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PAKISTAN: Agitations Planned to Get Top Judiciary Reinstated

Amir Mir

ISLAMABAD, May 16 2008 (IPS) - Pakistan’s ruling coalition is coming unstuck over the issue of reinstating 60 members of the higher judiciary dismissed by President Pervez Musharraf in November, ahead of a court decision on the validity his re-election for a second term.

The coalition government was formed on the basis of a formal accord to have the justices restored to their jobs signed on Mar. 9 by Pakistan’s two main political parties – the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP), led by Asif Ali Zardari and the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) of former prime minister Nawaz Sharif.

Arch rivals for power in Pakistan, the PPP and the PML-N set aside their differences to come together and defeat Musharraf’s political supporters, especially the Pakistan Muslim League Quaid-e-Azam (PML-Q), in the Feb. 18 general elections.

The partners are agreed on stripping Musharraf of the sweeping powers he had arrogated to himself – including the right to dismiss parliament – after ousting Sharif as prime minister in a 1999 coup. Sharif wants to see Musharraf sacked but needs an independent judiciary to see that through.

Among infirmities facing Musharraf is the constitutionality of an army chief contesting the presidency while still in uniform.

While a reinstated judiciary may not only set aside Musharraf’s re-election as president it may also nullify immunities granted by him to Zardari on various cases of corruption.

Sharif’s demand that the judges be reinstated through a simple resolution passed in the lower house of the National Assembly is opposed by Zardari who prefers a constitutional package of amendments that entails approval of the upper house, or Senate, which is packed with Musharraf’s supporters. Zardari also insists on retaining those judges picked by Musharraf to replace the ones he sacked.

Sharif has already moved to withdraw his party members from the cabinet . His decision to leave government will reduce it to a minority in the 342-seat National Assembly. He has already declared that his party would join a lawyers’ protest ‘long march’ – the final date for which is likely to be announced on Saturday.

In the Punjab province – Sharif’s power base – the chief minister has already pledged support for the lawyers’ movement.

In his efforts to get the judges reinstated Sharif has the full backing of the powerful Supreme Court Bar Association which, according to its president Aitzaz Ahsan, will meet on Saturday to chalk out a plan of agitations and protest.

A series of nation-wide agitations led by lawyers through 2007 were the first real challenge to Musharraf’s regime since 1999 and paved the way for the February elections that restored civilian rule in Pakistan.

Support for Sharif’s stand has also come from the All Parties Democratic Movement (APDM) which has announced that it would join hands with the lawyers to pressure the government into restoring the deposed judges.

Sharif has declared that he did not want his party to ”become part of any conspiracy or the tool of any force to support dictatorship and destabilise democracy.” He has pledged support for the federal government on an ‘’issue-to-issue basis”.

Analysts say that the once anti-establishment PPP now looks more and more like an ally of Pakistan’s civil-military establishment, represented by Musharraf, which suffered a setback in the February general elections.

According to a senior PML-N leader Makhdoom Javed Hashmi, by reneging on a pledge to reinstate the deposed judges, the PPP leadership is actually siding with Musharraf. However, many in the PPP justify Zardari’s pro-Musharraf stance, saying the President could retaliate by sacking parliament under his discretionary presidential powers.

Syed Mushahid Hussain, secretary general of PML-Q, said: “The PML-N’s decision to quit the federal cabinet after 42 days in power is a blatant failure of the leadership of the PPP and the PML-N in their first test of political acumen to resolve the judges’ issue.”

On the other hand, secretary general of the PPP Jahangir Badr has already expressed his party’s firm resolve to continue dialogue with the PML-N, emphasising that Sharif’s decision to withdraw from the government did not mean a break-up of the coalition.

Badr told IPS: “Even if the Sharif party decides to withdraw its support to the PPP, the government has no problem of survival in the immediate future since, numerically speaking, Prime Minister Gillani will require only ten more supporters in the National Assembly to maintain a simple majority.”

Imran Khan, cricketer- turned-politician and the chief of the Justice Party, said he believes that Zardari is playing a dangerous game by hindering the restoration of deposed judges. He told IPS: “Zardari is playing a triple game of protecting U.S. interests, backing Musharraf’s presidency and getting away with corruption cases against him worth billions of dollars.”

”By siding with a military dictator, the PPP is committing political suicide which, besides affecting its votes, will leave open the way for future coups by the all powerful and equally ambitious Pakistani military establishment,’’ Khan added.

The main beneficiary of the split in the ruling coalition is Musharraf, who, though widely expected to step down from the presidency after the electoral debacle, is now confident of completing his second term.