Panama Judgement Points Of Honorable Justice Sheikh Azmat Saeed

MR. JUSTICE SH. AZMAT SAEED:

102. Above are the reasons for our short order of even date whereby the instant petition was disposed of as under:–

The Constitution of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan commands that it is the will of the people of Pakistan to establish an order wherein the State shall exercise its Mpowers and authority through the chosen representatives of the people, wherein the principles of democracy, freedom, equality,etc., shall be fully observed, so that the people of Pakistan may prosper and attain their rightful and honoured place amongst the nations of the world, and make their full contribution towards international peace and progress

And happiness of humanity. People of Pakistan had been struggling to establish a parliamentary and democratic order since long within the framework of the Constitution and now they foresee a strong system which is established by the passage of time without any threat and which is subject to the constitution and rule of law.

2. The essence of this Human Rights case is based on the fundamental right of citizens enshrined in Article 17 of the Constitution. It raises an important question of public importance to enforce the fundamental rights, inter alia,noted herein above, therefore, in accordance with the provisions of Article 184(3) of the Constitution,jurisdiction has been assumed and exercised to declare, for the reasons to be recorded later, asunder:-

(1) That citizens of Pakistan as a matter of right are free to elect their representatives in an election process being conducted honestly, justly, fairly and in accordance with law.We are confronted with a matter consisting of rather interesting legal propositions and complicated facts. We cannot afford the luxury of oversimplification or intellectual lethargy. The questions raised will need to be analyzed in their true, factual and legal perspective. Even the question of the source of funds may become relevant but in a totally different context and perspective.

82. We are dealing with the first Family of the country. Respondent No.1 is the Prime Minister of Pakistan. The questions regarding properties of his family members outside Pakistan have remained unanswered. Such an inconclusive state of affairs is not acceptable. The people of Pakistan have a right to know the truth.

83. No doubt, ordinarily this Court in exercise of its jurisdiction under Article 184(3) of the Constitution tends to avoid deciding the disputed questions of facts. However, this is not an absolute rule. In exceptional circumstances, this Court on more than one occasion has undertaken such an exercise. In the instant case, the allegations against Respondent No.1 were not conclusively established, yet, sufficient suspicious circumstances, detailed above, have come to light, which require to be investigated to facilitate the discovery of the true facts. Such investigation appears to be necessary before we can proceed further in the matter. Despite the jurisdiction to determine the disputed questions of facts and the tools, in this behalf, available to this Court mentioned above, this Court does not have the powers under Article 184(3) of the Constitution to investigate a matter. Reference, in this behalf, may be made to the judgment of this Court, reported as Suo Motu Action regarding allegation ofbusiness deal between Malik Riaz Hussain and Dr. Arsalan Iftikhar attempting to influence the judicial process (PLD 2012 SC 664).

We have been constrained to cast a wide net as regard to the institution, the Offices whereof are to form the Members of the JIT. The attitude of NAB has gone a long way in pushing us in this direction. Furthermore, it has been alleged that some of other investigating institutions are also under the influence of Respondent No.1 and under his direct or indirect control. Such sweeping allegations may or may not be wholly true but do not appear to be unfounded. Furthermore, the nature of expertise require in the instant investigation is not confined to any one institution and the several institutions may be able to supplement such expertise.

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