Pakistani Politics

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton told Pakistan’s president and opposition leader over the weekend U.S. aid could be at risk unless they defused a crisis over a top judge, U.S. officials said on Monday.

In a surprise move, Pakistan’s government announced on Monday it would reinstate Iftikhar Chaudhry as chief justice, aiming to defuse a crisis and end protests by lawyers and activists that threatened to turn violent.

The officials said Clinton telephoned on Saturday both President Asif Ali Zardari and his rival, former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, who had backed the anti-government lawyers.

The officials said Clinton, who coordinated with British Foreign Secretary David Miliband, had exerted strong pressure for a deal.

Clinton told reporters the decision to reinstate Chaudhry was a first step for much-needed reconciliation and political compromise in Pakistan.

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The people heaved a sigh of relief as Prime Minister Syed Yousuf Raza Gilani announced the restoration of Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry and other deposed judges early Monday morning.

The announcement was hailed with massive celebrations by cheering crowds throughout the country. Soon afterwards, PML-N Quaid Nawaz Sharif, in consultation with the leaders of the lawyers’ community, the Jamaat-e-Islami (JI), the PTI and other parties, called off the long march and the proposed sit-in. This resulted in removal of containers, trucks and other hurdles, which were erected on highways and roads, particularly in the twin cities of Rawalpindi and Islamabad.

Like other parts of the country, Section 144 was also lifted from the twin cities and detention orders of political workers and leaders of the lawyers’ community were withdrawn. The celebrations had started even earlier, since midnight when Geo News aired the breaking news about government’s decision to restore the sacked judges. Viewers, gripped by suspense, remained glued to their TV screens till 6 am, when the chief executive of the country delivered his speech. Normalcy gradually returned to the twin cities where the stage was set for a final showdown and the two cities were turned into prisons for the residents.

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President Asif Zardari says he was only waiting for the retirement of Justice Abdul Hameed Dogar before restoring Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry as the chief justice.

The president told this scribe on Monday evening: “I never said that I am against Justice Iftikhar. I was only waiting for the retirement of Justice Abdul Hameed Dogar, who took oath as the chief justice in the Musharraf regime. Dogar will retire on March 21 and Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry will become the chief justice again in his place. I had made it clear on March 9, 2008 after signing the Murree Declaration that no sitting judge would be disturbed. I said it in the presence of Nawaz Sharif to the media and that was why I never disturbed Dogar.”

He said: “It was a small thing but this small thing exposed many big people.” Zardari was more concerned about some people from his own party who resigned from their ministries last week rather than his political brother Nawaz Sharif. He recited the verse of poet Khatir Ghaznawi: “Go zara si baat par barson kay yaraney gaey, Lekin itna to hua kuch log pehchaney gaey!”

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PML-N leaders Mian Nawaz Sharif and Mian Shahbaz Sharif congratulated Prime Minister Syed Yousuf Raza Gilani on Monday afternoon on his historic decision to save the system by restoring the judges and releasing political prisoners.

It was the first formal contact of Nawaz and Shahbaz with the PM after the announcement of restoration of the pre-November 3 judiciary. The prime minister told them that the PPP was committed to the promises made under the Charter of Democracy of which Shaheed Benazir Bhutto and Mian Nawaz Sharif were the signatories.

Gilani said the government had fulfilled the commitment of Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto Shaheed and the PPP Co-chairman, President Asif Ali Zardari. “My government stands for strengthening the institutions and wishes to take all parties along on this matter.”

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President Supreme Court Bar Association (SCBA) Ali Ahmed Kurd said on Friday he, along with lawyers, will continue to stage sit-in at the border of Sindh and Balochistan provinces until the lawyers’ caravan is allowed to enter Sindh through Jacobabad and refused to accept the offer to enter alone.

Talking to media at Sindh/Balochistan border Kurd said entering into Sindh province is our fundamental democratic right and we are fully backed by long march participants in our resolve to stage sit-in, right from here.

“The lawyers’ long march aimed at the restoration of powerful, independent judiciary and against the November 3 decisions,” he maintained adding, “We strongly deplore the violence being perpetrated on the participants of lawyers’ long march across county.”

Ali Ahmed Kurd said, “The government of Sindh was formed due to lawyers’ movement but Sindh government, in exchange, returned the fruits in form of lawyers’ arrests. We remained peaceful throughout our journey from Quetta and did not take law into our hands”, he underlined.

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Pakistan Army Chief General Ashfaq Parvez Kayani has asked Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani to defuse the current political situation and the PM is about to undo “all the wrongs” in a grand historic move to make his place in history.

This is the gist of what PM Gilani told a group of senators during a private talk. He told them he wanted to “decisively deliver” in the present crisis even if he might have to lose his coveted post.

“Prime ministers come and go, but what they do remains in the annals of history. I want to do something worthwhile to break the prevailing logjam,” an outgoing senator quoted Gilani as telling him.

He was sitting beside the prime minister at a meeting with outgoing Senate Chairman Mohammadmian Soomro at Wednesday night’s dinner for the retiring senators at the Prime Minister’s House.

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The government on Thursday could not stop the long march as lawyers and opposition activists kicked off their protest from Quetta and Karachi simultaneously while in the Sindh capital the police baton-charged the marchers and arrested them.

Despite threats from the government, Supreme Court Bar Association (SCBA) President Ali Ahmed Kurd led the long march from Quetta. Over 500 lawyers and workers of different political parties started from the District Courts at 12:00 pm.

A number of local leaders and workers of different political parties including Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N), Pashtoonkhwa Milli Awami Party (PkMAP), Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam (Nazrayati), Jamaat-e-Islami, Tehreek-e-Insaaf, National Party, trade union activists and civil society representatives were among those who gave the lawyers a warm send-off.

“Our long march will be peaceful, and it will culminate in sit-in on the Constitution Avenue,” vowed Ali Ahmed Kurd while delivering a speech at the start of the long march in his traditional revolutionary style.

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PML-N Quaid Mian Nawaz Sharif has asked Prime Minister Syed Yusuf Raza Gilani to play his role and convince President Asif Ali Zardari to defuse the prevailing tension by restoring Pre-November 3 judiciary.

Talking at “Aaj Kamran Khan Kay Saath” programme of Geo TV on Thursday, Mian Nawaz Sharif said that if the prime minister wished he could restore pre-November 3 judiciary. “The nation and the opposition would support the prime minister whatever steps he takes for restoration of the judges,” he said, adding that now its time that the prime minister should play his role. He said the premier should take clear-cut decision before the long march in the best interests of the nation.

Nawaz said the prime minister was a sincere man and there was no doubt on his intention. “Although the prime minister does not have all the powers, but he has the power to restore the deposed judges and sack the PCO judges,” he added.

He said that if President Zardari was not ready to take this decision due to his personal agenda, the prime minister should do it now, and he should not worry about his premiership as “we are with him”.

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Pakistan People’s Party’s Farooq Hameed Naek and Jan Muhammad Jamali of the Pakistan Muslim League-Quaid were elected unopposed as the chairman and deputy chairman of the Senate, respectively here on Thursday, as Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain decided at the eleventh hour not to contest the election.

Some diehard anti-PPP senators, strongly opposed to the unopposed election of the PPP candidate as the chairman, wanted someone from their side to contest the top post, but failed to force the leadership to review the decision taken in the Parliament House in the chamber of the outgoing Leader of the Opposition in the Senate Kamil Ali Agha, insiders told The News.

Presiding Officer Syed Tahir Hussain Mashhadi administered oath to Naek after announcing on the floor of the House that he had been elected unopposed. The new chairman administered oath to the deputy chairman-elect.

Prime Minister Syed Yousuf Raza Gilani was given the vote of confidence by all the parties in the National Assembly last year. Despite a seething political crisis, all parties, except for the PML-N which boycotted the polls, participated in the process. The PML-N had backed Jamali’s candidature.

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PML-N leader Nawaz Sharif has accused the government of running an “elected dictatorship” that is plotting to kill him.

Sharif told the British newspaper in an interview that Asif Ali Zardari, the president, was ruling under a cloak of democracy but his policies would only benefit extremist elements.

“I have recently received certain information from own sources, credible sources, about certain forces who are active against me,” Sharif said.

“Threats to my life come from high-ranking government officials, certain topmost people in the government, my sources say.” He declined to give further details.

“The risks are there. I can’t abandon my mission because of the risks. It’s a very noble cause. A mission to put the country back on the road to democracy,” he said