Islamabad, Pakistan: Omar Ayub Khan delivered a lecture on Democracy and the Constitution of Pakistan on May 8, 2024. Surpassingly he prefers to use the name of his grandfather Muhammad Ayub Khan who was the first dictator in the history of Pakistan. Is it not amazing that Omar (Ayub Khan) loves to tell us what Democracy is while preferring to use the name of the first-ever dictator with his name? By the way, the father of Omar Ayub Khan was Gohar Ayub Khan and if Omar has any respect for Democracy and Constitution, he should at least use his father’s name with his name instead of using the name of a dictator with his name.
Omar Ayub who is now Leader of Opposition in the National Assembly while addressing a seminar on Wednesday, May 8, 2024, taught the Constitution to participants and the first reference he gave was Article 244 of the Constitution according to which the personnel of the armed forces takes the oath. Omar was of the view that 244 of the Constitution of Pakistan says that any member of the Pakistan Army neither an officer nor a soldier shall take part in political activity. Clause 2 of Article 17 explains the definition of political activity stating that persons employed in the services of Pakistan have the right to join any political association or union. It becomes very clear that political activity in the Constitution of Pakistan means that no person belonging to the Armed Forces can join a political party or association while in service but he/she has every right to vote. The Constitution does not prohibit the families of Armed Forces personnel from participating in political activities and the Constitution and the law fully permit this. Omar Ayub tried to rewrite the Constitution in his talk and explained Article 17 in a way that suited him.
The second point, which is also important for which everyone should be grateful to Omar Ayub is that he explained Article 7 of the Constitution that says the State includes the Federal Government, the Parliament, the provincial governments, the provincial assembly, and any local authority of Pakistan that is allowed by law to impose taxes. Truly the State is comprised of the Federal government, the Parliament, the provincial governments, the provincial assembly, and any local authority of Pakistan and not the Army. This is what the Army is trying to clarify since long that Army is Not the State and State but a component of the State and the Army must not be held responsible for running the country including law and order as well as the economy. However, the political parties always try to portray that the Army is the State and the Army is responsible for running the country and whatever is doing wrong in the country, the Army is responsible for that. Omar Ayub should be appreciated he made it clear what the State composition is and this is what the establishment has been trying to explain to the public for the past two years. Establishment has been telling the public that the State is the Federal government or the Parliament and the public should ask the Federal government, Parliament, and provincial assemblies to address the problems of the public instead of looking to the Army to run the country.
Since Omar Ayub confirmed that the State is the Federal government, the Parliament, and the provincial assemblies, he should initiate political talks with the State instead of the Pakistan Army because the Army is just an administrative component working within the system so the Army has the no authority to initiate political talks with any political party on the behalf of the State. Political issues are not within the parameters of the Army and the Parliament is the institution that deals with the political issues.
The third and most important thing is that Chief of Army Staff General Asim Munir’s mention of Article 19 in the Risalpur Academy seems to have made PTI completely insensible because Omar Umar Ayub again referred Article 19 but only first two lines that deal with freedom of expression but he refrained from reading entire Article 19 because Article 19 categorically says that freedom of expression does not mean that one can abuse national institutions like Army and Judiciary and can express something that can harm bilateral relations with friendly countries. Everybody knows that PTI is habitual of abusing the Judiciary and Armed forces and many instances uses inappropriate language for friendly countries as well. Article 19 provides the right of freedom of expression with certain restrictions, limitations, and responsibilities in which no one is bound to harm Islam, the security of Pakistan, defense institutions, and relations with friendly countries and judiciary.
By the way, Omar Ayub Khan should have also talked about Article 65 of the Constitution, on which he himself has sworn because this Article says that as a member of the National Assembly, he will work for the interest of Pakistan, the integrity of Pakistan, its prosperity and the welfare of its people with devotion and loyalty instead of working only for an anarchist who is founding Chairman of Omar’s party and who has never thought about the wellbeing of the country and cannot think beyond his nose and who pitched the public against the state of Pakistan on May 9, 2023 for satisfying his ego. Should Omar Ayub not follow what he took oath under Article 65 of the 1973 Constitution?
