Daily Times

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) Senator Farhatullah Babar on Monday told colleagues in the Upper House of parliament that the constitution should be a compulsory subject in academic institutions, particularly in military academies, to inculcate respect for the constitution.

The House, which met on Monday, discussed Constitution Day and the members took a keen interest in the debate. Taking part in the discussion on Constitution Day, Senator Farhatullah Babar said that historically, the mindset of the establishment “knows little respect for constitution”, and recalled the Quaid’s address to officers in June 1948 in Quetta.

The Quaid, he said, deplored that in his conversation with senior military officers he noticed that they did not fully appreciate the importance of the constitution and the oath they had taken. “The Quaid then had read out the oath to them to emphasise the importance of the words in the oath,” he said, adding that there was a mindset that a uniformed person was a greater patriot than a civilian, and an elected Prime Minister was a ‘security risk’.

“Such a mindset could not readily come to terms with the constitution made by elected representatives of the people,” he said. He said that days of abrogation of the constitution and the imposition of PCOs and the LFOs might be over. But the day when all state institutions willingly accepted the supremacy of the constitution was still far away, he said.

Had all institutions willingly submitted to the constitution, it would not have been possible for a dictator – being tried for treason – to escape trial by just barging into a hospital in Rawalpindi, leaving the courts and parliament bewildered, he said.

“With such disrespect being shown to the constitution, clearly there is a need for teaching the constitution in military academies,” he said.

Senate Chairman Raza Rabbani on Monday thanked the PM, all Chief Ministers and speakers of the National Assembly and provincial assemblies for celebrating Constitution Day in a befitting manner. He termed celebrating this important day a good initiative and expressed the hope that the tradition of celebrating this day would continue in the future. He said that to mark the day, a reception had been jointly arranged by the National Assembly and the Senate of Pakistan.

Adviser to the Prime Minister on Foreign Affairs Sartaj Aziz dispelled the impression that Pakistani citizens were facing discriminatory treatment at Saudi airports when it came to administration of anti-polio vaccination.

Responding to a point of public importance in the Senate, raised by Senator Mohsin Aziz, the adviser said it was not true that only Pakistani citizens were being forced to take polio drops before entry to Saudi Arabia.

He said citizens of many other countries were being administered polio drops at Saudi airports, including Afghanistan, Iraq, Somalia, Yemen and Nigeria.

He said that Saudi Arabia was seriously taking measure under the World Health Organisation (WHO) guidelines. The recent disappearance of two of Zardari’s aides echoed in the House when the issue was raised as a matter of public importance. Farhatullah Babar warned against the consequences of mysterious disappearances of people for purely political purposes and as an element of political vendetta.

“Until recently, people were kidnapped and remained without a trace for their alleged involvement in subversive and anti-state activities. But now a new dimension has been added to it by making people disappear for settling political scores with political leaders,” he said.

He said that according to the constitution, an accused must be produced before a court within 24 hours. “But those who have kidnapped Ishfaq Leghari and Ghulam Qadir Marri have no respect for the constitution and the rule of law, and think that they are above the law and constitution.”

Raza Rabbani then asked the mover to raise the issue in the Human Rights Committee of the Senate. The Senate deferred one-fifth of the private members’ business due to ministerial absence. He told the leader of the House, Raja Zafarul Haq, and Parliamentary Affairs Minister Shaikh Aftab to ensure ministers’ presence in the House because nothing was important than the Senate. “If the ministers cannot come and the president summoned the House, I will adjourned the House daily,” Rabbani warned.