Pakistan President faces tougher times ahead
Monday, 23 July 2007
Farhan Bokhari in Islamabad and Jo Johnson in New Delhi
GENERAL Pervez Musharraf's hopes to have himself re-elected as Pakistan's president in uniform later this year have been plunged into doubt by the Supreme Court's 10-3 decision to re-instate Pakistan's most senior judge, Iftikhar Chaudhry.
"He can no longer be sure that the Supreme Court will be a doormat," G. Parthasarathy, a former Indian high commissioner to Pakistan, says. "His plan to wear a uniform indefinitely is as good as over."
The Supreme Court's verdict that Gen Musharraf acted illegally in summarily suspending Mr Chaudhry from his duties as chief justice on March 9 marks a historic moment for the Pakistani judiciary, lawyers say.
"It's what the nation wanted," Salman Akram Raja, a partner at the Lahore law firm, Zafar, Iqbal & Raja, says. "Throughout Pakistan's history we've been waiting for this institution to stand up for itself. This is the biggest judgment in our history."
Over the past four months, by refusing to bow to the military, Mr Chaudhry has become a popular hero in Pakistan, where the judiciary has lost prestige by providing a legal cloak to successive coups d'état and by legitimising the army's role in politics.
"This judgment is going to go a long way to restore confidence of the common man in the judiciary," Saeed-uz-Zaman Siddiqui, a former chief justice, says. "It is a turning point perhaps for the judiciary as an independent organ of the government."
Asma Jehangir, a leading human rights lawyer and co-founder of the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan, says the country has regained a sense of dignity and shown that "guns and intimidation" would not cow a nascent civil society.
"This verdict presents a very new direction for Pakistan, a welcome direction for Pakistan. There is also encouragement for political parties to stop backing Musharraf and to force him to leave his uniform."
The new mood will make it hard for Benazir Bhutto, the leader of the Pakistan People's party, to strike a deal with Gen Musharraf whereby he remains president and she returns to Pakistan to seek a third term as prime minister. Ms Bhutto faces corruption charges in Pakistan.
The return of the independent-minded chief justice could thwart Gen Musharraf's plans to circumvent constitutional provisions requiring him to step out of uniform by the end of the year. Rules in the constitution that Gen Musharraf has either ignored or circumvented since his 1999 coup include those barring a serving army chief from holding public office and from standing for election within two years of giving up the post.
The top judge had alarmed the president's advisers by taking an independent stand on some controversial cases. They believed his taste for publicity might jeopardise the general's carefully crafted re-election plans.
By accepting that there should be an investigation into alleged "disappearances" of terrorism suspects and by reversing the privatisation of a large steel mill, Mr Chaudhry appeared to have overstepped the mark.
Gen Musharraf's ham-fisted reaction - Mr Chaudhry was summoned to his camp-office in the garrison town of Rawalpindi to be declared "non-functional" -- reflected unease before elections due later this year.
The terms of the legal reference against Mr Chaudhry had accused him of abusing his position as chief justice and seeking personal benefits from his position.
Opposition politicians and Mr Chaudhry's lawyers say that by changing the chief justice, the military had hoped to pack the court with dependable judges who would reject legal challenges to Gen Musharraf's plan to be re-elected president.
They say the military wanted a new chief justice to give his re-election a veneer of constitutionality, enabling a US administration that has made democracy the cornerstone of its foreign policy to continue backing a military dictatorship.
GENERAL Pervez Musharraf's hopes to have himself re-elected as Pakistan's president in uniform later this year have been plunged into doubt by the Supreme Court's 10-3 decision to re-instate Pakistan's most senior judge, Iftikhar Chaudhry.
"He can no longer be sure that the Supreme Court will be a doormat," G. Parthasarathy, a former Indian high commissioner to Pakistan, says. "His plan to wear a uniform indefinitely is as good as over."
The Supreme Court's verdict that Gen Musharraf acted illegally in summarily suspending Mr Chaudhry from his duties as chief justice on March 9 marks a historic moment for the Pakistani judiciary, lawyers say.
"It's what the nation wanted," Salman Akram Raja, a partner at the Lahore law firm, Zafar, Iqbal & Raja, says. "Throughout Pakistan's history we've been waiting for this institution to stand up for itself. This is the biggest judgment in our history."
Over the past four months, by refusing to bow to the military, Mr Chaudhry has become a popular hero in Pakistan, where the judiciary has lost prestige by providing a legal cloak to successive coups d'état and by legitimising the army's role in politics.
"This judgment is going to go a long way to restore confidence of the common man in the judiciary," Saeed-uz-Zaman Siddiqui, a former chief justice, says. "It is a turning point perhaps for the judiciary as an independent organ of the government."
Asma Jehangir, a leading human rights lawyer and co-founder of the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan, says the country has regained a sense of dignity and shown that "guns and intimidation" would not cow a nascent civil society.
"This verdict presents a very new direction for Pakistan, a welcome direction for Pakistan. There is also encouragement for political parties to stop backing Musharraf and to force him to leave his uniform."
The new mood will make it hard for Benazir Bhutto, the leader of the Pakistan People's party, to strike a deal with Gen Musharraf whereby he remains president and she returns to Pakistan to seek a third term as prime minister. Ms Bhutto faces corruption charges in Pakistan.
The return of the independent-minded chief justice could thwart Gen Musharraf's plans to circumvent constitutional provisions requiring him to step out of uniform by the end of the year. Rules in the constitution that Gen Musharraf has either ignored or circumvented since his 1999 coup include those barring a serving army chief from holding public office and from standing for election within two years of giving up the post.
The top judge had alarmed the president's advisers by taking an independent stand on some controversial cases. They believed his taste for publicity might jeopardise the general's carefully crafted re-election plans.
By accepting that there should be an investigation into alleged "disappearances" of terrorism suspects and by reversing the privatisation of a large steel mill, Mr Chaudhry appeared to have overstepped the mark.
Gen Musharraf's ham-fisted reaction - Mr Chaudhry was summoned to his camp-office in the garrison town of Rawalpindi to be declared "non-functional" -- reflected unease before elections due later this year.
The terms of the legal reference against Mr Chaudhry had accused him of abusing his position as chief justice and seeking personal benefits from his position.
Opposition politicians and Mr Chaudhry's lawyers say that by changing the chief justice, the military had hoped to pack the court with dependable judges who would reject legal challenges to Gen Musharraf's plan to be re-elected president.
They say the military wanted a new chief justice to give his re-election a veneer of constitutionality, enabling a US administration that has made democracy the cornerstone of its foreign policy to continue backing a military dictatorship.