The Bush administration has reiterated its support for Pakistan’s military strongman, General Pervez Musharraf, in the wake of bloody, government-orchestrated attacks on opposition protesters in Karachi, May 12 and 13, that left more than forty people dead.

The violence, which was perpetrated by armed thugs of the pro-Musharraf Muttahida Quami Movement (MQM), was aimed at stamping out a mounting wave of anti-government protests. But on Monday, May 14, most of Pakistan’s major cities, including Lahore, Peshwar, Quetta, and especially Karachi, were paralyzed by a general strike called by the opposition parties to protest the previous weekend’s violence. There is a “complete strike in Karachi,” conceded the police chief Azhar Faruqi to the Guardian. The next day large numbers of teachers demonstrated in Lahore against government plans to privatize the education system.

Musharraf’s attempt to sack the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court has served as the trigger for the anti-government protests. But the protests are the product of deep-rooted popular opposition to Musharraf’s authoritarian rule, support for and complicity in the US’s wars of aggression against Afghanistan and Iraq, and his implementation of neo-liberal economic policies, which have increased economic insecurity and social inequality.

At a press briefing last Wednesday, US State Department spokesman Tom Casey pointedly refused to make any criticism of Musharraf or his political allies for unleashing terror on the streets of Pakistan’s largest city, then reaffirmed Washington’s support for the man who doubles as Pakistan’s president and chief of armed services.

In response to a multi-part question that solicited US reaction to the Karachi violence and suggested there might be “concern” within the administration that Musharraf is “losing the handle on the situation,” Casey began by observing that the violence had abated, without breathing a word as to who had fomented it, and concluded by declaring, “I don’t think our assessment has fundamentally changed about him [Musharraf] or his role in Pakistani society.”

The previous day, US special envoy Ronald Neumann had pressed Pakistani officials during meetings in Islamabad to step up efforts to combat the Taliban in Pakistan and to cooperate more closely with Afghanistan’s US-installed government. Neumann told reporters Musharraf had not reached his “full capacity” in fighting “terrorism and extremism.” But he also made clear that Musharraf remains a pivotal ally of the Bush administration in the “war on terror”—that is in the US drive to gain a strategic stranglehold over the oil supplies of Central Asia and the Middle East. “I don’t think Musharraf has reached the end of the line,” declared Neumann.

A former US ambassador to Kabul, Neumann said Washington would provide additional funding to Pakistan to increase military patrols on its border with Afghanistan.

According to a report in Sunday’s New York Times, the Bush administration has rejected calls from the US military for Washington to tie the payments that it makes to the Pakistani military for logistical support for the Afghan occupation and fighting the Taliban and Al Qaeda in Pakistan to “Pakistan’s performance” in the so-called war on terror.

These payments, which are dubbed “coalition support funds,” are said to have averaged $80 million per month since October 2001, or equal to about a fifth of all Pakistani military spending, and to have surpassed a total of $5.6 billion.

The Times linked the White House’s refusal to threaten Islamabad with a cut in “coalition support funds” to its fears for the future of the Musharraf regime: “The administration, according to some current and former officials, is fearful of cutting off the cash or linking it to performance for fear of further destabilizing Pakistan’s president, Gen. Pervez Musharraf, who is facing the biggest challenges to his rule since he took power in 1999.”

Musharraf’s March 9 suspension of Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry on corruption charges was a transparent attempt to stage-manage his “re-election” as president. Although Chaudhry had given his legal blessing to Musharraf’s 1999 coup and other patently unconstitutional acts, he has authored a number of decisions that cut across the government’s agenda since becoming chief justice. This caused Musharraf to fear he couldn’t count on Justice Chaudhry to provide a judicial fig-leaf for his phony re-election this fall by a presidential college comprised of the legislators elected in military-manipulated elections in 2002.

But the general-president’s attempt to rid himself of the uncooperative judge has backfired, becoming a catalyst for popular protests, while serving to alienate much of the legal-juridical establishment.

Justice Chaudhry has a long, dishonorable record of serving Musharraf and the military and as a judge has upheld the capitalist socio-economic order that has condemned Pakistani’s toilers to abject poverty. If he has emerged as something of a popular figure, it is because his defiance of the general-president and pro-democracy speeches stand in marked contrast with the actions of the various bourgeois opposition parties. While repeatedly promising to launch a “final struggle” against the Musharraf regime the opposition has in fact continued to cooperate with it.

Thus the six-party Islamacist alliance, the MMA, voted in December 2003 for constitutional amendments sanctioning Musharraf’s 1999 coup and his remaining head of the armed forces while president and, to this day, the MMA serves in a coalition government in Baluchistan alongside the principal pro-Musharraf party, the PML (Q).

Meanwhile, Benazir Bhutto’s Pakistani People’s Party (PPP), which poses as a progressive even “socialist” party, has long been involved in negotiations to strike a deal with Musharraf under which the PPP would be given a share of power in return for supporting the general remaining president till 2012.

The Bush administration and the British government have been actively promoting a PPP-Musharraf partnership. Bhutto, for her part, has been courting the Bush administration by promising to be a more effective supporter of the US “war on terror” than the current Pakistani regime.

But there are many obstacles to a deal between Musharraf and Bhutto, including fears within the PPP that support for their party, which already suffered a huge erosion due to its implementation of IMF policies when it led Pakistan’s government in the late 1980s and 1990s, would hemorrhage were it to throw in its lot with Musharraf.

Moreover recent events have caused Bhutto, at least for the moment, to publicly downplay the imminence of a deal with Musharraf. No doubt she calculates that she can extract better terms from a weakened Musharraf, but also that before committing her party to partnering with the general she should first find out whether he will be able to ride out the storm. Speaking with the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation radio service last week, Bhutto said now was not the time to negotiate with Musharraf about “an emerging partnership.” But she could envisage working with him if he “were to make the compromises necessary to respond to the sentiments of the people.”

Bhutto is now urging Musharraf to “call a round-table conference of all political leaders, including the exiled prime ministers, to evolve a consensus for transparent elections.”

Musharraf, meanwhile, has vowed that neither Bhutto, nor Nawaz Sharif, whom he deposed in his 1999 coup, will be allowed back into the country before the elections.

And in what has all the trademarks of a contract-killing, Hammad Raza, a registrar of the Supreme Court was murdered May 14 at his home in the capital of Islamabad. Raza was to be a key witness for suspended Chief Justice Chaudhry. One of Chaudhry’s lawyers, Tariq Mehmood, told Reuters, Raza “was witness to many things, like the chief justice said in his petition that some files were removed from his chamber on the day he was suspended.” Raza’s family is challenging police claims that the murder was the result of a burglary. They report that he was under “much pressure” in the days prior to his murder.

From : world socialist website

Musharraf shakes up Pakistan army




The Pakistani President, Pervez Musharraf, has made a series of top-level military appointments.

They come days after he promised to step down as army chief if he was re-elected as president.

Nadeem Taj, who has close personal ties to the president, has been promoted to lieutenant-general and appointed head of the influential security service.

Lt Gen Mohsin Kamal has been made commander of the army's most important garrison, in Rawalpindi near Islamabad.

Weakest phases

Correspondents say that reshuffles in the army are always closely scrutinised in Pakistan, because the military has ruled the country for more than half the country's 60-year history.


The military is one of Pakistan's most powerful institutions
This year's round of promotions and retirements has assumed an added significance because Gen Musharraf is widely thought to be going through one of his weakest phases since coming to power in 1999.

The BBC's Sanjay Dasgupta says that this round of appointments is being seen as part of larger move by President Musharraf to place a core group of loyal supporters in key positions before he quits as army chief.

Who his successor will be is now the big question in Pakistan's military-dominated politics, he adds.

Power-sharing deal

Earlier this week, Gen Musharraf's top lawyer said he would give up the post of army chief if he was re-elected for another term of office.

In a statement to the Supreme Court, the lawyer said that if Gen Musharraf won the election, he would be sworn in for a new term as a civilian.

He is seeking re-election by parliament before its term expires in mid-October.

On Monday, the Supreme Court began debating his right to remain army chief if he stood for president again.

The country's largest political party, Benazir Bhutto's Pakistan People's Party (PPP), has been holding negotiations about a possible power-sharing deal, a condition of which is that Gen Musharraf steps down from his military role.

The commission said a constitutional rule that retiring state servants could not run for office until two years had elapsed did not apply to presidential candidates.

There had been growing opposition to controversial amendments - to the constitution and in parliament - allowing Gen Musharraf to be both president and army chief until November 2007.

BBC

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Devil-may-care

Understandably, Osama’s threat to wage war against Musharraf is a big story in the Western and US media as it is in Pakistan. On the face of it, Osama’s reasons for embarking on such a war do not appear all that spurious. The bloodbath at the Red Mosque was televised live round the clock for almost a week ending with scenes of Musharraf’s commandos vanquishing the self-proclaimed terrorists. Terror was seen to be defeated by a determined ally of the US and the West. So, just when his popularity graph was going down in the fast lane due to his uncalled for confrontation the with Supreme Court chief justice, his friends in world capitals had cause to try to come to his aid to help him retrieve his slumping fortunes. So, the provocation was custom-made for Osama to feel bad enough to declare war against the Pakistani president.

But then the Osama threat seems to have come at the most opportune moment for Musharraf.

Some analysts here have even hinted that the timing of the tape could help Musharraf in his October 6 elections rather than harm him. Their arguments run something like this: All those who want to see Musharraf go home which include the civil society, the bar, the bench and the majority of political parties would now be seen as waging Osama’s war. This would make the anti-Osama moderates in Pakistan who the West and the US believe are in the majority and the Osama’s haters in Washington, London and Brussels to rally around Musharraf in his hour of despair and ensure that he would win the election to afterwards fight the terrorists who, from their threats to Musharraf, appear to these supporters of the president to be mortally afraid of him.

They further argue that even the Supreme Court now hearing a number of petitions challenging Gen Musharraf’s intentions to contest the presidential election in uniform on October 6 would find it difficult to ignore the message contained in the Osama tape. Would not a SC ruling against Musharraf be taken as if the SC had become a party to Osama’s war as well?

And in a way, they say, paradoxically Osama also wins if Musharraf wins because the terrorists had never had it as good as they did in the last five years of the military-led government. As Musharraf postured, for the benefit of his friends in Washington, to be fighting terrorism with all his might, Osama and his band thrived like never before. Now they can strike anywhere in Pakistan any time. So why would Osama not contribute his bit to help Musharraf, albeit in a roundabout way, get another five-year term?

And understandably, therefore, the Western media does not seem to have swallowed hook, line and sinker the latest Osama threat as they used to in the past. They are trying now to look the horse in the mouth. They do not seem to accept without question the veracity of the new videotape of Osama. The media in its reports is openly distancing itself from the tape making it very clear that there are doubts about the credibility of the source.

The Supreme Court could still stop Musharraf from contesting the October 6 presidential election in uniform and if he gets past that, en masse resignations by opposition members from the national and the provincial assemblies could make it impossible for the election commission to hold any elections at all.

Musharraf on his part is being seen here to be trying to use all kinds of deceptions to make the presidential elections an immensely confusing event. And in the cloud of dust that is being kicked up by the cacophonous debate of what if he failed to achieve his goal and threats of ‘emergency plus’ and martial law looming large he is perhaps trying to get away with disfiguring the Constitution for all times to come.

Indeed, the Constitution does provide that the presidential election can be held before the general elections. It does also provide that the president can keep the two offices until November 15. But there is no clause or article in the Constitution which permits him to contest presidential election in uniform. Only a dubiously self-serving interpretation of these two constitutional provisions could permit such a gross constitutional deviation.

Musharraf has been holding the office of the president all these years without having gone through an election process as provided in the Constitution, even of the 17th amendment version.

It is only now, that is on October 6, that he wants to get himself elected in uniform as the President of Pakistan with votes from the constitutionally provided electoral college. By doing so he wants to create a new constitutional reality, the reality of an army chief getting constitutionally elected to be the President of Pakistan. This has never happened. Even General Zia-ul-Haq did not dare try this backdoor to bring an army presidency a permanent place in the Constitution.

This new reality if created would open the constitutional doors for his successor in the army to offer himself in his full military regalia as a candidate for the presidential post. And after him the next one. This is what perhaps Gen Musharraf had meant when very early in his rule he had said that he wanted to bring the army in to keep it out.

And then, why, after having got himself elected in uniform through ‘constitutional’ means, would he feel obliged in any way to give up his army post on November 15 or after? He had gone back on a similar promise he had made to the entire nation when he was not even a constitutional president. So why would he, a constitutionally elected president, have any qualms in disregarding a promise he had made to the Supreme Court?

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"A man can be as great as he wants to be. If you believe in yourself and have the courage, the determination, the dedication, the competitive drive and if you are willing to sacrifice the little things in life and pay the price for the things that are worthwhile, it can be done."

Musharraf details election terms

Opponents of the president say he is acting illegally
Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf will stay on as head of the army if he is not elected for another presidential term, his lawyer says.
Speaking in the Supreme Court on Tuesday, the lawyer was clarifying the general's conditional promise to remove his military uniform.

The court will decide if he can stand for election while holding both posts.

On Monday, the US called on President Musharraf to ensure that forthcoming elections are free and fair.

Protests

Growing opposition to military rule has come to a head with imminent presidential elections.


Facing Supreme Court challenges, Gen Musharraf finally promised that he would resign as head of the army if he is elected president for another term.

Attorney General Malik Mohammad Qayyum gave more details about the president's plans on Tuesday.

"It is very clear that if not elected he will remain chief of army staff," he told the Supreme Court.

But he denied the president had any plans to impose martial law if his re-election strategy does not go according to plan.


"There will be no martial law," he said, "there will be no emergency."

Pakistan's ruling Muslim League-Q party said on Tuesday that President Musharraf had signed the nomination papers for his candidacy, which had been endorsed by 17 lawmakers, including Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz.

"We have the required votes to ensure his success," the party's Secretary-General, Mushahid Hussain, told the AFP news agency.

Arrests

The announcement by Mr Qayyum has been condemned by the opposition.

"He has taken the whole country hostage through the power of the gun," said opposition MP and former Pakistani cricket captain, Imran Khan, one of a number of people who have petitioned the court against Gen Musharraf remaining army chief and president.



In recent days security forces have arrested hundreds of activists and blocked roads leading to the capital.

Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said the US government, a close ally of President Musharraf, found the detentions "troubling".

The BBC's Barbara Plett in Islamabad says the big question now is what happens if he is not elected.

Our correspondent says the general is determined to prevent the opposition from taking to the streets to protest against his election.

And observers believe he is determined to cling to power, either as president or army chief, or both.

One editorial accused the government of trying to get the president elected by hook or by crook and said the crackdown showed a severe crisis of credibility rather than strength.




KEY DATES
27 Sep: Close of nominations for presidential ballot
29 Sep: Date some opposition parties to begin boycotting parliament
06 Oct: Presidential vote to be held, election commission says
18 Oct: Date ex-PM Benazir Bhutto has set for her homecoming
15 Nov: Parliamentary term ends and general election must be held

BBC

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Devil-may-care

Musharraf faces election boycott

Opposition leaders say the election is illegal


Pakistan's main opposition alliance has announced a parliamentary boycott in protest at President Pervez Musharraf's plans to run again for office.
The alliance said its members would resign from parliament and the four provincial assemblies on 2 October.

It made the announcement on the day Gen Musharraf registered for the ballot. The Supreme Court is to decide if he can run for president while army chief.

Earlier, the court ordered dozens of opposition members to be freed.

We have reached a consensus decision to resign from parliament

Maulana Fazlur Rehman,
MMA leader



Gen Musharraf will stand down as army chief if he is elected for another presidential term, but, if not, he will keep his military post, his lawyers have said.

Pakistan's president is not elected by the people, but by a ballot of federal and provincial assemblies.

Earlier this week the United States called on Gen Musharraf to ensure the elections were free and fair.

He is a key ally in America's 'war on terror' but observers say Washington is worried about his declining popularity and the increasing problems of militancy in the country.

Credibility question

Opposition parties and lawyers have been campaigning to remove President Musharraf since he sacked the chief justice in March.


Gen Musharraf says he will stay on as army chief if he is not re-elected

"We have reached a consensus decision to resign from parliament," Maulana Fazlur Rehman, a leader of the powerful MMA religious alliance, told a news conference in Peshawar.

The MMA is a major part of the All Parties Democratic Movement (APDM) which was formed during protests earlier this year.

It is in power in North West Frontier Province and is a coalition partner in government in Balochistan.

The other main player in the APDM is the Pakistan Muslim League faction of exiled former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, whose power base is in Punjab province.

Alliance leaders say they will collect resignations from their members in the various assemblies and submit them on 2 October.

"On 2 October, the NWFP chief minister will ask the provincial governor to dissolve the assembly," Maulana Rehman said.

The BBC's M Ilyas Khan in Karachi says the opposition resignations are not enough to pose a legal or numerical problem for Gen Musharraf's re-election - and will in fact make it easier for him to demonstrate a clearer margin of parliamentary support.

But the move may help erode the credibility of an electoral exercise already steeped in controversies, our correspondent says.

If MPs from the Pakistan People's Party (PPP) of Benazir Bhutto, another former PM, also resign, the election could become a farce, he adds.

The PPP is not a part of the main opposition alliance, and has been seeking a power-sharing deal with Gen Musharraf.

Candidates

The Supreme Court's crucial decision on the legality of the president's re-election plans is now expected on Friday, observers say.


Opponents of Gen Musharraf want him out now

As well as Gen Musharraf, a retired judge filed his nomination for the presidential ballot on Thursday. Analysts say he has little chance of winning.

The PPP also nominated a candidate, who it says will run if the Supreme Courts bars Gen Musharraf from standing and the election still goes ahead.

Thursday's developments follow months of political uncertainty in Pakistan, with vocal opposition to military rule.

It is unclear what might happen if President Musharraf is not re-elected.

He appears set on keeping opposition protesters off the streets and critics say he is determined to cling to power, either as president or army chief, or both.


KEY DATES
02 Oct: Date main opposition alliance to begin boycotting assemblies
06 Oct: Presidential vote to be held, election commission says
18 Oct: Date ex-PM Benazir Bhutto has set for her homecoming
15 Nov: Parliamentary term ends and general election must be held


BBC

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Devil-may-care

Musharraf call for Pakistan unity

Gen Musharraf urged ordinary Pakistanis not join strikes
Pakistan's president has called for national reconciliation after winning re-election, despite ongoing concerns about whether his candidacy was legal.
Gen Pervez Musharraf said he was open to talks with all parties, some of which boycotted Saturday's poll.

But he refused to rule out emergency action if the Supreme Court rules he was not allowed to stand because he continues to serve as army chief.

The Supreme Court will restart its deliberations on 17 October.

It insists no winner can be declared until it reaches a verdict.

But he did not specify whether he would declare a state of emergency if the court ruled against him.

"Let them come to their decision, then we will decide," he told reporters.


In a statement shortly after the results were announced, Gen Musharraf thanked those who had voted for him.

Dressed in civilian clothes, he appealed to people to end protests against his rule.

He said he had appealed to lawyers leading opposition to his candidacy to end their protests and asked ordinary Pakistanis not to join strikes and protests.

"And I again give my offer of reconciliation to all political parties," Gen Musharraf said.

"Let sanity prevail."

Opposition trounced

As expected, Gen Musharraf won by a landslide.

He won all but five of the votes cast in parliament's two houses and swept the ballots in the four provincial assemblies, election officials said.

Opposition MPs abstained or boycotted the vote, calling it unconstitutional.

But his supporters dominate the assemblies, thanks to elections five years ago which were widely condemned as rigged.

Chief Election Commissioner Qazi Muhammad Farooq told the National Assembly that Gen Musharraf had won 252 of 257 votes cast in the upper and lower houses.

He said his nearest rival, Wajihuddin Ahmed, had won just two votes. Three votes had been rejected.


There were celebrations after the victory, but without large crowds
There was a similar picture in the assemblies in the provinces of Punjab, Sindh, North West Frontier and Balochistan.

Ruling party members claimed victory even before counting had begun, calling it a step on the way to "full democracy".

The opposition said the constitution had been flouted.

"We will not accept him as president... He is a person who has hardly any respect for the rule of law," Sadique ul-Farooq, a leader of the party of exiled former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif told the Associated Press news agency.

'Just a formality'

Pakistan has been engulfed in political upheaval in recent months, at the same time as the security forces have suffered a series of blows from pro-Taleban militants opposed to Gen Musharraf's support for the US-led "war on terror".


Gen Musharraf will step down as army chief, but only if he is re-elected, his lawyers have said.

But a ruling by the Supreme Court on Friday throws the presidential election into confusion.

It means that even though Gen Musharraf has the most votes he cannot be declared winner until the court has decided if he was a valid candidate in the first place.

The judges said they would not make a final decision before 17 October, which coincides with the day Ms Bhutto says she will leave London to return from years of self-imposed exile.

A deal announced on Friday with former PM Benazir Bhutto meant members of her Pakistan People's Party (PPP) did not join Saturday's opposition boycott, but abstained from voting.

Under the deal, Gen Musharraf dropped corruption charges against Ms Bhutto - a stride towards an expected power-sharing arrangement.

General elections are due to be held by mid-January.


BBC

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Devil-may-care

Musharraf cannot undo deal with PPP: Kharal



LAHORE, Oct 8: PPP Federal Council secretary-general Khalid Khan Kharal has said that President Gen Pervez Musharraf cannot undo the so-called power-sharing deal with Ms Benazir Bhutto due to presence of foreign guarantors.

Addressing a press conference on Monday, Mr Kharal said the president and his team had negotiated with the PPP leadership under the pressure of foreign guarantors.

He criticised the statement of Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain regarding the National Reconciliation Ordinance (NRO). He said the PML leader was a non-serious person.

He said the PML leader was trying to torpedo the political reconciliation process for his personal interests.

Mr Kharal sought to dispel reports that the PPP had held dialogue with the PML team for achieving the NRO.


Dawn

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Devil-may-care

Musharraf's "second coup"




By Simon Gardner

ISLAMABAD, Nov 4 (Reuters) - Hours after Pakistan's military ruler General Pervez Musharraf imposed emergency rule to the horror of many Pakistanis and the international community, the headlines said it all.

"General Musharraf's second coup."

"It is martial law."

"Draconian step."

Pakistan's broadsheets laid into the military ruler after he purged the Supreme Court and imposed sweeping reporting curbs that ban any coverage "that defames, and brings into ridicule or disrepute the head of state" on pain of up to three years' jail.

"Hopes that saner counsel might succeed in forestalling the extra-constitutional actions that had been hinted at ... were obviously groundless," leading newspaper Dawn said in an editorial.

"One wonders about the nature and size of the risk taken by volunteering for a pariah's role in the comity (sic) of nations," it added. "Wisdom demands the courage to withdraw an action that will embarrass the whole country for ages."

Private television channels were blacked out on Saturday and Sunday, leaving only state television on air showing re-runs of Musharraf's late night address to the nation and advertisements promoting the government.

While Musharraf cited rising militancy and "interference" by the judiciary as the reasons for opting for emergency rule and suspending the constitution, his October re-election still awaited approval by a hostile Supreme Court -- which he has now replaced.

"Nov.3 will go down as another dark day in Pakistan's political and constitutional history," said The News. "This is one of General Musharraf's greatest errors of judgment and a sorry indication that nothing has been learnt from the mistakes of the past."

"Such acts are indefensible at any time, more so in this day and age."

Musharraf came to power in a bloodless 1999 coup, and his current term as President was due to end on Nov. 15. The Supreme Court was still deciding whether he was eligible to run for reelection in October while still serving as army chief.

"He has sent the country into a tailspin just to save his job," the Nation said in an editorial.

The Daily Times went further.

"We have a state of martial law, whatever the government may say and however long it may last," it said.

"We should expect the lawyers, civil society groups and most, but not all, the opposition parties to launch a spirited protest on the streets and boycott the courts," it added. "We should also expect a surge of terrorist activities and bomb blasts by Taliban and al Qaeda elements to take advantage of the situation."




sorce:-

http://www.reuters.com/article/lates.../idUSCOL201432

President’s statement on uniform irrelevant: Justice Ijaz

By Sohail Khan

ISALMABAD: Justice Chaudhry Ijaz Ahmed on Tuesday said that President General Pervez Musharraf’s statement on doffing uniform, submitted before the court, was irrelevant and the court would not consider this document while deciding the case.

“The verdict of the apex court would be based on the documents filed at the time of the nominations,” Justice Ijaz remarked during the hearing of identical petitions challenging the candidature of General Musharraf for contesting the election for the office of president.

Chaudhry Aitzaz Ahsan, the counsel for Justice (Retd) Wajihuddin Ahmed, continued his arguments before the eleven-member bench of the Supreme Court headed by Justice Javed Iqbal. Presidential candidates Justice (Retd) Wajihuddin Ahmed and PPPP President Makhdoom Amin Fahim had challenged the validity of nomination papers of General Musharraf by the Chief Election Commissioner for contesting the election for the office of the president held on October 6 this year.

During the arguments of Aitzaz Ahsan, Justice Javed Iqbal questioned the legal value of the statement filed by Sharifuddin Pirzada on the behalf of President General Pervez Musharraf wherein he promised to relinquish his uniform if elected for the next term as president.

Justice Khalilur Rehman Ramday said that the qualification and disqualification clauses laid down in the Constitution would apply to a presidential candidate at the time of the filing of nomination papers.

He further said that article 41 (2) of the Constitution that described the qualifications for president started with the words that a person shall not be qualified for election as president unless he fulfils the conditions laid down for the office of the president.

Justice Ramday said that the Article was clear that the qualifications and disqualifications would apply well before taking oath and at the time of nomination papers.

Aitzaz Ahsan said that no government servant could take part in politics in any manner, and he could not even discuss politics in his routine discussion. He contended that the 17th Amendment had validated General Pervez Musharraf’s presidency but it did not validate his candidature in uniform to contest the election for the highest office.

Justice Javed Iqbal said that 17th Amendment was a package of compromises and power-sharing formula that had changed the basic structure of the Constitution. Aitzaz, however, replied that the court must have held these views in Pakistan Lawyers Case. Justice Iqbal said these questions were not raised in that petition.

Aitzaz submitted that the office of the president was involved in political activities and a military officer was prohibited to take part in political activities and, therefore, he could not contest for this purely political office.

He said the armed forces must remain under the control and command of the federal government while the office of the president did not come under the control of the federal government.

Meanwhile, the court adjourned the hearing till today (Wednesday). Other members of the bench include Justice Abdul Hameed Dogar, Justice Khalilur Rehman Ramday, Justice Mohammad Nawaz Abbasi, Justice Faqir Mohammad Khokar, Justice M Javed Buttar, Justice Tassadaq Hussain Jilani, Justice Raja Fayyaz Ahmed, Justice Chaudhry Aijaz Ahmed, Justice Syed Jamshed Ali and Justice Ghulam Rabbani.

NNI adds: The Supreme Court will announce its verdict on petitions challenging General Musharraf’s nomination papers by the end of the next week, said Justice Javed Iqbal on Tuesday.

“We are aware of the anxiety of the government, I assure you that the case will be decided in the next week,” Justice Javed Iqbal, heading the 11-member bench, observed. The AG had prayed that as everybody was in suspense, the honourable court should end this uncertainty at the earliest.

Barrister Aitzaz Ahsan, the counsel for presidential candidate Justice (Retd) Wajihuddin Ahmed, said that he would complete his arguments before Thursday. He said General Pervez Musharraf was not qualified to contest the presidential election on the day he filed his nomination papers and, therefore, he could not be declared a lawful candidate for this office.

He argued that violation of Articles 243, 244 and 245 amounted to abrogation of Constitution and the person who was guilty of doing this must be punished under Article 6 (high treason) of the Constitution.

Aitzaz said that if General Musharraf contested the election in uniform, he would be guilty of subverting the Constitution and guilty of high treason. Faqir Muhammad Khokhar asked if the submission of Aitzaz was accepted, then persons who had voted for General Musharraf would also be guilty of high treason.

Aitzaz replied in the affirmative and said General Musharraf was a military officer and was not a valid candidate even to file his nomination papers. “Article 6 is only for the Army Chief, it is one-man specific as he is the only person who could subvert the Constitution,” Aitzaz said.

“No doubt that the office of the president is a political office,” Justice Javed Iqbal observed. Aitzaz said that under section 131 of PPC, “if somebody seduces army officer from his duty he will be liable to be awarded life imprisonment or 10 years besides fine.”

He said 17th Amendment of the Constitution must be put in proper perspective as it only strengthened the office of the president in relation to that of the prime minister and provided a balance between them but it did nothing to change the status of the army chief.

“When you people inserted Article 58 (2-b) in the Constitution, it looked that the country was going towards the presidential system from parliamentary system,” Justice Javed Iqbal said. Aitzaz Ahsan said that immunity under this amendment to General Pervez Musharraf was time-bound and applicable to his status as President and not to other capacity. Therefore, it does not give any immunity to his candidature.

He referred to the statement given by the president’s lawyer before the court about removing his uniform before taking his oath if he was re-elected. He said there was an admission in this statement that for the next term, two offices would be incompatible as the umbrella under this amendment would be completely removed on Nov 15.

He also referred to a statement published in the newspapers given by the Attorney General in which he had stated that the President would remain the Army Chief if he was not re-elected and said no law would allow him to continue as the Chief of the Army Staff whether the court decided in his favour or not.


http://www.thenews.com.pk/top_story_detail.asp?Id=10781

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Musharraf Promises Elections

But opposition leaders say a fair vote is impossible under emergency decree.
By Ron Moreau
Newsweek Web Exclusive
Updated: 12:40 PM ET Nov 11, 2007

In his first press conference since he declared a state of emergency early this month, Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf on Sunday set a date for general elections, saying the polls would be held no later than Jan. 9. The national and state assemblies would be dissolved on Nov. 20, he said, and caretaker administrations would govern the country until after the elections. Meanwhile, he stated his intent to remain a powerful president who would be "absolutely aboveboard and neutral" during the campaigning and voting.

Musharraf reiterated that he would resign from his powerful position as chief of army staff when he takes the oath of office for another five-year presidential term, probably later this month. Pakistan's Supreme Court, which is packed with pro-Musharraf judges, rules that he was legally reelected president in a controversial, indirect vote last October. "I shall take the oath of office as a civilian president as soon as possible," he said. In fixing an election date and promising to take off his uniform, both key demands of the United States other allied governments and of former prime minister Benazir Bhutto, he was clearly making an attempt to defuse the heavy domestic and international criticism of his emergency decree and to reestablish some credibility. "This sets aside the aspersions, distortions and rumors [of people] doubting my intensions," he said.

Sounding resolute and tough, he firmly said he had no regrets for taking the hard line that made him increasingly unpopular at home and abroad. "I did right," said Musharraf, dressed in mufti, sporting an expensive blue suit, light blue shirt and dark tie. Declaring the emergency, which is akin to martial law, "was the most difficult decision I have ever taken in my life," he added. "It was indeed a bitter pill to swallow."

No matter how badly it tasted, Musharraf made it clear that he was not going to lift the decree anytime soon, making it clear that emergency rule would remain in place at least through the election. "There is no time limit on that," he said of the emergency. "Certainly the emergency is required to ensure peace and an environment conducive to elections in Pakistan."

Musharraf brushed away questions about how a free and fair democratic election can be held while his emergency decree has suspended constitutional guarantees, an independent judiciary and freedom of assembly. He pledged that most, if not all, of political detainees who number into the thousands and include key opposition politicians, organizers and activists, would be freed by polling time. "I expect all of them will get released and will be able to go into electioneering," he said. When asked how an election could be held under martial-law-like conditions, Musharraf's Deputy Information Minister Tariq Azim Khan said that past Pakistani elections have taken place in Pakistan during emergencies, for example, in 1971. The playing field will be level for all political parties Khan claimed. "The [emergency] rules apply equally, fairly with everyone who agrees to take part."

Such talk did not reassure a beleaguered and downtrodden opposition. It also raised the question whether anti-Musharraf parties would even bother to contest the election under the emergency decree. Ahsan Iqbal, the spokesman of former prime minister Nawaz Sharif's party, said elections held under the emergency would be "fraudulent" as long as "thousands of opposition workers and leaders" are in jail and Sharif remains in exile in Saudi Arabia. Sherry Rehman, Bhutto's information secretary, complained that in the past few days "several thousand members" of her Pakistan People's Party have been arrested, and that 13 PPP women members of parliament were being held in prison under "utterly unhygienic" conditions and "spending torturous nights on ice-cold floors."

Musharraf keeps insisting that his emergency powers are necessary to prevent the country from "falling into turmoil." He said that before he acted, Pakistan was in a "state of paralysis, turmoil, shock and confusion," forcing him to take "a drastic measure to save the democratic process." As he did last Monday, when defending the emergency decree to some 80 foreign envoys in Islamabad, he once again attacked deposed and increasingly popular Chief Justice Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry, blaming him for the country's ills. He claimed that "one individual in the judiciary" had "paralyzed" the government, "demoralized and shattered" law enforcement, and "encouraged" terrorists who "are gaining ground because of this whole state of confusion and turmoil." He even suggested Chaudhry is responsible for the country's recent economic downturn.

Musharraf ruled out any reconciliation with, or reinstatement of, the chief justice, which is an opposition demand, or any of the other Supreme Court and other high court justice who refused to approve the emergency, which they called unconstitutional. "They are no more judges," he said sharply. Most Pakistanis believe the chief reason for Musharraf's move was not instability or terrorism but simply to preempt the court from ruling that he was ineligible to get reelected to a second term while serving as army chief.

He took a sharp shot at Bhutto as well, questioning her popularity. "You think she is the next prime minister of Pakistan?" he asked. He then urged journalists to go into the cities and rural areas of populous Punjab state to determine her popularity. He also seemed to dismiss any talk of negotiations with Bhutto on any power-sharing deal. "There's no point in a personality getting in touch with me," he said. Bhutto, too, seems to be moving away from her one-time conciliatory stance toward Musharraf that won her an amnesty from a slew of corruption charges last September. After being released from one day's house arrest last Friday, she attempted to meet the chief justice yesterday but was stopped at the police barricade on the road leading to his house where he and his family are being held under house arrest. Speaking into a megaphone at the barrier she said Chaudhry is "the real" chief justice of Pakistan, and "we demand that all detained judges of the Supreme Court should be released." Later that evening she told a gathering of foreign diplomats inside Parliament that Musharraf's emergency had made the country even more unstable. "Pakistan under dictatorship is a pressure cooker," she said. "Without a place to vent, the passion of our people for liberty threatens to explode."

She will test the Musharraf's will and the people's passion next week as she has vowed to lead a "long march," or slow motorcade, from Lahore to Islamabad, a journey of nearly 300 miles. Today she traveled to Lahore to prepare for the protest march, but she is likely to find the same fate she met last Friday, having her house surrounded by police and barbed wire to keep her from venturing out. Even if she is allowed to move around the city, the main road to Islamabad will certainly be blocked.

Musharraf is playing his cards cautiously, keeping the emergency intact for the foreseeable future, including the monthlong campaigning period and during the voting. But he is taking one risk. If he does resign from the army just before taking the presidential oath, he is expected to lose much of his political clout that flows from his army command. But he seems confident the army will stay behind him. "Even if I'm not in uniform anymore, let me assure you the army will be with me," he in an aside soon after the press conference. That may be true but once Musharraf is out of uniform he will be stepping into unknown territory.


URL: http://www.newsweek.com/id/69762

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Aarwaa

Pakistan is ruled by three As - Army, America and Allah.