MR. JUSTICE ABDUL HAMEED DOGAR, HCJ MR. JUSTICE FAQIR ...

CONSTITUTION PETITION NO. 1 OF 2008
AND CMA NO. 994 TO 996 OF 2008 34
The provisions of Article 17(2) and the term “political justice” have
received judicial interpretation of this Court on more than one
occasion. In the case reported as Benazir Bhutto v. Federation of
Pakistan (PLD 1988 SC 416), at pages 615-616 of the report, Zaffar
Hussain Mirza, J., in his separate judgment expressed his view as
under: -
“It may at this stage be stated that Article 17(2) declares
that every citizen, not being in the service of Pakistan,
shall have the right to form or be a member of a political
party. This Article is included in Chapter I of Part II of the
Constitution which is entitled “Fundamental Rights.”
Article 8(2) contains a mandate to the State not to make
any law which takes away or abridges the rights so
conferred. The sacrosanct character and the sacredness of
these rights is to be viewed in this context. In delegating
respective powers to each of the three branches of
government, the legislature, the executive and the
judiciary, the people of Pakistan preserved for themselves
certain fundamental rights, which were kept beyond the
reach of the delegated authority vested in the said
branches of the Government, to destroy or curtail. The
Objectives Resolution, which has become a substantive
part of the Constitution, is a historical document and
represents the aspirations of the people of Pakistan, laying
down the broad principles on which the Constitution was
to be framed. It has stood the test of time and is generally
accepted to represent the national ethos of the people of
this country. A careful examination of this document will
reveal the theory of delegation as its basic foundation. The
following clause deals with fundamental rights: -
“Wherein shall be guaranteed fundamental rights
including quality of status, of opportunity and before
law, social, economic and political justice, and
freedom of thought, expression, belief, faith, worship
and association, subject to law and public morality;”
The expression “political justice” is very significant and it
has been placed in the category of fundamental rights.
Political parties have become a subject-matter of a
fundamental right in consonance with the said provision in
the Objectives Resolution. Even otherwise, speaking
broadly our constitution is a Federal constitution based on
the model of Parliamentary form of representative
government prevalent in United Kingdom. It is also clear
from the Objectives Resolution that principles of