Governing Coalition Parties Charged President Musharraf

Posted on: August 7, 2008 3:39 pm Written by: Leave a Comment print for hard copyEmail This Post


Governing-Coalition-Parties-Charged-President-Musharraf

Nawaz Sharif (PML-N) and Asif Zardari (PPP) along with their coalition partners in the government formally charged President Prevez Musharraf on three counts using Article 47 of the constitution of Pakistan. They want to remove the president by impeachment. The three charges they have mentioned in the press conference are as follows:

President has not obtained his confirmation from the newly elected National Assembly.
President has not addressed the National Assembly.
President is responsible of the mismanagement during the last eight years and because of that  there is increase in prices in daily commodities and others economic problems.

PML-N and PPP now are preparing the formal resolution to present in the National Assembly to start the proceedings of the impeachment of the president.

Coalition Parties do know that they don’t have 2/3 majority required in the National Assembly and Senate. So they have started working on to pool the votes. In simple words to buy the members as it is common in the Pakistani politics. Nawaz Sharif has done that been there is expert in horse-trading.

Abdul Hafiz Pirzadah, a former law minister and an authority on Pakistan’s Constitution, said in a private TV channel interview that Article 47 of the Constitution of Pakistan states how to remove and or impeach any president on duty.

He stated that there are two reasons mentioned in the Article 47 to remove the president, namely:

(1) If he is physically unable to perform his duties, and
(2) If he is mentally unfit to discharge his duties.

He further explained, there are two reasons mentioned in the Article 47 to impeach the president, they are;

(1) If he has violated the constitution.
(2) If he has done some gross misconduct.

Obviously the three charges coalition parties have raised against the president none of them fall in any one of the four reasons described in the Article 47 of the Constitution of Pakistan, he added.

Mr. Pirzadah explained that  since the ruling parties have issued the charge sheet President can go to Supreme Court to ask the interpretation of the charges whether they fall in any one of the two reasons as mentioned in the Article 47 to impeach the president.

Since Nawaz Sharif and Asif Zardari changed their priorities and made impeachment of the president as priority one and reinstatement of judges priority two so if that situation arises then the present sitting Supreme Court will decide the case.

Things are changing fast let us see what happen tomorrow.

Filed Under: Asif Ali Zardari, Nawaz Sharif, News, Pakistan, Pervez Musharraf Tagged: , , , , , ,

Aitzaz Ahsan – Public Intellectual?

Posted on: July 22, 2008 4:14 am Written by: Leave a Comment print for hard copyEmail This Post


Aitzaz-Ahsan-Public-Intellectual

In the recent issue (July/August 2008) of Foreign Policy magazine they have published a so called Top 20 Public Intellectuals survey where Mr.Aitzaz Ahsan has been ranked on number 5.

Pakistan media particularly GEO TV and Aitzaz Ahsan himself seem to be proud of this ranking.

First let us see the definition of the word "intellectual". The word intellectual is an adjective. The noun is intellect. According to American Heritage Dictionary of The English Language, the meaning of the word ‘intellect’ is as follows:

The ability to learn and reason; the capacity for knowledge and understanding.

The ability to think abstractly or profoundly.

So the person who can do that is called intellectual. Fair enough.

Now let us see what profile Foreign Policy magazine has mentioned of Mr. Aitzaz Ahsan. Here is the verbatim quote;

"President of Pakistan’s Supreme Court Bar Association, Ahsan has been a vocal opponent of President Pervez Musharraf’s rule. When Musharraf dismissed the head of the Supreme Court in March 2007, it was Ahsan who led the legal challenge to reinstate the chief justice and rallied thousands of lawyers who took to the streets in protest. He was arrested several times during the period of emergency rule last year.
Today, he is a senior member of the Pakistan Peoples Party, formerly led by Benazir Bhutto, and one of the country’s most recognizable politicians".

Courtesy: http://www.foreignpolicy.com/story/cms.php?story_id=4349

Do the activities which Foreign Policy have mentioned on which he has been ranked in the ‘Top  20 Public Intellectuals’  makes someone intellectual?

If this is the criteria then we have lots of intellectuals in our country.
What do you think? What is your opinion? Write your opinion in the comments.

Please spread the word and let your friends know about Pakistan Forum. They can also join the discussions.

Filed Under: News Tagged: , , , , ,

Rafiq Tarar Given Government Residence

Posted on: July 16, 2008 4:47 am Written by: Leave a Comment print for hard copyEmail This Post

Rafiq-Tarar-Given-Government-Residence

Rafiq Tarar, an Ex. President and buddy of Sharif family has been given government residence and he has moved from his private home to government provided housing according to GEO TV Channel .

Rafiq Tarar said that according to rules and regulations any ex. president is entitled to live in government housing for the rest of his life after leaving the office. I don’t know the rules. But the question is if that was his entitlement, or for any ex. president for that matter, then why he did not demand that earlier? Or better yet, why he moved out of the presidential housing when he left the office?

Is it not something also called nepotism?

Sometimes back, Shaikh Rashid Ahmed said in a GEO TV program 60 Minutes that the judges who did not take the oath according to new PCO on November 2, 2007 and took the option to leave the office and now want to get the job back are presently paid their salaries from the special fund of Prime Minister.

Are there any such rules and regulations to pay salaries to judges who voluntarily did not take the oath and preferred to leave the job?

What you would call this bribery, social welfare or helping the poor unemployed judges?

Speak up your mind and write in Comments what ever you think on this subject.

Filed Under: News Tagged: