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How the troika reached the final decision
Wednesday, March 18, 2009
By Rauf Klasra
ISLAMABAD: The inside story of the troika meeting which finally prevailed upon a defiant President Asif Ali Zardari to restore the judges has been revealed by insiders who say the army chief urgently got intelligence estimates of the number of people in the long march which tilted the balance.
Intelligence reports about the numbers of charged participants accompanying Nawaz Sharif on his way to Islamabad Sunday night were used to “convince” a wavering President Asif Zardari to let Prime Minister Yusuf Raza Gilani announce the immediate restoration of the ousted Chief Justice Iftikhar Chaudhry without any condition.
The large number of long march participants reportedly played a major role even in a review of the secret understanding reached between PML-N and PPP camps — courtesy the US and UK.
According to this understanding, Iftikhar Chaudhry was to be restored for the time being and sent home after a few weeks along with the judges who have taken oath under the PCO as per the Charter of Democracy.
But this understanding had to be scrapped after the intelligence agencies reported that the situation was getting dangerous and it might spin out of control in case the participants managed to reach Islamabad. Thus it was decided to restore Chaudhry as CJ unconditionally.
The dramatic developments that led to the CJ’s restoration started taking place only after 11.30pm (Sunday) when PM Gilani and COAS General Ashfaq Parvez Kayani held crucial talks with President Zardari. Both were said to have spent significant time convincing Zardari to change his mind about the restoration of the chief justice.
Gilani, under mounting pressure from the political forces, civil society and the media to seize the moment, went to the Presidency with the determination to convince Zardari into taking a decision to ease the situation.
Insiders claimed that as the marchers crossed the Ravi bridge, a secret message was conveyed by the “establishment” to the Presidency that in case of trouble in Islamabad and Rawalpindi, army men would not fire on them.
The government must have an alternative plan to deal with any untoward situation, the Presidency was informed. The message also helped the president to take a quick decision on restoring Iftikhar Chaudhry, the sources revealed.
Subsequently, it is learnt, the troika meeting ended on a positive note. Both Gilani and Kayani were in favour of the ousted chief justice’s reinstatement, with the former committing to restore the judges. Kayani was reportedly surprised to see Gilani taking charge of the situation at the meeting and arguing forcefully with Zardari.
Gilani acknowledged the time had come for the PPP to honour the commitment of Benazir Bhutto on the one hand and defuse the explosive situation on the other. But the president was not convinced with the “rhetoric” of his PM, supported by the COAS.
According to credible information, as the meeting started, both the PM Gilani and General Kayani were found to be in strong favour of restoration of chief justice and were speaking the same language. PM Gilani took charge of the proceedings as he committed himself to restore the CJ. Gilani was said to be “straight, argumentative, firm and confident” during his interaction with President Zardari on the issue of restoration of the judiciary.
However, president was said to be not convinced with the “rhetoric” of his PM as it was nothing new for him. However, General Kayani openly sided with PM Gilani during the debate.
President Zardari was of the view that he had got reports from the Intelligence Bureau (IB), which had put the number of the marchers on the lower side. Mr Zardari was of the view that how could the government be forced to take the decision to restore the CJ only on the basis of a few thousand people accompanying former Prime Minister Nawaz.
He believed that the numbers of crowd would go down, as the procession would proceed during its 300 km long journey to Islamabad. Upon this, sources said, it was decided that instead of only relying on the report of IB, the best course could be to also seek guidance from the reports of Military Intelligence and ISI.
Consequently, the secret reports of these two secret intelligent agencies were immediately sought in the meeting. These secret reports clearly rejected the estimates of number of people given in the IB reports, as both the reports put the numbers on the alarmingly higher side with the observations that as the long march would proceed towards Islamabad, more people would continue to join and at one stage, it would become practically difficult for the administration to manage the charged crowd.
The sources said after consulting these three reports of the intelligence agencies, finally President Zardari agreed to let the prime minister announce the decision to restore the chief justice.
Once the decision was taken, the army chief left and then president Zardari met his top aides and conveyed the decision to all of them. He is said to have also brought the new development to the notice of the foreign powers before making them public, as the Foreign Office was directed to convey the decision to all the concerned powers.
The meeting was attended by Prime Minister Gilani, President Zardari, Raja Pervez Ashraf, Amin Fahim, Khursheed Shah, Dr Babar Awan, Farooq Naek and Qamar Zaman Kaira, which gave final touches to the decision.
President Zardari reportedly told them that now time to fulfil the pending promise of BB had come and he had decided to restore the chief justice. He however told these ministers that he needed to put the record straight that neither he had sacked CJ Iftikhar Chaudhry nor he had installed the incumbent CJ Abdul Hameed Dogar as both the steps were taken by General Musharraf.
So, Mr Zardari believed that PPP could not be held responsible for the whole judicial crisis in which country was plunged because of General Musharraf. The participants of the meeting were informed that CJ Dogar was retiring on March 21, so the best course could be to restore CJ Iftikhar.
The ministers told President Zardari that he should take the decision as he was the president of country and the party too. However, sources said these ministers also seriously criticized Sherry Rehman and Raza Rabbani as they believed that both had left the government when it needed them the most.
But sources said when the nation was about to hear the good news, one untoward incident took place at the end of this meeting when prime minister had left for the Prime Minister House to address the nation and the president was said to be in the wash room.
Chairman Senate Farooq Naek was said to have advised Rehman Malik — known for his obsession with the media coverage — that it would be better if he stayed away from the media at least for one month.
This “advice” was said to have provoked Rehman Malik as he challenged Farooq Naek that how could he advise him to stay away from the media. Malik rather asked Mr Naek was he (Rehman Malik) not a good-looking man or he was less intelligent than anyone else present there.
He rather offered to resign from the cabinet in case he was proved inefficient or less intelligent than anyone else. Qamar Zaman Kaira was said to have also backed the proposal of Farooq Naek that Rehman Malik should not appear on the media at least for a few weeks.
Rehman Malik entered a heated argument with his colleagues. When the situation started getting serious in the meeting, Farooq Naek tried to defuse it and told a fuming Malik that he was ready to take his comment back and if he liked then he should continue with his obsessive love for the media exposure on television channels.
How the troika reached the final decision
Wednesday, March 18, 2009
By Rauf Klasra
ISLAMABAD: The inside story of the troika meeting which finally prevailed upon a defiant President Asif Ali Zardari to restore the judges has been revealed by insiders who say the army chief urgently got intelligence estimates of the number of people in the long march which tilted the balance.
Intelligence reports about the numbers of charged participants accompanying Nawaz Sharif on his way to Islamabad Sunday night were used to “convince” a wavering President Asif Zardari to let Prime Minister Yusuf Raza Gilani announce the immediate restoration of the ousted Chief Justice Iftikhar Chaudhry without any condition.
The large number of long march participants reportedly played a major role even in a review of the secret understanding reached between PML-N and PPP camps — courtesy the US and UK.
According to this understanding, Iftikhar Chaudhry was to be restored for the time being and sent home after a few weeks along with the judges who have taken oath under the PCO as per the Charter of Democracy.
But this understanding had to be scrapped after the intelligence agencies reported that the situation was getting dangerous and it might spin out of control in case the participants managed to reach Islamabad. Thus it was decided to restore Chaudhry as CJ unconditionally.
The dramatic developments that led to the CJ’s restoration started taking place only after 11.30pm (Sunday) when PM Gilani and COAS General Ashfaq Parvez Kayani held crucial talks with President Zardari. Both were said to have spent significant time convincing Zardari to change his mind about the restoration of the chief justice.
Gilani, under mounting pressure from the political forces, civil society and the media to seize the moment, went to the Presidency with the determination to convince Zardari into taking a decision to ease the situation.
Insiders claimed that as the marchers crossed the Ravi bridge, a secret message was conveyed by the “establishment” to the Presidency that in case of trouble in Islamabad and Rawalpindi, army men would not fire on them.
The government must have an alternative plan to deal with any untoward situation, the Presidency was informed. The message also helped the president to take a quick decision on restoring Iftikhar Chaudhry, the sources revealed.
Subsequently, it is learnt, the troika meeting ended on a positive note. Both Gilani and Kayani were in favour of the ousted chief justice’s reinstatement, with the former committing to restore the judges. Kayani was reportedly surprised to see Gilani taking charge of the situation at the meeting and arguing forcefully with Zardari.
Gilani acknowledged the time had come for the PPP to honour the commitment of Benazir Bhutto on the one hand and defuse the explosive situation on the other. But the president was not convinced with the “rhetoric” of his PM, supported by the COAS.
According to credible information, as the meeting started, both the PM Gilani and General Kayani were found to be in strong favour of restoration of chief justice and were speaking the same language. PM Gilani took charge of the proceedings as he committed himself to restore the CJ. Gilani was said to be “straight, argumentative, firm and confident” during his interaction with President Zardari on the issue of restoration of the judiciary.
However, president was said to be not convinced with the “rhetoric” of his PM as it was nothing new for him. However, General Kayani openly sided with PM Gilani during the debate.
President Zardari was of the view that he had got reports from the Intelligence Bureau (IB), which had put the number of the marchers on the lower side. Mr Zardari was of the view that how could the government be forced to take the decision to restore the CJ only on the basis of a few thousand people accompanying former Prime Minister Nawaz.
He believed that the numbers of crowd would go down, as the procession would proceed during its 300 km long journey to Islamabad. Upon this, sources said, it was decided that instead of only relying on the report of IB, the best course could be to also seek guidance from the reports of Military Intelligence and ISI.
Consequently, the secret reports of these two secret intelligent agencies were immediately sought in the meeting. These secret reports clearly rejected the estimates of number of people given in the IB reports, as both the reports put the numbers on the alarmingly higher side with the observations that as the long march would proceed towards Islamabad, more people would continue to join and at one stage, it would become practically difficult for the administration to manage the charged crowd.
The sources said after consulting these three reports of the intelligence agencies, finally President Zardari agreed to let the prime minister announce the decision to restore the chief justice.
Once the decision was taken, the army chief left and then president Zardari met his top aides and conveyed the decision to all of them. He is said to have also brought the new development to the notice of the foreign powers before making them public, as the Foreign Office was directed to convey the decision to all the concerned powers.
The meeting was attended by Prime Minister Gilani, President Zardari, Raja Pervez Ashraf, Amin Fahim, Khursheed Shah, Dr Babar Awan, Farooq Naek and Qamar Zaman Kaira, which gave final touches to the decision.
President Zardari reportedly told them that now time to fulfil the pending promise of BB had come and he had decided to restore the chief justice. He however told these ministers that he needed to put the record straight that neither he had sacked CJ Iftikhar Chaudhry nor he had installed the incumbent CJ Abdul Hameed Dogar as both the steps were taken by General Musharraf.
So, Mr Zardari believed that PPP could not be held responsible for the whole judicial crisis in which country was plunged because of General Musharraf. The participants of the meeting were informed that CJ Dogar was retiring on March 21, so the best course could be to restore CJ Iftikhar.
The ministers told President Zardari that he should take the decision as he was the president of country and the party too. However, sources said these ministers also seriously criticized Sherry Rehman and Raza Rabbani as they believed that both had left the government when it needed them the most.
But sources said when the nation was about to hear the good news, one untoward incident took place at the end of this meeting when prime minister had left for the Prime Minister House to address the nation and the president was said to be in the wash room.
Chairman Senate Farooq Naek was said to have advised Rehman Malik — known for his obsession with the media coverage — that it would be better if he stayed away from the media at least for one month.
This “advice” was said to have provoked Rehman Malik as he challenged Farooq Naek that how could he advise him to stay away from the media. Malik rather asked Mr Naek was he (Rehman Malik) not a good-looking man or he was less intelligent than anyone else present there.
He rather offered to resign from the cabinet in case he was proved inefficient or less intelligent than anyone else. Qamar Zaman Kaira was said to have also backed the proposal of Farooq Naek that Rehman Malik should not appear on the media at least for a few weeks.
Rehman Malik entered a heated argument with his colleagues. When the situation started getting serious in the meeting, Farooq Naek tried to defuse it and told a fuming Malik that he was ready to take his comment back and if he liked then he should continue with his obsessive love for the media exposure on television channels.
How the troika reached the final decision