Musharraf and constitution (1).

Byline: Malik T. Ali - Lahore

THE 1973 Constitution was the first to be framed by elected representatives of the people in what was left of Jinnah's Pakistan after the tragic loss of then East Pakistan in 1971.

Our constitution clearly elaborates there are only three branches of state, namely: a bicameral legislature, an executive branch governed by the prime minister as chief executive and an apex federal judiciary headed by the Supreme Court.

The powers of three pillars of state are defined in constitution, including their power to organise, raise and fund various necessary apparatus such as civil bureaucracy, uniformed security services, law enforcement, tax collection, etc.

It is a fact that Gen Pervez Musharraf suspended and abrogated the 1973 Constitution not once but twice, in 1999 and the second time in 2007, which did not get legal cover. The other...