To
Honorable Justice Asif Saeed Khosa,
Supreme Court of Pakistan,
Islamabad.
Sir,
After
following the proceedings of the court on Panama Papers today, I feel compelled
to seek your permission to make the following submissions of which the court
would perhaps be already aware.
Article 66 of the Constitution of the
Islamic Republic of Pakistan reads as follows:
66. Privileges of members, etc.- (1) Subject to the Constitution and to the
rules of procedure of Majlis-e-Shoora (Parliament), there shall be
freedom of
speech in Majlis-e-Shoora (Parliament) and no member shall be
liable to any
proceedings in any court in respect of anything said or any vote
given by him in
Majlis-e-Shoora (Parliament), and no person shall be so liable in
respect of the
publication by or under the authority of Majlis-e-Shoora
(Parliament) of any report,
paper, votes or
proceedings.
The key words
in this clause are “anything said or any vote given by him in
Majlis-e-Shoora (Parliament),”
This provision of immunity has been
made irrelevant by Article 63A inserted in the 18th Amendment which
reads as follows:
63A Disqualification on grounds of defection,
etc.- (1) If a member of a Parliamentary Party composed
of a single political party in a House-
(a) resigns from membership of his political party or joins another
Parliamentary Party; or
(b) votes or abstains from voting in the House contrary to any
direction issued by the
Parliamentary Party to which he belongs, in relations to-
(i) election of the Prime Minister or the Chief Minister; or
(ii) a vote of confidence or a vote of no-confidence; or
(iii) a Money Bill;
he may be declared in writing by the Head of the Parliamentary
Party to have defected
from the political party, and the Head of the Parliamentary Party
may forward a copy of the declaration to the Presiding Officer, and shall
similarly forward a copy thereof to the
member concerned:
Provided that before making the declaration, the Head of the Parliamentary
Party shall
provide such member with an opportunity to show cause as to why
such declaration may not be made against him.
This clearly means that the vote
cast or sound of Aay or Nay made by a member of the House is subject to proceeding
in the court of the Head of the Parliamentary Party. There is no reason why a speech
or statement should be exempted. In fact the stipulations of Article 63G should
also be subject to scrutiny by a court of law.
Finally, Clause 63A (5) states as
follows:
(5) Any party aggrieved by the decision of the Election Commission
may within thirty days, prefer an appeal to the Supreme Court which shall
decide the matter within three months from the date of the filing of the
appeal.
This without doubt means that the
Supreme Court of Pakistan is the final arbiter of the conduct of a member of
any house of Parliament in Pakistan within the Parliament or outside.
Sent to: mail@supremecourt.gov.pk
