Pakistani Politics

The Marriott attack was actually aimed at parliament where the entire civil and military leadership of the country had gathered, in violation of the security codes, but it was thwarted by the strict security arrangements.

Two security check-posts established on the Constitution Avenue saved the top civil and military leadership of Pakistan gathered in the Parliament House, listening to the first address by President Asif Ali Zardari, top security officials said.

The two security posts were installed on the Constitution Avenue, on the road leading to the Parliament House — one in front of the main gate of the federal secretariat and the other near the Prime Minister Secretariat. These two check-posts were in fact installed on Nov 3rd last, at the time of imposition of emergency. However, security checking at these posts remained tough and soft, depending on situation or intelligence reports.

According to the officials, the checking at these check posts was made very strict on Saturday in view of the presidential address and the presence of the whole national leadership in the Parliament House. These security check-posts were allowing only relevant people to move towards the house on the Constitution Avenue.

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As many as 60 people were killed and scores injured, many of them seriously, in a suicide attack when an explosives-laden truck rammed into the main entrance of the Marriott Hotel here on Saturday hours after President Asif Zardari’s address to parliament. Many analysts have termed the incident the 9/11 of Pakistan.

The intensity of the explosion can be gauged from the fact that it wreaked devastation on the hotel and the shockwaves jolted buildings far and wide. The windowpanes of the adjoining buildings were smashed.

Forty-four bodies had been shifted to different hospitals of the capital till the filing of this report.

The hotel is located in a high security zone as it is surrounded by important buildings. The Parliament House, the Presidency, the Prime Minister House and offices of ministers, judges colony and the colony of a sensitive agency are located near the hotel.

The explosive experts claimed that about 1,000 kg of explosives was used in the terrorist act.

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President Asif Ali Zardari on Saturday showed his willingness to give up his powers while asking parliament to form an all-party committee to revisit the 17th Amendment and Article 58-(2)b of the Constitution.

“Never before in the history of this country a president stood here and given away his powers,” he announced amid loud desk thumping while making his maiden address to the joint sitting of parliament.

The address was a smooth affair. Last time, in January 2004, when ex-president General (retd) Pervez Musharraf made his only address to parliament, he showed the ‘punch’ at the end of his speech but in contrast Asif Ali Zardari, the popularly elected president bowed his head before the elected representatives of the country.

Standing by the side of Shaheed Benazir Bhutto’s picture on the dais, Zardari spoke on the revival of democracy in the country, Pakistan’s security issues, re-naming the NWFP as Pukhtoonkhawa, provincial autonomy, reforming the tribal areas, reforms in FCR laws, and all issues of national importance as well as the challenges facing the country including the war against terror, regional situation, in-camera session of the parliament on security issues, economic downturn, foreign policy and relations with the neighbouring countries.

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President Asif Ali Zardari in a late Saturday night address to the nation reiterated the firm resolve of the government to stand undeterred against terrorism. “The government and the people of Pakistan cannot be terrorized by blasts and such attacks. Nobody will be allowed to challenge democracy, the solidarity of the country and the federation,” he said.

“If the cowards think they can terrorise the government and the people of Pakistan, I state we shall not retreat from fighting terrorism,” he said while referring to the suicide truck blast at the Marriott Hotel.

The president described it as unfortunate that such an act occurred on the day when democracy was restored in the country and an elected president had addressed the joint sitting of parliament. He said the cowards could not digest this and committed this criminal act. He called upon all the political forces in the country to come forward and join the government in fighting terrorism.

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Pakistan People’s Party parliamentary leader in the Punjab Assembly Raja Riaz on Saturday said Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif would not survive if his party pulled out of the alliance.

Talking to The News at the Parliament House after the presidential address, Raja Riaz, who is senior minister in the Punjab government, said they were maintaining the status quo.

He confidently said the chief minister would not be able to maintain simple majority if the PPP was compelled to withdraw from the provincial government.

“Well, we believe in stability and continuity of the system, that is why we are not going to withdraw despite consistent calls by our friends in the PML-N,” the PPP leader said.

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He is yet to take the presidential oath but Asif Ali Zardari showed he means business on Sunday when he stopped millions of Pakistanis from having a day off in his honour.

Zardari won a two-third majority in a secret ballot among lawmakers on Saturday.But the 53-year-old’s popularity in his home province of Sindh may have taken a dent after he cancelled a celebratory public holiday planned there for Monday.

“The government withdrew the notification about declaring Monday as a holiday after Asif Ali Zardari said it was not the time to go on holiday but to work hard and solve the people’s problems,” Provincial Minister Waqar Mehdi told AFP.

“He directed us that there is enough work to do and a lot of problems to solve, which needs little leisure and more work. That’s why the government withdrew the holiday notice,” he added.

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President-elect Asif Ali Zardari is determined to form a national government at the centre to bring political stability to the country, although a hawkish section among the PPP, led by Punjab Governor Salmaan Taseer, is putting a lot of pressure on him to move a no-confidence motion against Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif.

Zardari wants a broad-based national government at the centre, not only with ministers from the PPP, ANP and JUI-F, but also from the PML-N and MQM. He is sure that a broad-based national government will be able to stabilise the country in a very short time. The president is also keen to appoint new governors in the NWFP and Balochistan shortly after consulting the coalition partners.

The presidential election on September 6 proved that the PPP government at the Centre can survive without the help of the PML-N and the PML-N government in Punjab can survive without the support of the PPP. Although both Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani and Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif enjoy a simple majority in their own houses, they cannot make any big change in the lives of Pakistanis without the support of each other. The PPP government still needs the support of the PML-N in the National Assembly if it wants to go for any constitutional amendments.

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The presidential election in the NWFP Assembly exposed the existing mistrust among the coalition partners and gross mismanagement inside the provincial assembly where all the ruling alliance legislators had to show their marked ballot papers to the appointed monitors before casting their votes.

This practice continued in the presence of the presiding officer who was none other than the chief justice of the Peshawar High Court. Despite all the arrangements and pledges, the ruling alliance lost two votes. The alliance nominee, Asif Ali Zardari secured 107 votes out of the 124-member house while the existing strength of the ruling alliance in NWFP is 109 including ANP 48, PPP 30, JUI 14 and PPP-S 5 and 12 independents.

The ruling alliance forced its legislators to show their marked votes despite making tall claims to maintain sanctity of the election. This factor made it evident that the leadership lacked trust in their own elected representatives and very few among the lawmakers reportedly objected to the process of showing marked ballot papers to the two nominees of both the major parties–the ANP’s Information Minister Mian Iftikhar Hussain and PPP’s Health Minister Syed Zahir Ali Shah.

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