PML-N chief takes last minute U-turn on constitutional reforms package : Nawaz betray

[ajpirzada]

By Iqbal Chaudhry

ISLAMABAD: A day before the proposed 18th Amendment package was all set to be tabled before the parliament for approval, the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) took a U-turn that created a virtual deadlock in the country’s politics.

Knowing that the Parliamentary Reforms Committee has included its proposals regarding the appointment of judges and admitting that renaming of the NWFP was not a major issue, PML-N chief Nawaz Sharif backtracked at the 11th hour in his press conference on Thursday, demanding that a “consensus” be made before presenting the package in parliament.

When some key members of his own party went on record in admitting that everything was settled and there was no hurdle in placing the package for approval, the sudden change in the stance of the PML-N created confusion in the political circles.

Some observers believe that this turn was at the behest of some quarters and the PML-N chief adhered to “some phone calls” he received just before his press conference.

Inside circles within the PML-N confided to Daily Times that this sudden move took many within the party by surprise since all issues apart from the renaming of the NWFP had been settled by the committee amicably.

Postponed: Minutes after Nawaz’s press conference, representatives of the government announced the postponement of the proposed joint session of parliament where President Asif Ali Zardari was supposed to deliver his 3rd address on the start of the new parliamentary year.

In his press conference, Nawaz denied that any agreement had been reached on the issue of the judges in the committee, and said his party had reservations over the proposed package.

Judges’ appointment: He said the issue of the judges’ appointment and the renaming of the NWFP had not yet been settled with the government, adding that judges should not be appointed on the basis of favouritism but through a transparent mechanism which ensures protection of the judiciary, and input from the government, the opposition and parliament.

A consultative meeting of the PML-N, chaired by Nawaz, was held at the Punjab House to discuss the proposed 18th Amendment bill and the issue of renaming of the NWFP before the press conference.

The PML-N chief demanded the government come up with complete consensus before tabling the amendment package in parliament.

He was of the view that President Zardari should address the joint session of parliament after a complete consensus on amendment package is developed and the differences are removed.

When asked whether his press conference was meant to create hurdles in the scheduled presidential address, Nawaz said his party wanted the president to fulfil his constitutional obligation, but only after getting a complete consensus on the 18th Amendment package.

Daily Times - Leading News Resource of Pakistan




everyday i dislike pml n even more. if mr haji sahab spends more of his time in pakistan, we would have reached some consensus by today. but no.
why cant he decide on some name. ANP has been so flexible. they are willing to accept anything with pakhtun in it.

only trying to make sure that PPP does not take most of the credit. after all it was because of his pressure that ppp had to agree with democracy friendly demands of his.

 

[sur]

Whom could be making those phone calls??? Army/USA/or N-League advisors?


= = = = =

& I always wonder what's wrong with name سرحد "Sarhad"? It's beautiful short name...

ANP reasoned that when Punjab can be named after punjabis why not NWFP...!!! They probably don't know Punjab is named so coz of five-rivers پنج آب (Punj-Aaab) & Because of Punjab it's dwellers r called "Punjabi" & NOT the vice versa...

Similarly Sindh is called so coz of River = "Sindus"

 

[Luftwaffe]

majority in N.W.F.P are against the new proposed name. Really sounds 200 years old name sucks! khalis talibani name!

 

[All-Green]

What kind of a name is NWFP?
Sarhad means border and it is certainly not something of a deep meaning name.

NWFP is associated with Pashtuns and they are in overwhelming majority here.
If one of the largest ethnic groups is made happy then i do not see why PML-N has to make an issue out of it.

Baluchistan is not named after a river, Sindh and Punjab maybe named after rivers but this is what the people here have been called since centuries, not the same case with NWFP which is a name given by the British.

I liked Abaseen or Khyber but if Pakhtoonkhwa is what they want then what is the issue with PML-N except a few seats in the Hindko speaking area which they are after?

In all honesty, seeing the Taliban insurgency in NWFP based on pseudo religious ideology, giving a name like Pakhtoonkhwa is appropriate.

PML-N is a Punjab based party so it should not stand in the way because i am afraid it will be seen as a Punjabi thing (which it is not) and will lead to ill will.

If PML-N remains isolated like this at the whims of Nawaz Sharif, it shall suffer the consequences...i just hope it does not make Pakistan suffer with it.

 

[Don Ramsay]

According to my fellow copy editer in Express
"میان صاحب ہر واری اک نیا سپ کڈ لیدے ہیں تے ملک دہ بھٹہ بٹھان دی کوئی کسر نہیں چھڈ دے

 

[laiqs@mi]

^^^^^

 

[mshoaib61]

All political parties are playing the game with the sentiments of poor
and everyone is fighting for their own seats. With every issue , some political party will try find the loop hole so they can use its as their agenda to get public attention.

 

[ajpirzada]

Gilani gets a taste of Nawaz’s rock-shock politics

Friday, March 26, 2010

By Rauf Klasra

ISLAMABAD: The PML-N leaders are said to have conveniently let down Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani on Thursday as he had signed two official summaries — first to officially invite President Asif Zardari to address the joint sitting of Parliament and secondly to lay the 18th Amendment draft — after duly consulting the Nawaz camp about the official business of the National Assembly today (Friday).

Prime Minister Gilani was said to have been caught off guard when he came to know about the decision of the PML-N to back out from its earlier commitment given to him that its leaders were fully satisfied with the outcome of the almost year-long deliberations of the Parliamentary Committee on Constitutional Reforms (PCCR).

One source commented that so far this was believed that the prime minister was perhaps using top leaders of the PML-N whenever there was any political crisis in Islamabad to bail out President Zardari and his own government. But, this time the PML-N leaders seemed to have settled all the previous scores by giving Prime Minister Gilani a “surprise” by refusing to back these reforms in the House at the eleventh hour. After the dramatic somersault by the PML-N leaders, the Law Ministry was said to have hurriedly changed the official business for todayís (Fridayís) sitting as now a new date will be announced for the tabling of the bill followed by address of Asif Zardari.

Giving inside information, the sources said, actually one top leader of the PML-N who was also member of the PCCR had created this whole mess as he had given his consent to the government to summon the joint session today (Friday) so as the constitutional package could be tabled followed by the address of President Zardari. After getting satisfied with the response of the PML-N camp, Prime Minister Gilani informed President Zardari to get ready to address the Parliament today (Friday).

The sources said this was also the idea of members of the PML-N to call the final meeting of the constitutional committee on Thursday evening in the Parliament House to sign the constitutional reform document so as no party could back out from the agreed changes in the clauses. But, the sources said, to much surprise of members of the committee, Senator Ishaq Dar representing the PML-N in the committee did not turn up for the meeting. These members were said to have smelled something foul in the meeting when they were informed that Dar would not be available to sign the document.

The sources said the mystery behind the absence of Dar was soon resolved when news television channels started live coverage of extraordinary press conference by Nawaz Sharif.

The sources said, Prime Minister Gilani had been accommodating the concerns of the PML-N at every stage and had even played a major role in convincing President Zardari to implement the Charter of Democracy (CoD) and shift his sweeping powers to the prime minister. These sources said unlike the public perception that Zardari would not give up his powers, he had ultimately agreed to hand over his powers to appoint chief of army staff to his own hand-picked prime minister. But, the sources said, this time government was in a serious mood to table the constitutional bill in the House today (Friday) to put an end to long controversy, when suddenly it was revealed that this time none other than the PML-N leaders themselves were not ready to back those proposals on laughable excuses. The sources said the new stance of Nawaz about process of judges’ appointment did not carry weight particularly when Chief Justice of Pakistan Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry during a course of hearing of one case the other day had appreciated the idea of parliamentary commission to evaluate and confirm the appointment of judges in the light of recommendation of judicial commission headed by Chief Justice of Pakistan himself. One source said the irony was that in the last one year the PML-N never missed a chance to blast Asif Zardari for applying delaying tactics to finalise the constitutional bill. But, when the time came to table these reforms in the House after a general consensus among all the parties, it was revealed that this time the PML-N leaders were not serious in bringing about much talked reforms in the constitution for some “unknown reasons” trigging new speculation about their intentions.

http://www.thenews.com.pk/top_story_detail.asp?Id=27985

 

[Evil Flare]

Nawaz was worried .... Whole Credit will goto PPP .

 

[ajpirzada]

PCCR rejects PML-N objections

ISLAMABAD (updated on: March 26, 2010, 16:45 PST): The Parliamentary Committee on Constitutional Reforms (PCCR) has rejected objection of PML-N with regard to the appointment of the judges, Aaj News reported.

According to the report, PCCR met again on Friday with the Senator Mian Raza Rabbani in the chair to resolve the differences over judges' appointment and renaming of NWFP province.

The signing ceremony of the final report of the PCCR was postponed on Thursday due to reservations of the PML-N chief Mian Nawaz Sharif over the matter of judicial commission and renaming of NWFP province.

Next meeting of PCCR will be held on 31st March.

PCCR rejects PML-N objections : Business Recorder | LATEST NEWS

 

[T-Faz]

laanat hai, what kind of politician is this who hasn't achieved a damn thing in his political career except for creating rifts and problems for Pakistan.

Why does the army not seize their assets and kick them out. Please someone remove these so called leaders we have and find one suitable man for the job.

 

[Materialistic]

everyday i dislike pml n even more. if mr haji sahab spends more of his time in pakistan, we would have reached some consensus by today. but no.
why cant he decide on some name. ANP has been so flexible. they are willing to accept anything with pakhtun in it.

The real problem is Pakhtoon name itself. ANP is not flexible they are fooling people with hiding real problem.

Most of people consider all pathans as Khans but they are not. similarly not everone is a pakhtoon so how can one name it Pakhtoon's land ????

In punjab all who live are Punjabis and same goes for sindh and balochis there is no other culture or tribe. But why name Sarhad as Phakhtoon khua.

With democracy we select governments and not every aspect is dealt with it, a name should have consent of all those who are living there. In this issue we cannot leave minorities behind, this is one of their basic rights to.

Khyber name also has issues with it, khybar pass is basically located in FATA and there are chances or if so happens that FATA is given its own provincial status then Sarhad will be named after monument of another.

Abaseen (sindh river in pashto) is also not the right name because sindh never passes through it. and also it includes an objectionable word Afghania. Abaseen Afghania !! wats this !

either it means people of afghania ! or if we take abaseen as sindh river (a river that has already a province named after) then it makes no sense at all.

Moral of the story. A name has to represent the identity of all in common whome it is given to, not just the majority. so Pakhtoon khua is a wrong option and ANP is taking advantage of hindko people being a minority and ignorance regarding pathans in rest of country.

Otherwise Punjab can rename Pakistan as Punjab just because Punjab holds the majority population of 60% !!! This would not be democracy instead Democrazy.

I learned all this from Pashtoon Jirga on GEO (Salim Safi)
http://www.columnpk.com/pakhtoon-khawah-naam-by-saleem-safi/

 

[ajpirzada]

The real problem is Pakhtoon name itself. ANP is not flexible they are fooling people with hiding real problem.

they have suggested three names. pakhtunkwa, afghania, and one more. wat else do u want them to do

Most of people consider all pathans as Khans but they are not. similarly not everone is a pakhtoon so how can one name it Pakhtoon's land ????

from wat i can see, ANP has majority seats in NWFP. and they won their election with one key objective of changing the name to pakhtunkwa. so have to keep their mandate. on the other hand how many seats does nawaz sharif has in NWFP?

In punjab all who live are Punjabis and same goes for sindh and balochis there is no other culture or tribe. But why name Sarhad as Phakhtoon khua.

no. southern belt is called saraiki. in sidh we have mahajirs. in balochistan we have pashtuns as well. so there is no one tribe in any province.

With democracy we select governments and not every aspect is dealt with it, a name should have consent of all those who are living there. In this issue we cannot leave minorities behind, this is one of their basic rights to.

no one is leaving minorities behind. wat wrong with pakhtunkwa abbassin or pakhtunkwa hazara.

its upto the ppl to decide and they have given their vote to ANP. why are ppl in other provinces so concerned about what the name should be and wat should be its meaning. i dont care if they even name it mars.

from wat i remember, pml n recently lost by election in masehra and mansehra is a place which was considered pml n base point in nwfp.

only trying to create and issue out of nothing. thats it

 

[ajpirzada]

SCBA turns down Nawaz formula




Saturday, March 27, 2010

By Usman Manzoor

ISLAMABAD: The Supreme Court Bar Association (SCBA) has rejected the recipe of Nawaz Sharif for involving the Supreme Court in the legislative process.

President SCBA says he, along with some other seniorlawyers, met the chief justice of Pakistan, at least, twice in the recent past and no such desire on part of the chief justice was ever expressed.

The former prime minister and the PML-N chief brought the Constitution amendment process to a halt while announcing his backing off from signing the draft at the eleventh hour. He announced his strange U-turn during a press conference on Thursday evening, just an hour before the already planned formal draft signing ceremony by all parliamentary parties.

President SCBA Qazi Muhammad Anwar said that he had always opposed the proposed procedure for appointments in the superior judiciary and now what Nawaz Sharif had suggested was also not acceptable to him. He was of the view that the judiciary could never be involved in the legislative process nor any consultation could be sought because it would generate controversies regarding the judiciary.

“When I met Nawaz Sharif, he told me that he wanted consultation of the chief justice of Pakistan regarding the proposed amendment in procedure of appointments in the superior judiciary and I differed with him keeping due respect for Nawaz Sharif’s suggestion,” said the SCBA president, adding: “It is the Supreme Court that interprets the Constitution and if any such amendment is challenged, then how would the apex court hear a petition against a legislation in which the chief justice of Pakistan would be a consultee?”

Qazi Anwar is one of those predominant majority of constitutional experts, along with Justice (retd) F G Ibrahim, Justice (retd) Saeeduzzaman Siddiqui, Justice (retd) Nasir Aslam Zahid, Justice (retd) Kamal Mansur Alam, Justice (retd) Khalilur Rehman and many others, who have categorically stated that the judiciary has a right of judicial review and if anything is found in friction to the Constitution, it can strike down that amendment as has been done in India before.

Qazi mentioned about his two meetings with the chief justice in the past few days and said that neither the CJ gave any indication or expressed his desire for being consulted on the proposed amendment in the appointment of judges in the superior judiciary nor did he find any such clue. He said that such type of theories were being knitted to malign the judiciary.

Qazi Anwar added that he was against such a procedure which included a nominee of lawyers because it was against the independence of the judiciary as to how a judge, recommended by a nominee of lawyers, would be independent in his judgments. “I have repeatedly asked the government to keep the lawyers out of the procedure of appointment of judges or the independence of the judiciary would be questioned,” said the SCBA president.

It is also said that some sections from the power corridors in Islamabad are trying to malign the judiciary by holding it behind Nawaz Sharif’s U-turn over the constitutional amendments. These people from the power corridors are using their friends in the media to propagate their ultimate motive of maligning the judiciary. However, the president SCBA made it clear that the judiciary did not desire any consultation in the legislative process, as it was the sole prerogative of parliament to do legislation without any consultation from the judiciary.

SCBA turns down Nawaz formula

 

[ajpirzada]

Which foreign player threw spanner in the works?’




Saturday, March 27, 2010

By Rauf Klasra

ISLAMABAD: The foreign minister of a European country is said to have quietly played a role in delaying the tabling of the 18th Amendment in Parliament, fearing that the proposed “demolition” of the office of the president through these sweeping changes might not be good news for all the stakeholders of the state.

One credible source has revealed that apart from this overseas intervention, which immediately halted the otherwise smooth proceeding, the military establishment too was not happy with the unprecedented autonomy being given to the provinces in the new constitutional package as it sent alarm bells ringing within the ranks of powerful establishment for some obvious reasons.

One top source claimed that the controversy over the mode of appointment of judges, seen as the main reason behind the PML-N’s sudden U-turn, was just an eyewash. He said every member of the parliamentary committee knew very well that the PML-N had completely agreed to this mode of appointment of judges as even Chief Justice Iftikhar Chaudhary had appreciated this new system and the media had carried his remarks the same day when Nawaz Sharif blocked the move to table the bill in the house. The sources said this issue was used to cover the real story behind this dramatic shift in the mind of top guns of the PML-N.

Giving inside information, one source revealed that the foreign minister of a European country made telephone calls to some politicians in Pakistan, urging them not to show haste in passing this constitutional package, as there were some reservations in the minds of certain players, which should be discussed and addressed before giving the package a final shape. The foreign minister was of the opinion that the office of the president was a sort of balancing factor between the military and the civilian leadership in a country like Pakistan. The concentration of massive powers even in the hands of a democratically elected prime minister would not be a wise decision at this stage. It was argued that in the past, the country had seen some unpleasant events because of power imbalance, which led to the imposition of military rule.

The sources said the office of the president was being reduced to such a shocking level through these amendments that now he would be required to first seek approval of his foreign trips from the prime minister. Likewise, the prime minister would be asked to give approval to run the kitchen of the Presidency. The sources said traditionally the military establishment had felt comfortable with the president enjoying powers to dissolve the National Assembly and make appointment of the service chiefs. To prove the point how the military dealt with prime ministers with such powers, the source said the first time these sweeping powers were vested in Zulifkar Ali Bhutto under the 1973 Constitution, he was hanged by the military. Then Nawaz Sharif got the same powers in 1997 when he tried to become Amirul Momineen, he was sent into exile. On the other hand, the military never felt any threat from the political prime ministers when these powers were in the hands of the president, as we saw in the case of Ghulam Ishaq Khan and Farooq Leghari, whom the Army backed against elected prime ministers.

The sources said in this background, there were certain fears in the minds of some key players that though PM Gilani might not become an autocrat but who would guarantee that Nawaz Sharif, if he became the prime minister for the third time, would not try to repeat his performance of October 12, 1999.

Likewise, the source said, the military was not happy with the extraordinary level of provincial autonomy being offered to the provinces as, in some cases, they were being allowed to frame their own laws without seeking any advice from the Federation. The sources said the military still was in favour of a strong federal role in the affairs of the provinces in the given situation as it always suited its strategic interests. The rising wave of nationalism in Balochistan was a serious cause of worry for the military establishment and it was still not in a mood to allow the nationalist forces to play a dominant role in the provinces. Likewise, the establishment feared rise of nationalism in the NWFP after renaming of the province. All these factors were on the minds of those who were quietly trying to get this bill either delayed or changed to suit their interests.

Which foreign player threw spanner in the works?’