SC takes up PCO judges issue today

ISLAMABAD: New tensions between the executive and judiciary may surface on Friday when a five-judge bench of the Supreme Court will review implementation of its May 18 verdict which had ordered the government to de-notify five superior court judges for taking oath under the Provisional Constitution Order (PCO). The court had given the government till July 26 to implement the orders.

The bench, headed by Chief Justice Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry, comprises Justice Mian Shakirullah Jan, Justice Tassaduq Hussain Jillani, Justice Sarmad Jalal Osmany and Justice Amir Hani Muslim. Attorney General Maulvi Anwarul Haq and the law secretary are likely to appear before the court.
The (PCO) judges are still part of the judiciary but are dysfunctional and required to be de-notified in accordance with the court orders. They are: Justices Syed Shabbar Raza Rizvi, Hasnat Ahmed Khan, Syed Hamid Ali Shah and Syed Sajjad Hussain Shah of the Lahore High Court and Justice Ms Yasmeen Abbasey of the Sindh High Court.
The court set the July 26 deadline for the implementation of its judgment after Law Secretary Masood Chishty had been summoned by one of its judges last month and asked to suggest to the government in clear terms to take a final decision on the matter.
Consequently, the secretary sent a summary to the prime minister seeking de-notification of the PCO judges, but so far no decision has been taken.
Talking to this correspondent, a government official rejected a perception that there would be another confrontation between the executive and judiciary and said the judges would be de-notified the moment the prime minister approved the summary.
He said that since the government had not filed a review petition against the May 18 judgment, it was in the field and needed to be implemented. He said the government might seek some more time.
The Supreme Court ruled on May 18 that the dysfunctional judges had ceased to hold their offices after the passage of 18th and 19th Amendments. It said the PCO 2007 read with Oath of (Judges) Order 2007 had already been declared unconstitutional by the Supreme Court through a July 31, 2009, order on a Sindh High Court Bar Association`s petition. “Thus no immunity is available to them,” it said. The court had also sent references back to the government forwarded to the Supreme Judicial Council under Article 209 of the Constitution which provided the only legal way to send judges home. The court observed that since these judges had been declared as not being judges, they could not be removed through the SJC and that they could be charged with committing contempt of the court — a defence the dysfunctional judges were banking on by pleading that a judge could not charge another judge with contempt.

PPP suspends Enver Baig’s membership

ISLAMABAD: Former PPP senator Enver Baig has paid a heavy price apparently for meeting PML-N chief Nawaz Sharif and got his basic membership of the party suspended.
“Your basic membership of the party is suspended for working against party’s interest and policy,” says the suspension notice issued on Thursday to Mr Baig by the leadership through PPP Islamabad district president and Leader of the House in Senate Nayyar Bokhari within 24 hours of his meeting with Mr Sharif in Raiwind.
The action against Mr Baig is in sharp contrast to the party’s lenient view of a similar ‘offence’ committed by heavyweight Shah Mahmood Qureshi.
Mr Baig, it may be mentioned, had played a significant role in finalisation of a deal between former prime minister Benazir Bhutto and the United States, eventually leading to her return to the country in 2007.
The notice issued on Thursday restrains him from representing the party at any forum, but gives him a chance to “file an appeal to the highest forum in the party”.
Although the suspension notice has no mention of Mr Baig’s meeting with Mr Sharif, sources in the PPP told Dawn that the leadership had taken the decision to pre-empt the former senator’s possible move to announce joining the PML-N.
The sources said it was not for the first time that Mr Baig had met Mr Sharif without seeking permission from the party high command.
Previously, they said, the leadership had shown leniency, but after his second meeting it had no option but to take the extreme step.
But the PPP has so far been quiet about a similar meeting that former foreign minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi held with Mr Sharif last month.
“Ask the PPP Punjab president about it,” said Nayyar Bokhari when asked why did the party act differently when Mr Baig called on the PML-N leader.
When contacted, Mr Baig said he was surprised to know that his membership had been suspended without mentioning any specific reason. He said he would not file an appeal but would definitely give a ‘befitting’ written reply and ask the leadership to come up with the charge-sheet against him.
Mr Baig claimed that he had met Mr Sharif to discuss the political situation in the country with particular reference to violence in Karachi, the general law and order situation, price-hike and alleged rampant corruption in almost every government department.
Sources close to Mr Baig told Dawn that the former senator had been sidelined by Mr Zardari and was not given the party ticket in the 2009 Senate elections mainly because of his all-out support for Makhdoom Amin Fahim’s candidature for the post of prime minister after the 2008 elections.
Mr Zardari, the sources said, was not happy with Mr Baig for having lobbied for Mr Fahim and arranging his meetings with US and other western diplomats at his residence.
The sources said Mr Baig was disheartened when Mr Fahim became a federal minister and abandoned his long friendship.
After getting disappointed by the leadership’s behaviour and constantly getting a cold shoulder from Mr Zardari, the sources said, Mr Baig was now seriously exploring other options to continue his political career and planning to join the PML-N in the hope of getting a ticket for next year’s Senate polls.
Some sections in the PPP are wondering how Mr Shah Mehmood Qureshi survived in the party despite having declared an ‘open war’ against the leadership.
One PPP leader said it appeared that the party high command was reluctant to take action because of Mr Qureshi’s links with the establishment and the damage his expulsion could cause.
The party’s parliamentarians in Punjab at a meeting in Lahore last month had passed a unanimous resolution demanding immediate suspension of the basic membership of Mr Qureshi for meeting Mr Sharif without the permission of the leadership.
Mr Baig is not the first prominent member to be shown the door for allegedly violating party discipline. Earlier, the membership of Senator Safdar Abbasi, Naheed Khan, former political secretary to Ms Bhutto, former minister of state for law Afzal Sandhu and Dr Israr Shah was suspended for various reasons.
A show-cause notice was issued to former information minister Sherry Rehman for participating in talk shows on a private TV channel in violation of the party’s decision to boycott the said channel.
Ms Rehman, who once held the information offices of both the party and the government, was sidelined also for quitting the federal cabinet during the movement for the reinstatement of deposed judges, including Chief Justice Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry

MNAs suggest unity among political parties for Karachi peace

ISLAMABAD: Members of different political parties in the National Assembly on Friday recommended unity and harmony among all the political parties on all national issues to remove ethnic, sectarian and political divides in Karachi and in other parts of the country.
Taking part in the debate, PML-N leader Shireen Arshad said Karachi was the economic hub of the country but unfortunately the law and order situation in the city was not under the provincial government’s control.
She said indiscriminate action should be taken against criminal elements and assassins. They should be punished in public so that they become an example for others, she said.
Ms Arshad said all political and religious parties would have to join hands against anti-state elements and criminals to establish lasting peace in Karachi.
She recommended modern training for the police force and the Rangers and provision of state of the art weapons to them.
MQM MNA Abdul Wasim said terrorism, price hike, inflation, unemployment and poverty were the main causes of unrest in Karachi and other parts of the country.
He said time had come to address the issues and problems of the masses especially the poor.
The parliamentarian deplored that feudal lords and rich segments of the society wanted to rule the country without giving opportunity to intellectuals, scholars, professionals and experts.
Laiq Mohammad Khan criticised the government for not apprehending and punishing the assassins of former premier Benazir Bhutto and questioned that if the government could not arrest the killers of Ms Bhutto, how would it establish its writ in the country.
He suggested that heads of all political parties would have to leave all their political activities and sit together to explore measures for durable peace in Karachi.
Hayat Khan said anti-state elements are endeavouring to divide Karachi ethnically and to destroy the economic hub of the country with an aim to destabilising Pakistan.
He said anti-state elements term each and every killing as ‘target’ killing just to create a sense of panic and hate among different segments of society.

Mr Khan further said that all political parties needed to rise above party politics and sit together for a peaceful Karachi.

SC hears PCO judges case

ISLAMABAD: The Supreme Court of Pakistan (SC) heard the case pertaining to the non-implementation of its verdict in the PCO judges case Friday, Geo News reported. A five-member bench of the apex court headed by Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammed Chaudhry heard the case, while the federation was represented by Senator Babar Awan.
Awan informed the court that a summary in regards to the PCO judges had been sent to the Prime Minister, to which the Chief Justice replied that this was a court order and required no summary.
The Chief Justice remarked that he would not allow the authority of the court to be unsuccessful and directed that the Prime Minister issues the notification today (Friday).
Babar Awan informed the court that the Prime Minister was not in Islamabad and requested two days time. The Supreme Court summoned the law secretary and attorney general and gave the government time till August 9.
In its May 18 decision, the Supreme Court had declared that seven High Court judges who had taken oath under the PCO were never judges. The government had assured the court that it would implement this decision but despite this assurance the judges were never de-notified.

No Taliban shura in Quetta, Raisani tells Munter

QUETTA: Chief Minister Balochistan Nawab Aslam Raisani on Thursday said that there was no Taliban shura (council) in Quetta, DawnNews reported.

Mullah Omar and Ayman al-Zwahiri are not in Pakistan, Mr Raisani said in a meeting with US Ambassador to Pakistan Cameron Munter.
Both Mr Raisani and Mr Munter agreed that a peaceful and prosperous Pakistan was in the region’s interest.
Regarding the issue of missing persons, Mr Raisani expressed his anxiety and said that the issue could lead to hostility between the parties. He further said that the government should bring the disgruntled groups in the national fold.
Mr Raisani also referred to recent sectarian attacks in the province and said those attempting to spark sectarian tensions in the region would not be allowed to succeed

Zardari khappay

I am going to attempt doing something that many folks from the class that I belong to (urban middle-class), can’t imagine doing. I am going to praise President Zardari.

 Forget about praise, my class contemporaries don’t even bother to give him a fair critique. This is all the more baffling because in spite of the fact that these men and women are always ready to offer an objective critique of the Taliban and assorted extremists, they just cramp up when it comes to a man who may be controversial, but does not go around murdering innocent people in mosques and bazaars.
 Maybe he should start doing that – along with, of course, mixing his Edward Said and Chomsky with Mawddudi and Syed Qutb. This is bound to bag him a sympathetic trial from our oh-so-occidental, urban talking heads.
 The president I am sure is least bothered by what this section of the middle-classes have to say about him. Because how much do they mean to the on-the-ground dynamics of the kind of populist democracy that takes place in this country?
 Secondly, how many of these thousands are actually potential voters? Very few. In fact most of them find the whole idea of taking part in an election rather off-putting. The elections are never fair, y’know. 
 Nevertheless, some ‘adults’ among them have found a platform in the electronic and print media where they peddle fancy theories as startling facts and package the act of inhabited hatred towards the president as something to do with their concern for Pakistan’s moral wellbeing and sovereignty.
 The funny thing is, even though many of them have often been caught out churning out barefaced fibs and delusions, they soldier on. Losing face is never an impediment.
 But then Zardari also soldiers on. Some of his most vocal opponents too have begun to grudgingly admire his survival instincts; instincts that are a sublime mixture of astute Machiavellianism, hawkeyed pragmatism and some simple street-smartness.
 Yes, but what about things like vision?
 Well, in Pakistan (so far), any government that comes in through a democratic process has to be at its Machiavellian best to ward off the usual diatribes and manoeuvres that it has to face from what we call the ‘establishment’, and from political instruments that may not have any electoral attraction but do tend to generate enough nuisance value through the media.
 Sure this PPP-led coalition government is certainly not the most visionary thing to happen to Pakistan. But what gets lost in all the knee-jerk whining one gets to hear in urban middle-class drawing rooms and TV studious is the fact that Zardari and co. have actually managed to turn politics in this country on its head – for good.
 The concept of reconciliatory politics indicated as a thought by late Benazir Bhutto some five years ago and then first exemplified through the historic meetings between Benazir and Nawaz Sharif, is today a living, working reality.
 So what if PML-N is no more a part of it, and there is growing tension between PPP, ANP and MQM? This does not reflect a failure of the said thought and action.
 In fact it has set a positive precedent for the coming governments in a country where the whole concept of single party majority rule is now an almost implausible outcome.
 Coalition governments are the future and this government, like it or not, is setting the pattern where coalitions would be formed by mainstream parties and not by any benevolent military dictator cherry-picking his way into the parliament with the help of electoral rejects, sell-outs and assorted disgruntles.
 Unfortunately, since we are a nation that is always late to count our blessings, the media failed to grasp this aspect of new democratic politics in the country by still ‘analyzing’ it through the tainted glasses prepared by the ‘establishment’ and its political, economic and religious lackeys in the 1990s.
 They fail to notice that it is due to this reconciliatory politics that the PPP’s infamous Bhutto ego of going it alone was actually put aside – an event that has done wonders to make parties like the MQM and ANP retain their membership in the PPP-led coalition for far much longer than was expected.
 It is also this brand of politics that has made PML-N’s leadership to refuse spoiling its hands with another round of musical chairs so lovingly orchestrated by the figurative establishment and so obsessively enjoyed and contemplated by a section of the media.
 Of course PML-N would like to see the demise of Zardari’s rule, but it won’t be playing ball with any cherry-pickers, especially those still under the delusion and impression that the world awaits another (self-claimed) messiah in Pakistan. It doesn’t. The messiah cannot escape the election process anymore. He will have to dirty his hands with ballot ink like everybody else.
 The PPP, like any other party, is not beyond criticism. But the way some sections of the media have gone about attacking its every move, this is not criticism, its sheer harassment.
 The PPP-led government wasn’t handed a land blooming with a hundred flowers. Any government would have struggled in the current scenario. The current version of the party, in spite of being at the helm of a country boiling with an unprecedented number of problems, is still in a good position to formulate a lot of policies that, say, the PPP government under BB couldn’t.
 For this it must continue to engage with parties like the ANP, MQM and PML-N. In fact, it already is.
 The current PPP-led government still has a lot of potential, even if there are now more chances of early general elections.
 So, more than just concentrating on survival, this government has to come out with some bold decisions, especially in the context of what this country has been facing in the name of economics, religion, crime and governance. And though I am not an economist, I believe this government has handled the situation the best way one could in this environment. I mean how differently would any other party have acted when in 2008 the country’s economy went kaput?
 It’s very easy to chant slogans about self-reliance, but even an economic novice like me realizes that a bankrupt and defaulting Pakistan would be ten times more dangerous, chaotic and bloody than it already is.
 It is political parties like PPP, PML-N, MQM and ANP that hold the key to a better, more stable and tolerant Pakistan. Not the military, mullah and the right-wing media that the middle-classes keep calling and falling for

Balochistan is of importance for US: Munter

QUETTA: US Ambassador Cameron Munter said Pakistan and specially Balochistan is of importance for them and US would continue to work for strengthening democracy in the country, Geo News reported.
He was talking to media after a meeting with Balochistan Assembly Speaker Mohammad Aslam Bhootani here today. Munter noted that we US would always be there whenever needed.
'People of Balochiatan are very hospitable and I have always receive respect by them.' He told journalists that US would cooperate in Balochistan's water and energy projects.

In meeting with Speaker Aslam Bhootani, they discussed matters of mutual interests.