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By B. Muralidhar Reddy
In a letter to the Pakistan Supreme Court Chief Justice, Sheikh Riza Ahmed, the acting secretary-general of the PPP has alleged that those political leaders who supported the Gen. Musharraf were ``entitled to be set free'' even when charged with criminal offences. In contrast, those leaders whose parties opposed the referendum continued to be penalised. Copies of the letter have also been sent to the Chief Election Commissioner, all judges of Supreme Court, the Chief Justice, Peshawar High Court, the president of the Pakistan Bar Association and the president of the Pakistan Supreme Court Bar Association. Abroad, the copies have been sent to the Monitors of the European Union and the Commonwealth. Giving examples, the letter said that the son of the former Chief Minister, Aftab Sherpao, participated in a public meeting with Gen. Musharraf in Peshawar on Tuesday. The PPP accused Gen. Musharraf of ``campaigning at state expense and abusing the political office for personal benefit in violation of the NAB law''. ``As a reward, according to our information, his father, the former Chief Minister, Aftab Sherpao, is to be freed from prison in the near future.'' Pointing out the treatment meted out to the PPP, the letter said that its leaders ''including Senator Zardari (husband of Benazir Bhutto), the former Speaker Yusuf Reza Gillani, Senator Jehangir Badr, and the former senior Minister Mushtaq Awan continue to be incarcerated. The PPP alleged that those convicted by courts for corruption had also been freed. ``Those wanted for corruption that had gone into exile like the former Chief Minister, Liaquat Jatoi, returned once they joined the Kings Party''. It said that the accountability drive has been a farce since it was launched. Arguments, meanwhile, over the validity of the referendum continued for the third day today before the nine-member bench of the Supreme Court. In the course of the hearings one of judges observed that prima facie, no specific provision existed in the Constitution to carry out a referendum for the election of President. ``Prima facie, the Referendum Order has no mention in the Constitution,'' Justice Munir A. Shaikh, one of the judges on the bench, observed. During the course of the arguments on Tuesday Justice Shaikh was also quoted as saying, ``We had given him (General Pervez) the permission of (only) Chief Executive''. The judge said the Constitution continued to remain supreme and as no martial law had been imposed. Continuing his arguments on the validity of the referendum as well as legality of Gen. Musharraf's presidency, the lawyer for the Jamaat-e-Islami, Farroq Hasan, said there was no country in the world where one person could hold dual charge as Prime Minister (Chief Executive) and President simultaneously. Describing the assumption of Presidency by Gen. Musharraf ``as his second coup'', Dr. Hasan said Tarar's (the then President) removal was arbitrary. ''It is an eye-opener that an elected President was asked to get out of the Presidency and he had to leave on his personal car for his home town Lahore, by motorway,'' he told the court. The lawyer ridiculed the holding of a referendum without the electoral list and argued that it reflected the Government's malafide intentions. ``Anyone can vote anywhere,'' he said.
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