 "Explained: Why social media post from Pakistan president Arif Alvi has caused a constitutional crisis")
The crisis-hit country of Pakistan is facing fresh turmoil. This comes after President Arif Alvi on Sunday denied signing two controversial bills that would further enhance the Pakistan Army’s already considerable powers. Alvi posted on X, “As God is my witness, I did not sign Official Secrets Amendment Bill, 2023 and Pakistan Army Amendment Bill, 2023 as I disagreed with these laws.”
As God is my witness, I did not sign Official Secrets Amendment Bill 2023 & Pakistan Army Amendment Bill 2023 as I disagreed with these laws. I asked my staff to return the bills unsigned within stipulated time to make them ineffective. I confirmed from them many times that…
— Dr. Arif Alvi (@ArifAlvi) August 20, 2023
The development comes less than two weeks after Alvi dissolved the National Assembly on the advice of then outgoing prime minister Shehbaz Sharif – thus paving the way for the next general elections. Let’s take a look at the fresh controversy: What do we know about the laws? Section 6-A of the secrets act creates a new offence of unauthorised disclosure of the identities of members of intelligence agencies, informants or sources.
The offence would be punishable by up to three years in jail and a fine of up to Rs 10 million.
The amended Army Act among other changes provides for the punishment of up to five-year rigorous imprisonment to any person guilty of disclosing any information, acquired in an official capacity that is or may be prejudicial to the security and interest of Pakistan or the armed forces. According to Dawn, an amendment in this Act confers more powers to the army chief and calls for imprisonment for those found guilty of defaming the army. It also stops ex-servicemen from taking up politics for two years from the date of their “retirement, release, resignation, discharge, removal or dismissal from the service.” What happened? Alvi on Sunday claimed that he ordered his staff to return the bills unsigned within the stipulated time to render them ineffective. “I asked my staff to return the bills unsigned within the stipulated time to make them ineffective. I confirmed from them many times whether they have been returned & was assured that they were. However, I have found out today that my staff undermined my will and command. As Allah knows all, He will forgive IA (InshaAllah). But I ask forgiveness…,” he added. Alvi, who belonged to jailed former prime minister Imran Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf party, said he was shocked to learn that his staff “undermined” his orders and failed to follow his instructions.
The president made the statement a day after local media reported that he signed both bills.
The BBC on Sunday quoted a gazette from the Senate Secretariat as stating both laws were “deemed to have been assented to by the president”. The bills were sent to Alvi prior to parliament being dissolved. The controversy comes down to Article 75 of Pakistan’s Constitution. This article states that the president in such matters has two options – either give his assent to the bill or return it to parliament in ten days “with a message requesting that the bill or any specified provision thereof, be reconsidered and that any amendment specified in the message be considered.” Such bills then may be reassessed by a joint sitting of both Houses of Parliament. If the bills are cleared again “with or without amendment”, they are then sent to the president. [caption id=“attachment_13007402” align=“alignnone” width=“640”] President Arif Alvi is a founding member of jailed former prime minister Imran Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf party.[/caption] The president then has 10 days to give his nod “failing which such assent shall be deemed to have been given”. Alvi has returned at least 12 pieces of legislation this month, Dawn newspaper reported. The newspaper, approaching Alvi’s Principal Information Secretary Akhtar Munir for details of these bills earlier this month, received no answer. President’s House is yet to comment on the matter. What happens next? Some have now called the laws’ validity into question. “In simple terms, the president is saying that key legal amendments have become law through fraud and subterfuge.,” lawyer Jibran Nasir was quoted as saying by Indian Express.
Nasir added, “Now, he “must immediately sack all those involved.”
Impact Shorts
More ShortsThe newspaper quoted lawyer Usama Khawar as saying “there now existed strong legal grounds for the court to declare that … [the two laws] were not validly enacted acts.” But Interim Law Minister Ahmad Irfan Aslam said that the bills have become laws after President Alvi failed to exercise either of the two options given in Article 75 of the constitution. “He should have signed the bills into law or sent them back to the parliament with his observations and signatures within ten days. After he abstained from exercising the powers, the bills have become laws after the lapse of the ten-day deadline,” he said. He said that the amended Army Act was sent to the office of the president on 2 August while the Secret Act was sent to his office on 8 August. He said the president could have recorded his observation within ten days as he did on several previous occasions. “It was for the time that the president took no action on the two bills and even refrained from recording his objections and allowed the ten days to pass,” he said. Responding to a query, Aslam said that he has not witnessed such a situation in the past history of the country when the president raised an objection to a law by saying that he had not signed it or it became law after he rejected it. He further said that both bills were officially notified and have become laws. Meanwhile, Information Minister Murtaza Solangi said at the same presser that the interim government has no plan to confiscate the record from the office of the president. “No action will be taken against the president; we have full respect for the president and his office,” he said. Earlier, the Law Ministry in a statement expressed “concern” over the president’s post, saying that he should “take responsibility for his own actions”. “As per Article 75 of the Constitution, when a bill is sent for assent, the president has two options: either give assent or refer the matter to the parliament with specific observations”, the ministry said. It said that Article 75 does not provide for any third option and none of the two options were fulfilled and the President “purposely delayed the assent”. “Returning the bills without any observations or assent is not provided for in the Constitution. Such a course of action is against the letter and spirit of the Constitution,” it said. It added that the president could have returned the bills with his observations like he did in the recent and distant past. “He could have also issued a press release to that effect. It is a matter of concern that the president has chosen to discredit his own officials. The president should take responsibility for his own actions,” it said. Political battle While questions about the legality remain, the matter has already become a political battle between the PML-N, the PPP and the PTI. While the PML-N and PPP have slammed Alvi, the PTI has offered the president its ‘full support’ and vowed to challenge the laws in the country’s Supreme Court.
This comes after the PTI’s Shah Mehmood Qureshi was arrested under the Official Secrets Act this weekend.
The controversy comes as the government launched a case last week against Khan for violating the secret act by using the cipher sent by its embassy in the US for political purposes. Former premier Khan has for long mentioned the missing cable as evidence of a “foreign conspiracy” to remove him as the prime minister in April last year. Khan, 70, is currently serving a three-year jail term after he was sentenced by a court in a corruption case earlier this month. The former cricketer-turned-politician-led government was ousted through a no-confidence vote in April 2022. The former ruling party said it would offer its complete support to the head of state at the national and judicial levels, and that it would ask Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) Umar Ata Bandial to find out the truth and hold those who are responsible accountable. The president’s opinion, related to his alleged assent to the most important legal drafts, requires serious steps, the party spokesperson said. President Alvi, the PTI also said, has identified the deep-rooted issues within the state and the government, adding that the head of state is the symbol of the federation, part of parliament and supreme commander of the Pakistan Army. “The non-implementation of the president’s orders is unconstitutional and unacceptable.” The Imran Khan-led party said that they would approach the apex court over the matter. It added that the entire nation and the party are standing with the president for the supremacy of the Constitution and law, The News International reported. The PTI’s legal team has said that it would challenge the bills in the Supreme Court in consultation with the party’s core committee, saying that this law is against the Constitution and holds no legal justification. “It is the government’s responsibility to withdraw this act,” PTI’s advocate Shoaib Shaheen said during a press conference. He said that the president did not sign the bills, adding that it is against the Constitution according to Article 75. Shaheen added that the president, in his tweet, has clarified that both bills should be sent back to parliament and his staff informed him that the bills had been returned. “It is a pity who used his [president’s] powers.” The lawyer expressed that parliament has become a “rubber stamp” at this time. “Action should be taken against those who passed the bills with the help of the staff.” Advocate Shaheen also said that CJP Bandial should take suo motu on this matter. With inputs from agencies
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