Zardari was adamant till the 11th hour
Friday, February 19, 2010
By Tariq Butt
ISLAMABAD: Even until the famous 11th hour, just before the prime minister-chief justice talks, a belligerent and obstinate President Asif Ali Zardari was fuming and telling Barrister Aitzaz Ahsan that he would never accept the SC proposals and would keep fighting and face all the consequences.
Presidential sources said about two hours before the crucial PM-CJ meeting began on Wednesday; Zardari was furious, adamant and unrepentant, refusing to accept any compromise or a U-turn on the critical issue.
Barrister Aitzaz Ahsan, who infused sanity and sense in the highest official quarters to break the logjam because the governments stand was unconstitutional and illegal, had a 90-minute meeting with Zardari on Wednesday prior to the premier-chief justice session, but he found him totally inflexible, a presidency source told The News.
Aitzaz Ahsan was not willing to discuss the extremely positive role that he played in breaking the deadlock by explaining to the president and the prime minister that the official stand on the judges appointment was not in accordance with the Constitution and the case law.
But he said on some TV channels that the president and the PM were given wrong advice on the judges issue which was a direct criticism of the trio of legal hardliners who are close to the president.
The presidency source said that Aitzaz Ahsan left the Aiwan-e-Sadr in disbelief and with the fear that the critical prime minister-chief justice meeting taking place two hours after his session with Zardari might collapse.
However, other sources said that Aitzaz Ahsans discussion with Zardari and some subsequent back-to-back sessions of the president with his close aides forced him to change his mind. They compared the presidents rigid stand on the judges appointment against the chief justices recommendations till the last minute with that of his stance on the restoration of the deposed judges in March last year. He finally succumbed both the times.
A Prime Minister House source said that Gilani held telephonic conversations with Aitzaz Ahsan more than once since Saturday to break the standoff over the judges appointment despite the fact that the premier was delivering hard-hitting speeches in the National Assembly.
Gilani was amenable since word go and suggested to everyone, who talked to him for resolving the issue, to go to the presidency and persuade Zardari into accepting the chief justices recommendations, the source said.
Sources said that while on the one hand the presidents hard line legal advisors including Law Minister Dr Babar Awan, Advisor Latif Khosa and Senate Chairman Farooq H Naek kept urging Zardari not to retreat, on the other hand Aitzaz Ahsan tried to prevail upon the prime minister to hurriedly break the ice before it was too late, when the crisis touched its zenith. But no meeting of the hawks and reconciliation seekers was ever held either at the presidency or the Prime Minister House since Saturday, they said.
According to the sources, there was not even a single contact between these two sets of people, belonging to the same party and the government, except a couple of telephonic contacts between Dr Babar Awan and Aitzaz Ahsan to discuss the issue.
Although Attorney General Anwar Mansoor and Aitzaz Ahsan separately held the same opinion, no session between them was held during the days of heightened crisis, sources said. However, the two briefly met for the first time at the dinner hosted by the chief justice in honour of Justice Khalilur Rehman Ramday where the prime minister had also gate-crashed, which finally led to the resolution of the issue.
Saner elements in the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) feel that the judges appointment issue inflicted a massive damage on their party, but say that the final outcome only helped cut political losses and stemmed further deterioration of the executive-judiciary relations.
They say realization dawned upon the government, though belatedly, that it was advisable to appoint the judges now otherwise a more stringent judgment from the Supreme Court was on the cards and then it would be left with no option but to nominate justices precisely as per Justice Iftikhar Chaudhrys recommendations.
Apart from other positive and negative factors that emerged during the prevalent high tension, the tussle between the two dominant groups of lawyers gained an added significance and became more visible.
On one side was the Hamid Khan group, whose candidate, Qazi Anwar, had won as the president of the Supreme Court Bar Association (SCBA) and on the other was Aitzaz Ahsan and others.
The Hamid Khan group was on a collision course with the government for not accepting the chief justices recommendations. But Aitzaz Ahsan was on a conciliatory mission. The SCBA had withdrawn an earlier countrywide strike call on pressure from several prominent lawyers. It had also called for another strike on Thursday to protest the non-acceptance of Justice Iftikhar Chaudhrys recommendations, which was cancelled after the resolution of the issue.
Qazi Anwar, however, clarified that no strike call had been given for Thursday and only resolutions were to be adopted but even that was not needed in the end. It is obvious that the lawyers protest did build up pressure on the government to come to terms.
Zardari was adamant till the 11th hour