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MOTORWAY MANIA
UNABLE TO GET ALONG
DECISIONS AND EVENTS RELATED TO THE GOP
FIRST NAILS IN NAWAZ SHARIFS SECOND POLITICAL COFFIN
DISTRIBUTING ISI SLUSH FUNDS AMONGST POLITICIANS
NAWAZ GOVT FALLING INTO THE TRAPS OF ZARDARISM
ON THE ISSUEs OF CONTEMPT
With little to crow about in visible economic achievements or satisfying the desires of people for development with a people perspective the rulers are falling back on inaugurating a project which was initiated in the last PMLn govt and is now nearing completion. That is the Motorway whose first phase was from Lahore to Islamabad.Coming as they are from the billionaire bracket of pakistanis they are unable to understand the apathy that people feel for such projects which eat up entire budgets and effect the people so little. The govt is going allout to use its domination of the media to propagate this inauguration. What they do not understand is that the govt cannot push itself into the next century while the people are still in the previous one. So we ask the govt to not forget its mandate which was from the people of pakistan and not from Daewoo, Central Asia or the next century. The motorway which was designed so that the billionaires could feel europe under their wheels while still being in rickety pakistan is not what the mandate was all about. Maybe the govt needs to induct some real people into its thought stream before as they can get going. Because without the people there is nothing left in mandates or politics.
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It is now a foregone conclusion that cohabitation does not work in Pakistan. Nawaz Sharif who could not get along with G.M. Ishaq during his previous tenure now seems to be having the same problems with not only the presidency but also the Supreme Court. One had thought that he had problems only with Sajjad Ali Shah whom he has been threatening and coercing to follow his orders or else. In Sajjad Ali Shahs case he was threatening to invoke the Supreme Judicial Council which can remove judges in case of illness or infirmity. However Sajjad Ali Shah refused to budge and the govt is now moning to legislate its position on the number of judges issue. That will however not solve the problems of promotions as soon PMLn will have to consult Sajjad Ali Shah on who to appoint as teh new CJ. However according to a story in one newspaper today they are also threatening to impeach Faruk the countries President whom they accuse of siding with the CJ on each and every matter.They suggest that Faruk is not cooperating with Nawaz and thus causing problems. It was originally thought that Nawaz would get rid of Faruk quickly and become the president himself. However Faruk apparently had something up his sleeve which caused Nawaz to back off and even accept Faruks reccomendations for various governships. That caused a rift with the MQM who wanted their governor in sindh. He also accepted Faruks crony as a governor in the punjab where Nawaz wanted to appoint an uncle. That caused a rift in the Nawaz family. In between they floated the proposal to make Nasim Wali Khan the president. However that was shot down by the PMLn hawks in Punjab and NWFP.According to one source the Punjab legislators asked Nasim Wali Khan to praise the Punjab if she wanted to become president but she apparently refused to do so. One would like to know on what grounds they are going to impeach the president.All in all there seems to be an inherent inability in the PMLn and Nawaz to get along with the president and the CJ. That pits one organ of state against the other two. On the surface however Nawaz has been able to get along with Faruk on a personal basis as has Shahbaz. However the PMLn rank and file consider Faruk a former PPP leader as suspect and think that he could make things difficult for Nawaz as he did for Benazir.However according to some Nawaz had a secret agreement with Faruk under which he would remove Benazir and pave the way for Nawaz. In return Nawaz would let Faruk control the Punjab which he is doing thru his crony the punjab governor. Many regard the punjab chief minister as a stooge and a puppet. After almost six months in power Shahbaz has yet to develop a personal identity or a program for punjabs development. Upto now he has been mostly grappling with law and order problems and has seemed to avoid dealing with punjabs formidable problems at all levels.
Added on 26-10-1997
According to todays press Nawaz offered Faruk a second term if he cooperated in getting rid of the CJ. However according to the report Faruk rejected the offer. Just to reduce the powers of the CJ, Nawaz now plans comprehensive changes in the constitution which could include:
Added on 28-10-1997
Today all newspaper reports of the previous few days related to the Nawaz-CJ tussle were denied by the govt and it seems a behind the scenes agreement has been reached at least between the opposing factions in the govt. The Jang reported that the driver of the Chief Justice was robbed with robbers decamping with everything in his home. Such incidents could be related to the GOP campaign to harass the CJ. In another Jang report the CJ declined to retire before the due date to help out the govt. Many consider that the govt might fix the strength of the Supreme Court on the 29th. Another report says that the other option is that the govt might do nothing apart from accepting the CJ's suggestions in phases. It is also possible they say that the govt will remove the CJ on the same day according to the Judges Case decision and appoint Ajmal Mian the senior most judge as the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court. In related news most commentators are literally writing off Nawaz Sharif. Some even suggest that if the govt goes for some silly amendments to the constitution than Nawaz may be removed immediately and replaced by some senior colleague of his party who is not involved in any litigation or against whom corruption or misrule charges are not pending.
Added 0n 1.11.1997
The prime minister-judiciary-president tussle on judges appointment came to a swift end yesterday when the govt literally caved in, gave up its obstructionist attitude and accepted the status quo. That came after the Supreme Court suspended the 14th amendment to the constitution. The SC also quickly decided a petition and ordered the president to immediately assist the court in approving the promotion of five judges to the Supreme Court and naming new Chief Justices to the Punjab,Sind and Nwfp high courts. Faced with a no win situation, losing popularity and several of its leaders facing disqualification/contempt charges the govt approved the CJ's reccomendations and literally saved itself from being removed from power. Another judicial challenge was also thrown up as a case was filed in the SC challenging the 13th amendment. This amendment had removed the presidents powers to remove a govt whenever he thought fit.The govt is still on shaky territory as the prime minister could still be disqualified on several counts. However the present threat to the Nawaz govt has receded. Nawaz will have to realize that pakistan can only be ruled by the humble and honest. Anyone who starts becoming too uppity is rapidly brought down to earth. In Nawazs case it came a bit too early. Usually Pakistans leaders reach the stage of "I will do whatever I want and nobody dare stop me" afer several years in office. But having slayed several dragons easily nawaz became too big for his boots a bit too early.
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The first nails in Nawaz Sharifs second political demise are apparently in place. In the first place he has started a needless confrontation with the judiciary. In the second place he has attacked the judiciaries traditional role as defender of the constitution.He has failed to realize that the judiciary is not subordinate to the Prime Minister and cannot be expected to yes sir his orders. He has been unable to cow gown the Chief Justice despite threatening him directly and indirectly. His lack of political savvy and poor negotiation skills have been brought to the fore as he failed to negotiate an end to the crisis. In effect Nawaz Sharif is becoming increasingly crude. Nawaz Sharif and his allies have also shown an inability to absorb and accomodate dissent within their own parties but also from the opposition. Even minor demonstrations have been lathi charged and tear gassed. Laws have been forced thru parliament without proper adherence to parliamentary traditions of debate and discussion.
The first nail as it might be called has been hit on the head by the Chief Justice as he stayed the operation of the 14th amendment which effectively gags members of the ruling parties. Under it MNAs/MPAs can be removed from parliamentary membership if they disobey their party leader and they have no right to appeal to courts of Justice. It is a partial victory for freedom of expression and association which are fundamental rights. Though the SC failed to strike down the 8th amendment on the basis that it was in contradiction with the constitution there is hope that the SC might strike down the 14th amendment.
Anyway the debate centers on whether the MNAs/MPAs represent their constituents or their parties and whether they should be free to oppose their parties orders if they conflict with their conscience or the wishes of their constituency. Or did the people only vote for Nawaz Sharif irrespective of whether his policies hurt/help the populace in general. The other side of the debate is that without such a law the members of all assemblies keep shifting their loyalties either in dissent or for political and financial profit which causes assemblies to be regularly dissolved. The intelligentsia regard it as problem created by the populaces dependence on uncouth and undependable rogues who do not have the maturity to side with a particular political view for a long time. Anyway it is the general consensus that it is difficult in pakistan to remain loyal to one party for a long time.
In what may constitute contempt of court Nawaz Sharif has called the Supreme Court action illegal. What Nawaz Sharif keeps forgetting is that the Supreme Court functions independently and is not subordinate to the legislature or the govt. However the Supreme Court can stop unconstitutional activities by both the legislature and the govt. It must be shown once for all that democracy can only function when the legislature and govt respect the constitution. All amendments to the constitution should therefore not be in conflict with the basis of the constitution. The Supreme Court has already shown by the Judges case and the Doctrine of necessity judgements (legalising martial law) that they are not not totally bound by specific laws and can freely adjudicate on matters of conscience and need. Nawaz Sharif also forgets that lotacracy, horse trading and politics of money were first initiated by him and that such words and actions are not within the constitutional ambit while freedom of expression and association are.
Most of the PMLn members severely critisized the judiciary in the NA session yesterday. The PMLn members were violating the constitution by critisizing the judiciary. Article 68 forbids discussion of SC decisions and conduct of judges in the National Assembly.
Nawaz Sharif on the other hand seemed to be suggesting that the CJ should be making decisions on his directions. He also said that an agreement on the appointment of judges had been reached in a meeting of the big four ie PM,COAS,CJ,and President.However everybody else said that no agreement had been reached which was evident from the attitudes of the PMLn members in the assembly. It seems that the PMLn thinks that such attitudes of the judiciary should be reserved only for the PPP and not for the PMLn nice(pun) guys. That seems to have been the biggest stumbling block in Nawaz sharifs thinking. Nawaz Sharif has also violated the constitution by critisizing the judiciary. Only a few months back he was upbraiding Benazir for not showing proper respect to the judiciary. How things change when one is in power. According to the press both the CJ and the Govt counsel Sharifuddin Pirzada were on opposite sides of the same argument last year. It has been suggested the CJ gave the decision after the govt refused to respect his advice and continued to issue confusing and false statements about the issue of judges appointments and their relations with the CJ. It was apparent that the govt had mounted a media campaign to discredit and hurt the CJ's reputation.However in all justice this decision was expected for the last few days and the govt should have known if they had just read the newspapers.The govts attitude looks eerily like that of someone on the way out.
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The Supreme Court has appointed an unprecedented five judge panel to hear the contempt cases against the prime minister and his cronies. The case to be heard on the 17th may mark the end of Nawaz Sharifs political career as he could be disqualified from holding public office. Arrangements have apparently already been made for such an eventuality. Sources say that Chaudhry Nisar is set to take over as caretaker prime minister who will eventually be replaced by Shahbaz Sharif with the Punjab Chief ministry going to Pervez Elahi in such a case. It has already been apparent that Shahbaz has had eyes on the prime ministers house.
The prime minister seems according to the press in a negative mood blaming it all on his political opponents. Such an attitude will not serve him well in the court where an abject apology would probably be more useful. One does not see the court disqualifying the PM unless he becomes argumentative and adopts a self defeating attitude. It will be a first in judicial history that a sitting prime minister will appear in person. The Pakistan judiciary already has hung a former prime minister. Let us wait and see what they do to Nawaz Sharif. The Prime minister has obviously committed contempt and also made a serious constitutional error. Previously prime ministers have been removed for much less. One sees a serious reprimand for the prime minister with a couple of his cronies who were too abusive being disqualified. The prime minister is supposedly going to argue that he can comment on anything but the problem is that he cant do it everywhere and obviously not when a lot of people are listening. He might argue that prosecution be delayed until the end of his term of office. His defence according to the press is that according to article 148 he was taking the people into confidence on a matter of national importance. Obviously his MNAs dont even have that privilege. But another article says no member of the parliament can comment on Supreme Court decisions or the conduct of its judges. Obviously the prime minister needs to read the entire constitution and act according to it all. However it is a welcome move on the part of politicians to give the courts due prestige. The prime minister as well as other politicians should learn that judicial matters should be dealt with in court and not thru personal deliberations or contacts.
Added on 18-11-1997
The appearance of the prime minister in the Supreme Court went of without a major incident. The indicted which included the prime minister and several of his crony senators and mna's filed responses which seemed at best ordinary and they seemed unaware of what they were being charged with. In related matters the NA speaker has refused to provide the speeches made by the indicted saying that they were expunged by the speaker which they were not as the speaker in fact encouraged such negativisim. Seeing the negative reactions in the SC the NA passed a bill allowing appeals to all decisions on contempt cases in the SC. There is no procedure for appeals against SC decisions and usually only review petitions are allowed which are usually summarily rejected. The amendment to the contempt law seems to be unconstitutional. It also provides that appeals shall be heard by all other judges not making the original judgement. This too is unusual and amounts to interference in the SC'S independence. This would thus allow appeals to be heard by upto 16 judges if the original verdict was given by one judge. Therefore the amendment to the contempt law is beyond the lawmaking jurisdiction of the national asembly. It also demonstrates that the PMLn and its allies have given up all attempts and appearances of democracy and will now use the National assembly to help themselves personally which is the anti thesis of a democratic order and the begginings of a democratic dictatorship.
The prime minister and his cronies continue to send wrong signals and demonstrate their contempt for judicial and constitutional constraints. Such attitudes will not improve proper governance and might lead to increasingly greater influence by the armed forces who have been at the fore front of such attitudes in the past. The supposed democratic pretensions of the PMLn and its allies can now be considered dead and buried.
Added on 19.11.97
Nawaz sharif has turned the contempt proceeding into a full blown crisis. First he invented a new amendment to the contempt law and than had a speech cancelled by the army chief. In related moves his henchmen have mounted a judicial offensive to have the CJ removed in the Sind HC as well as the SC. He is also planning an amendment to the constitution making opposition to the national assembly contemptable, denying courts the right to study the constitutionality/legality of any legislation ie if all else fails.(contd on the next page)
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