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Nawaz Sharif has come into power. This is bad news for Pervez Musharraf.
Nawaz Sharif at the helm of power and Inftikhar Mohammad Chaudary as Chief Justice what else combination could be well aligned for Nawaz Sharif and Nawaz Sharif to take his revenge.
Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudary is going to retire probably by the end of this year so the chances are the cases against Pervez Musharraf will be expedited.
Finally, Pervez Musharraf decided to return to his home country after a five year self imposed exile in United Kingdom and United Arab Emirates. Will he be able to run his election campaign? Rather, I think we should ask will ‘they’ allow him to run for election?
In a couple of days situation will be more clear but if you ask this question today then answer is Nawaz Sharif has the money and Iftikhar Mohammed Chaudary has the animosity and power to take the revenge. That is the answer. This is the way politics is played in Pakistan.
This is the news or rumour what ever you call it.
Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari disclosed last week that Pervaiz Musharraf resigned from presidentship as part of a deal. That has created a storm in Pakistani politcal arena. What Zardari has disclosed if it is true then one thing is sure that Saudi Arabia and America are among the guarantors of this deal.
Now a days Nawaz Sharif is in Saudi Arabia and he has met King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia. Earlier Pervaiz Musharraf met the King a couple of weeks ago. It is hard to believe that Nawaz Sharif and other politicians of Pakistan were not aware of this deal. Nawaz Sharif must have known about this deal since he is quite close to the King. But I believe he was trying to earn extra mileage by making noise against Pervaiz Musharraf that he must be tried on treason charges.
I think Pervaiz Musharraf will not be tried for anything. America will also not favour this thing. Reason, Richard Holbrook wants Pakistanis to concentrate on the agenda or in fact To-Do-List provided by the US. And pakistanis don’t have any other option.
A couple of commnetators, essentially supporters of Nawaz Sharif indicated in the TV interviews that Supreme Court Chief Justice Iftikhar Chaudary may take action against Pervaiz Musharraf by himself.
He may do so just to show to the public that he is a free decision maker. Other possibility is that Nawaz Sharif party may file a case against Pervaiz Musharraf in the Supreme Court and Mr. Chaudary will accept the case but nothing will happen. Nawaz Sharif will not do anything against the desires of Saudi Arabia and the US. That is for sure. He needs support from both of them if and when he has to form a government.
It seems US don’t trust Nawaz Sharif. But also wants to keep him in the loop because Nawaz League will be next in line if PPP fails to control political and civil turmoil in Pakistan. The US also don’t trust Asif Ali Zardari and Yousaf Raza Gilani anyway.
So Pervaiz Musharraf may be third option in Pakistan’s politics. The US trust him he has some respect and credibility definitely more than Nawaz Sharif and Zardari in the eyes of Pakistanis. He can get things done. His past is clean from corruption charges while both Nawaz Sharif and Asif Zardari are benefactors of NRO. Both have tainted past. Asif Ali Zardari has been quoted in the foreign press as Mr.10 percent. This is not something new.
News also say that Pervaiz Musharraf has contacted MQM and PML(Q). The ideal situation Pervaiz Musharraf may be looking for is to get a top position either in MQM or PML (Q). In the absence of this option he may form his own political party but MQM and PML (Q) may support him in the next election. The PMLQ members who are not happy with Chaudary Shujat’s leadership they may join Pervaiz Musharraf.
Over all this would be a positive change for the country if it happens.
Interior Ministry has issued very strict instructions to heads of all the security agencies in Pakistan including home secretaries, frontier corps, rangers and inspector generals of all the provinces to provide foolproof security to former President Pervez Musharraf.
According to the notification issued by the Ministry, it is mandatory to provide optimum security to the former president where ever he goes. The Inspector General of the province will be responsible for his security.
A bullet proof vehicle will be provide to former president along with the security escort on evacuated roads.
Interior Ministry and security officials will stay in contact with the former president all the times.
This notification was quite unexpected. What is the reason for issuing this notification at this time is not known. Either Pervez Musharraf is not satisfied with the present security arrangements or USA has shown some concern about his security. Recently, Richard Boucher US Assistant Secretary of State visited Pakistan. There was no news that he met former president but about the security of Pervez Musharraf may have come under discussion with the government officials.
When former president resigned it was part of the arrangement that Pakistan government will provide security to former president. Further, there was an understanding that no case will be raised against Pervez Musharraf. News published in the foreign media indicated that US, UK and Saudi Arabia are guarantors of this arrangement.
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.
