in the election tribunal or by the SC in the appellate jurisdiction was covered in Article 62(1)(f).

“Let’s clarify, the election tribunal will exercise powers only under the law […] therefore when the SC is exercising such powers it cannot have more powers than the election tribunal or the Election Commission of Pakistan,” Justice Isa said.

“Unless you can show that the ECP and the election tribunal can also disqualify for life, then that power will also be with the SC, otherwise it will be an additional power given to the Supreme Court under Article 62(1)(f),” he added.

For his part, Raza said the SC can give a declaration, pertaining to lifetime disqualification, only if “it had arisen out of the tribunal” but not on its own.

Meanwhile, the CJP said Article 63 of the Constitution talks about disqualification, but only for five years. “Where is that provision which says [a lawmaker] is disqualified for life? Where is the power in this court to do this? That is the essential question,” he stressed.

At one point, Justice Shah asked: “Does it not appear odd to you that for other crimes as big as treason, you could always come back and contest elections but for a civil wrong […] the punishment in a way is for life. But if I were to commit a murder, rape or kidnapping […] I could come back and contest elections.”

Raza replied that these arguments were present in Islamic principles. However, the CJP took exception to the contention.

“There were those who were violently opposed to Islam and then they became caliphs […] just don’t throw in Islam like that […] there is a principle of repentance and returning to the right path,” Justice Isa remarked.

The CJP also inquired if the provisions of disqualification were amended in the Constitution by a dictator, saying that a “hypocrite was worse than a non-believer”. He lamented that amendments were made on “gun points” and asked how the wisdom of five judges sitting in a court could be more than the people sitting in the Parliament.

“No matter how much you despise the members of the assembly, they are our representatives,” the top judge remarked. “You cannot give precedence to the wisdom of dictators over the wisdom of assembly members.”

Further, the CJP said the court wanted “clarity” in the run-up to elections and to prevent confusion for returning officers regarding the law they needed to follow.

Subsequently, Advocate Usman Karim came to the rostrum. He highlighted that the preconditions of saadiq and ameen were also applied to non-Muslims, arguing that hence these conditions were not in reference to Islam.

“Can non-Muslims not be saadiq and ameen?” Justice Isa asked. “Were these things inserted for confusion or what?”

Justice Mandokhail also inquired who was responsible for determining if the character of a person was good or not, to which the lawyer said only God could do it.

At one point, Karim said lifetime disqualification in the Samiullah Baloch case was a “judge-based law”. Meanwhile, Justice Shah wondered how could the lifetime disqualification still be applicable today when a law had been introduced and the disqualification period had been fixed at five years.

“Politicians are elected representatives of the people,” the CJP said, adding that dictators and politicians could not be judged together. “A dictator comes into government by breaking the constitution, not by being elected,” Justice Isa stated.

Subsequently, the court adjourned the proceedings for a break. When the hearing resumed, Bhandari, who was appointed amici to assist the SC in the case, was called to the rostrum.

Bhandari contended that the returning officers had two norms before them, the Elections Act amendment and the Sammiullah case judgment, and they had to enforce the higher of both norms.

“The way I see it, the starting point is the historical context for Article 62(1)(f),” he said, adding that the law entailed a lifetime disqualification, which was settled before the 18th Amendment. He highlighted that various provisions under Article 63 imposed a disqualification but did not lay down any time frame.

He said that in the 18th Amendment, the Parliament substituted Articles 62 and 63 in their entirety. “Secondly, Article 63(1)(g)(h)(i)(j) had time limits inserted in them and they ranged from two to five years. Probably that gradation is justified based on the severity of the wrong that they entail.

“The third thing that the Parliament did was that in Article 62(1)(f) they inserted these words ‘there being no declaration to the contrary by a court of law’. The fourth thing the Parliament did not do was insert a time limit in Article 62(1)(f),” Bhandari pointed out.

He also stated that as per his reading of the 2018 case judgment, he did not see it as laying down a permanent disqualification but it was an indefinite disqualification — which can come to an end. “The Samiullah case cannot be overruled but there are problems with it that can be fixed,” the lawyer added.

Bhandari further argued that the Parliament never even tried to change the language of Articles 62 and 63, at which the CJP said that the entire country was closed down once when the language of the oath was changed. “Maybe this is why they left it. The state must have thought who would deal with these people,” the top judge said.

For his part, Bhandari stated that the key to resolving the issue was in the Samiullah case judgment, which mentioned the concept of repentance. He highlighted that the returning officer could not issue the declaration of disqualification, while the election tribunal could do the same on the basis of established facts.

However, he continued, the SC 2018 judgment does not mention would can issue the declaration.

At that, CJP Isa remarked how a court could determine if someone was honest and truthful. “How can courts determine honesty, trustworthiness and non-wastefulness?” he asked, pointing out that the SC did everything in the lifetime disqualification case.

“Where is it written in the Constitution that the Supreme Court can give such a declaration?” Justice Shah further inquired.

“Let’s suppose a witness lies in a criminal or civil case, can he not be disqualified for this?” the CJP asked, while Justice Shah reiterated that the primary question was where the disqualification’s declaration would come from.

In his response, Bhandari said the SC or even a civil court could issue the declaration based on established facts. However, Justice Isa reiterated that the court wanted to bring clarity and make the life of ROs easy, not difficult.

Meanwhile, Justice Afridi asked Bhandari about his opinion on the need to have Article 62 in the presence of Article 63.

“They chose to do that because conceptually they relate to two different things; qualifications are positive attributes that some aspirants to the office must have. Disqualifications are attributed that he/she should not have […] if negative attributes are there it would take away the fitness or competence to hold the particular office,” Bhandari said.

The CJP asked if a person could approach a court after disqualification and say he had now repented. “So at the end of the day, you are saying it is all to do with our feelings. It is what we felt,” Justice Isa lamented.

“In my opinion, the most dangerous thing that leads you to destruction is when you give too much discretion to anyone, whether it is a judge or bureaucrats. When discretion is not structured, where there is no principle or guideline […] sorry to say, this does not make for sustainable law,” the top judge remarked.

Justice Isa also noted that people “who made Pakistan hostage” never repented. “All these things have come during the martial laws, but no one mentions this.”

In his defence, Bhandari said he criticised both military dictators and those who brought the 18th Amendment. However, the CJP intervened and said it was easy to criticise parliamentarians.