Legal, democratic process to bring stability
 

By Ansar Abbasi

ISLAMABAD: A beleaguered President Asif Ali Zardari needs to look for the proverbial snakes in the grass, as he seems to be pushed towards his political fate by his own cronies, close advisers and legal minds and not by his political foes and others he treats as his enemies.

Repeated U-turns on the National Reconciliation Ordinance (NRO) and the latest bid to provoke the Pakistan Army first and then the full court at this stage invites more tribulations for the man already in the middle of the storm.

Although federation’s counsel Kamal Azfar took the latest somersault on Tuesday in a bid to cool down the top Army brass that was termed a threat to democracy only yesterday, there is no explanation as to what President Zardari wanted to achieve when he said on Monday that he hoped that democracy would not fall victim to any “judicial murder” in the future.

The president’s statement is being widely interpreted as a “caution” to the full court not to hand down any decision against him as he considers himself a symbol of democracy and believes that if he is removed because of the NRO or on corruption charges, it would be like murdering democracy.

It is not yet clear whether Zardari stated this on his own or was counselled by one of the tainted cronies surrounding him to say this at this stage to give a message to the Supreme Court when it is about to conclude the all-important case of the NRO.

Hopefully, the same statement like some past ones, would be clarified by one of his many sycophants because it was simply in bad taste and un-called for and it also contradicted certain crucial ground realities. President Zardari may be oblivious of these facts but isn’t it true that he is highly unpopular amongst the people whereas the present Supreme Court is extremely popular and respected? No one knows what judgment the full court will hand down in the coming few days, however, the harsh fact remains that the NRO is a symbol of condemnation in society.

The “geniuses” representing the government in the NRO case are goofing up further to the disadvantage of President Zardari. On Monday, if it was Kamal Asfar’s stunner, on Tuesday the acting attorney general was warned quite a few times not to touch the issues that might compel the courts to zero in on the cases of Zardari. “You seem to be damaging the person (President Zardari), whom you want to protect,” Justice Khalilur Rehman Ramday told the acting attorney general, who hurled a popular political bluff of the PPP that the cases against Zardari were politically motivated and could not be decided even in ten years’ time. But the judges knew how and how many medical certificates caused delays in the completion of the pending cases.

Kamal Azfar’s stunner that the American CIA and the Pakistan Army’s GHQ are threatening the present democratic system has not only been shunned by others but also virtually withdrawn by Azfar himself, who clarified on Tuesday that what he had said was meant for the past and that the incumbent Army chief, General Ashfaq Parvez Kayani, is a “real gentleman”. But the damage has already been done. No matter what he says, generally it is believed that he spoke the president’s mind.

The bad luck with President Zardari is that he has too many skeletons in his cupboard. It is his stained background that is refusing to be forgotten. Never before any citizen felt the need to challenge the constitutional immunity for the office of the president from being tried under any criminal case in a court of law. But now it has been done.

Already in hot waters, the president should also not stay aloof to a constitutional petition pending before the Lahore High Court, challenging his dual-role as the president of Pakistan and co-chairperson of the PPP. No matter what the likes of Awans, Khosas and Naeks tell him he faces a dead-end to his political gains.

Now the time has come for his retreat. If he does it on his own, he may still not lose everything. Otherwise, the society’s urge for democracy, rule of law and corruption-free environment could force him, through the legal and democratic process, to do what he continues to resist. In that case, democracy would be strengthened instead of getting destabilised.