The ruling Pakistan People’s Party on Saturday announced draft constitutional amendments that will strip the President’s powers to dissolve Parliament and reduce Pervez Musharraf to a figurehead, expressing the hope that he would “walk away” from the office after the changes.
But the proposed constitutional package, which the PPP said it would take to its coalition partners and the presidency for discussions, has raised concerns about a confrontation between the General (retd.) Musharraf and the government if he were to reject the amendments.
On the other side, Nawaz Sharif’s party and the legal community expressed reservations about proposals contained in the package for the reinstatement of the judges sacked by General Musharraf last year.
The Pakistan Muslim League(N) demanded that the judges’ reinstatement be done not through an amendment but by a parliamentary resolution as laid out in the March 8 Murree accord between it and the PPP.
Interstingly, the PPP announced the package as Mr. Chaudhary set off from the capital to address the legal community of Faisalabad in the Punjab province. He left by road accompanied by a massive convoy of cars and buses full of lawyers.
The legal community has announced a long march starting on June 10 from Multan in Punjab to the capital if the judges are not reinstated by then.
Though the clauses relating to the judiciary were not made public, the legal community said any attempt to fix a three-year term for the Chief Justice would be unacceptable as that would imply a plan to retire the deposed Iftikhar Chaudhary, whose three years end next month.
PPP co-chairman Asif Ali Zardari and Law Minister Farooq Naek made public only a handful of the 62 proposed amendments contained in the constitutional package that was discussed and approved by the party’s central executive committee this afternoon.
The most important of the proposed changes is the repeal of 58 (2) (B), the controversial article that empowers the President to dissolve Parliament and dismiss the government.
“Whatever powers the President has under the Constitution in relation to the Parliament, we want to take them away and give them back to the Prime Minister,” said Mr. Naek at a joint press conference with Mr. Zardari.
Additionally, the President will also lose his power to appoint Governors. Mr. Zardari said his powers to appoint service chiefs will go too. A President will serve “two full terms” instead of “two consecutive terms”.
An important amendment proposed in the package is to hold judges who validate military takeovers liable for treason. The amendment proposes that they would cease to hold office immediately. Also included in the package is a proposed change of name for the North West Frontier Province to Pakhtunkhwa as demanded by the Awami National Party.
Mr. Zardari, who earlier this week described President Musharraf as a “relic of the past” who was standing between the people and democracy, said he would, however, “engage the presidency in a dialogue” on the proposed changes.
“Utlimately, the power of democracy come from dialogue, not confrontation,” Mr. Zardari said. “We intend to walk [President Musharraf] away rather than impeach him away.”
The PPP co-chairman said his party had authorised him to consult all other parties and the legal fraternity in the coalition on the draft.
“Nothing in this package is sacrosanct. It can be revised, it can be improved,” he said.
PML (N) spokesman Siddiqul Farooq said the party stood by the Murree Accord to which it was a co-signatory along with the PPP, and was “one with the legal fraternity” on the restoration of the judges.
“We have yet to receive a copy of the constitutional package, and we have to study it. If it restores the 1973 Constitution as it was on October 11, 1999 [before Gen. Musharraf’s ouster of the Sharif government], if it accommodates the charter of democracy [signed between Mr. Sharif and Benazir Bhutto], then we can consider supporting it. But on the issue of the judges, we are committed to their reinstatement by a resolution of Parliament,” Mr. Farooq said.
Supreme Court Bar Association President Aitzaz Ahsan, who is also a member of the PPP central executive committee that discussed the constitutional amendments said nothing in the package was final, and many of the 62 clauses would undergo changes before being presented in Parliament.
But Mr. Ahsan, who recently withdrew his nominations from the June 26 elections, also said a three-year term for the Chief Justice was a “minus-one formula” to get rid of Mr. Chaudhary, and said it would be unacceptable to the legal community
But the proposed constitutional package, which the PPP said it would take to its coalition partners and the presidency for discussions, has raised concerns about a confrontation between the General (retd.) Musharraf and the government if he were to reject the amendments.
On the other side, Nawaz Sharif’s party and the legal community expressed reservations about proposals contained in the package for the reinstatement of the judges sacked by General Musharraf last year.
The Pakistan Muslim League(N) demanded that the judges’ reinstatement be done not through an amendment but by a parliamentary resolution as laid out in the March 8 Murree accord between it and the PPP.
Interstingly, the PPP announced the package as Mr. Chaudhary set off from the capital to address the legal community of Faisalabad in the Punjab province. He left by road accompanied by a massive convoy of cars and buses full of lawyers.
The legal community has announced a long march starting on June 10 from Multan in Punjab to the capital if the judges are not reinstated by then.
Though the clauses relating to the judiciary were not made public, the legal community said any attempt to fix a three-year term for the Chief Justice would be unacceptable as that would imply a plan to retire the deposed Iftikhar Chaudhary, whose three years end next month.
PPP co-chairman Asif Ali Zardari and Law Minister Farooq Naek made public only a handful of the 62 proposed amendments contained in the constitutional package that was discussed and approved by the party’s central executive committee this afternoon.
The most important of the proposed changes is the repeal of 58 (2) (B), the controversial article that empowers the President to dissolve Parliament and dismiss the government.
“Whatever powers the President has under the Constitution in relation to the Parliament, we want to take them away and give them back to the Prime Minister,” said Mr. Naek at a joint press conference with Mr. Zardari.
Additionally, the President will also lose his power to appoint Governors. Mr. Zardari said his powers to appoint service chiefs will go too. A President will serve “two full terms” instead of “two consecutive terms”.
An important amendment proposed in the package is to hold judges who validate military takeovers liable for treason. The amendment proposes that they would cease to hold office immediately. Also included in the package is a proposed change of name for the North West Frontier Province to Pakhtunkhwa as demanded by the Awami National Party.
Mr. Zardari, who earlier this week described President Musharraf as a “relic of the past” who was standing between the people and democracy, said he would, however, “engage the presidency in a dialogue” on the proposed changes.
“Utlimately, the power of democracy come from dialogue, not confrontation,” Mr. Zardari said. “We intend to walk [President Musharraf] away rather than impeach him away.”
The PPP co-chairman said his party had authorised him to consult all other parties and the legal fraternity in the coalition on the draft.
“Nothing in this package is sacrosanct. It can be revised, it can be improved,” he said.
PML (N) spokesman Siddiqul Farooq said the party stood by the Murree Accord to which it was a co-signatory along with the PPP, and was “one with the legal fraternity” on the restoration of the judges.
“We have yet to receive a copy of the constitutional package, and we have to study it. If it restores the 1973 Constitution as it was on October 11, 1999 [before Gen. Musharraf’s ouster of the Sharif government], if it accommodates the charter of democracy [signed between Mr. Sharif and Benazir Bhutto], then we can consider supporting it. But on the issue of the judges, we are committed to their reinstatement by a resolution of Parliament,” Mr. Farooq said.
Supreme Court Bar Association President Aitzaz Ahsan, who is also a member of the PPP central executive committee that discussed the constitutional amendments said nothing in the package was final, and many of the 62 clauses would undergo changes before being presented in Parliament.
But Mr. Ahsan, who recently withdrew his nominations from the June 26 elections, also said a three-year term for the Chief Justice was a “minus-one formula” to get rid of Mr. Chaudhary, and said it would be unacceptable to the legal community
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