To The Point – Presidential Immunity

To The Point – Presidential Immunity

Lately in Pakistan, we are hearing the word immunity more than usual and of course, it is associated with none other than our very own, President Asif Ali Zardari.

President Zardari, ever since coming into office, has not been given a single day of peace and rest, which obviously is not part of his job description being the head of a country which faces numerous problems, internally and externally.

But one thing remains quite clear, which is the fact that the Swiss cases against the President in reference to the National Reconciliation Ordinance (NRO) has been a thing of distress for Mr. Zardari.

Since our topic is on Presidential Immunity and what it actually is, we will not go in detail about the NRO.

Ever since the Supreme Court has been ordering the civilian government to write to the Swiss government, directing them to open the cases against President Zardari, the executive has been claiming that the President is immune from all criminal prosecution.

One thing which I think is very clear is that if the President really does enjoy immunity, why does the Supreme Court keep focusing on the single issue and not focus on more important ones?

Zardari himself has stated that after he leaves the Presidency, all cases may be initiated against him, but until then, immunity is the case.

Article 248

Looking at the Constitution of Pakistan, anyone you can read and understand what is written, it clearly states under Article 248 (1): The President shall not be answerable to any court…for any act done or purported to be done in exercise of those powers
and performance of those functions.

This also goes on to state the following,

Article 248 (2): No criminal proceedings whatsoever shall be instituted or continued against the president or a governor in any court during his term of office.

Article 248(3): No process for the arrest or imprisonment of the president or a governor shall issue from any court during his term of office.

Article 248 (4): No civil proceedings shall be instituted during his term of office unless at least 60 days before the proceedings instituted, notice in writing has been delivered to him

Compressing down all those points, one can clearly see what this part of the Constitution is telling the court, that no case shall be filed against the President given some conditions of it being civil, while it is stated that no criminal prosecution may
occur.

But still, the Supreme Court keeps on pushing that the government writes the letter and even issued a contempt of court notice to the sitting Prime Minister, which was surely a shock.

The strange part is that even I can tell that a written document would certainly be rejected by the Swiss government upon its arrival due to the international immunity enjoyed by all Head of States around the world, not just Pakistan.

Looking at the Geneva Convention, which was updated and brought into force after the Second World War, clearly defines the same about Presidential immunity.

Even some of the best known lawyers around Pakistan like Barrister Aitzaz Ahsan have confirmed the fact that until Asif Zardari is President, he will enjoy immunity, which estranges the Supreme Courts behaviour even further.

The end is that we are not focusing on Asif Ali Zardari, we are focusing on the seat of the President, which is crucial to our international standing and if we play such games against our own Head of State, what can we expect to be treated like by the people
in other nations?

Short URL: https://www.newspakistan.pk/?p=10310

Posted by Syed Hassan Bokhari on Jan 24 2012. Filed under Editorial, Latest News, National, Opinion, Pakistan. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry