Friday, May 16, 2008, Jamadi-ul-Awwal 9, 1429    

Pakistan: Enters a new crisis?

Dr Abdul Ruff

Judges in Pakistan seem to have lost heir case. Annoyed with government’s delay tactics on restoration of judges sacked by President Pervez Musharraf during last year’s emergency, Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PMLN), a key constituent of Pakistan’s ruling coalition, decided on 12 May to withdraw its Ministers from the Cabinet. However the coalition partners have, albeit for the time being, have averted any explosive crisis with the PMLN deciding to continue to support the government from outside. The decision comes after the PML-N’s Parliamentary party and central working committee meetings in Islamabad, both deliberated the contentious issue at length and the possible fallout of PMLN’s withdrawal from the new “democratic” government. This comes after the failure of talks in London between Pakistan People’s Party co-chairman Asif Ali Zardari and PML-N chief Nawaz Sharif and their close aides on May 11 due to differences on the modalities for reinstating the judges.
The controversy has focused on the deposed Chief Justice, Iftikhar Mohammed Chaudhry, officially charged with corruption and nepotism. Chaudhry stepped on a lot of toes while head of the Supreme Court. He held the ruling elite to account. He rattled the security establishment by pursuing the case of the “missing” - alleged terror suspects abducted and held incommunicado by Pakistan’s intelligence services. And he took up legal challenges to President Musharraf’s re-election. That was considered his biggest sin in the eyes of Pakistan’s military establishment. Last November, the president used emergency rule to get rid of him and other troublesome judges. Opposition used the issue during the poll campaign mostly as a powerful weapon against Musharraf. Chaudhry’s critics say he played politics. His supporters say he stood up to interference from a military ruler. For them, his reinstatement has become the symbol of judicial independence. If we compromised on the chief justice then we wouldn’t have a principled stand!” says a former president of the Supreme Court Bar Association. Of course President Musharraf is against this. He fears a reconstituted Supreme Court would rule his election and/or state of emergency unconstitutional.
Although the issue of judges was an emotive case for Sharif to outsmart Musharraf it did catch the national attention. Media have fully focused on that. With the two main parties in Pakistan’s ruling coalition set to miss their 12 May deadline to reach agreement on the reinstatement of Supreme and High Court judges sacked by President Pervez Musharraf under emergency rule last year. And the country’s new, democratically-elected government has vowed to restore the sacked judges. The issue has been dragging on without resolution. The case became a live issue in February’s elections. Former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif staked his campaign on a promise to restore the sacked judges, including the chief justice. To showcase the integrity of the poll promise now Sharif and his Pakistan Muslim League (PML-N) have to deliver.
Sharif is keen to see the judges don’t lose the case. Sharif is counting on the restored judges to get Musharraf out. He’s repeatedly said Musharraf should be impeached. The president has been weakened, but he’s not ready to go just yet. According to reports Musharraf is prepared to give up certain of his powers if the authority of the chief justice is also clipped. Political sources say Musharraf’s strongest backers - the Americans and the army - think that’s a fair trade.
There are two sets of known deals among Pakistan’s politicians; one between Musharraf and PPP and another between PMLN and PPP, both contradicting to one another. Under the terms of the deal, the then General Musharraf was to grant senior PPP leaders amnesty from corruption charges, step down as army chief and allow the party to contest relatively free and fair elections. In exchange, Benazir Bhutto agreed to support him as a civilian president. Since President Musharraf delivered his side of the bargain, there is pressure on Ms Bhutto’s widower, Asif Zardari, to deliver hers. A peaceful transition from military to civilian rule was part of a Western-backed plan that brought the PPP’s late leader Benazir Bhutto back from exile last year. Certainly, the PPParty doesn’t want any more political turmoil. “We need to be sure that we don’t plunge Pakistan into another constitutional crisis that will lead to further instability and chaos,” says a PPP spokesperson. “We are going to see to it that we pursue the policies of moderation and a peaceful transition.” But many believe there’s more to it than that.
There’s been an understanding between Pervez Musharraf and Asif Zardari on the one hand, and on the other, between Zardari and Nawaz Sharif. The understanding between the latter is that the judges would be restored, and the understanding between the former is that Musharraf would continue as president, but there is a complex contradiction between the two.” Zardari has accused Iftikhar Chaudhry of complicity in a campaign to victimize him while imprisoned on what he says were trumped up murder and corruption charges in the 1990s and early part of this decade. He’s also said he remains committed to his pledge to reinstate the judges. In the corridors of power, however, negotiations are underway to find a compromise formula without disturbing Musharraf and re-instating the judges. There are tortuous discussions in political circles in the country to try and square the circle, to reach a compromise that’s “acceptable to all the stakeholders.
Of course, the latest development was not entirely unexpected given the firm attitude projected by PMLN, which is still harping on ousting President Musharraf. The deadlock could not be broken even by the intervention of US Assistant Secretary of State Richard Boucher, who made a stopover in London on his way back home from Bangladesh to hold separate meetings with Sharif and Zardari. Boucher “favored the idea of keeping the PPP-PML-N coalition intact”.
That is indeed a difficult task in Today’s Pakistan, where every one seems to be sticking to his own guns. Embarrassment in both PMLN and PPP camps is understandable. But Pakistan has to overcome the status of turmoil and move forward to strengthen the country in all respects, especially when its neighbor India has been busy testing more and more high precision missiles, nuclear-enabled inclusive, to cover a range of up to 5000 km. The current critical development could be a great relief and a much needed short in arms for Musharraf who seems to be ready with counter-action if the government gets the judges re-instated and tried to remove him from presidency.
Further, the ongoing reform mood initiated by Premier Gilani could not be let derailed by any untoward political crisis in Pakistan and he should be given enough support to go ahead and give fruits from his sincere efforts to uplift Pakistan. By all probability, then, PPP and PMLN would continue to cooperate with each other on major national issues, even though the latter is now officially out of the Cabinet. A compromise seems to be possible among the stakeholdrs of politics in Pakistan.