 |
Saturday,
October 26, 2002, Chandigarh, India  
|
Pervez to
take fresh oath of office on October 31
WINDOW
ON PAKISTAN
|
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
|
Pervez to take fresh oath of office on October 31
Islamabad, October 25 Punjab Law Minister Rana Ejaz said Musharraf would announce the restoration of the 1973 constitution on October31 and take oath of office for five years. He, however, said the 1973 constitutional rule would include all the controversial amendments introduced by Musharraf. After taking the oath, Musharraf would call the session of the newly elected National Assembly to elect the Speaker, Deputy Speaker and Prime Minister in the first week of November, a local news agency quoted Ejaz as saying. Barring the pro-Musharraf PML-QA, other political parties including the MMA, had said their elected representatives would take oath only by the 1973 constitution, without Musharraf’s amendments. Government formation, meanwhile, could be further delayed as the Lahore High Court stayed the results for finalisation of seats reserved for women and the minorities in the national and Punjab Assemblies until election results were announced for all constituencies for which polling was held on October 10. Acting on a petition filed by the PML-QA, the court ordered the reserved seats should not be announced until the Election Commission completed the poll process for the three national assembly seats from Punjab and one Assembly constituency in Punjab were announced. Meanwhile, the Pakistan Government claimed that the USA had given a “go-ahead” to President Pervez Musharraf’s controversial constitutional amendments, a media report said today. The USA had “informed” that “it has absolutely no objection” over the amendments as these were needed in the present “socio-political” situation of the country, The News quoted a “ministerial source” as saying.
PTI |
|
WINDOW
ON PAKISTAN A fractured election result has put a spanner in the works of Pakistan’s military ruler General Pervez Musharraf. He is finding it tough to choose a perfect dummy Prime Minister who will do his bidding. It is true that the ‘King’s Party’, the Pakistan Muslim League [QA] has won 77 seats with the active support of the military and the administration and is the largest party in the national assembly. Musharraf has also helped the party get 18 independents, yet it is far from the magic figure. Among other parties, Benazir’s PPP [Parliamentarians] has 63 seats, the Islamic grouping under the banner of the MMA has 45, Nawaz Sharif’s Muslim League has 14 seats and the MQM 13 seats. Then there are smaller groupings. They find it tough to join hands with the ‘King’s Party’ and suffer ignominy. Also, they have been the target of the military regime. In fact, the major trial for any Prime Minister will be to make the parliament agree to the constitutional amendments which Musharraf has proposed to strengthen his position. Any analytical review of the prevailing situation will show hardly any democratic, very little ideological, and almost nothing Islamic about the happenings on the political scene of Pakistan today. The main political parties and their leaders, be they secular, religious, liberal or conservative, have clearly shown their true colours, intentions, principles, scruples and character in their mad rush for power. The most important thing to observe is to whom and how much power is transferred. The cake is on the table. The Frontier Post, in a commentary, said, “Will the cake, a piece of the cake, or just the crumbs be distributed? The elections have been marred by election-related controversies, ranging from creation of an uneven election field, official promotion of ‘King’s Parties’, especially the PML (QA), the National Alliance (NA), the B-team of the ‘Crescent’ group and, of course, the Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal (MMA). There is little doubt in the general public that the extremely fragmented verdict resulting from the elections is because of the pre-poll machinations and interference by the military regime, “government agencies and non-political players, invariably pulling the strings from afar. Even government-supported parties and candidates have joined the chorus.” Writing in the Dawn, well-known columnist Ayaz Amir said, “Being Prime Minister with General Musharraf as President is going to be no bed of roses. Whoever makes it will have to live up to some tough conditions. He will have to make sure he never forgets himself and always walks in the General’s shadow, a few steps behind him. A Prime Minister who sees no evil, hears no evil and, most important of all, speaks no evil is the only thing that will work in the circumstances — the only thing that will fit the unspoken bill of General Musharraf’s self-tailored constitution. Any sign of initiative or independence in the man or woman will be seen as a grave act of provocation, a summons to battle for Pakistan’s generals.” “The military commanders can be remarkably indulgent about military incompetence. They certainly have not lost any sleep over the bright performance in the last three years. But they can be terribly strict and censorious when it comes to judging civilian performance. From day one, the knives will be out for any Prime Minister who makes the mistake of taking himself too seriously, or who does not value discretion over valour.” Amir admirably summed up the position. He wrote, “ The contours of domestic and foreign policy are thus set. No civilian upstart dare disturb them. Nor, to be fair to the civilian hopefuls, is anyone thinking on those lines. The great thing about General Musharraf’s democracy is that the political parties are willing to play the game on his terms. They took part in the elections much on his terms. They will play the democracy game on the military’s wages.” “So what are we seeing in Islamabad? A veritable stampede of dummies. Take all the names and my meaning becomes clearer. Jamali, Leghari, Fahim, even the fetching Zubeda Jalal. Everyone fits the bill admirably. General Musharraf has a surfeit of choices. He must agonise over his decision, for he has so many willing puppets to choose from. Is this then a transfer of power that will put our General’s hearts on edge? It is more a pantomime and a charade, a theatre of the absurd, than anything involving a real change of scene or players. The same thing dressed up in other colours. What are the political hopefuls then hoping to achieve,” Amir asked. But the problem will surely crop up when any dummy tastes some real power. What shall then the man in khaki delivering sermons all the time do? |
INDONESIA
QUESTIONS 10 PAKISTANIS LAHORE
HC RESTRAINS EC PAK
POLICE RECOVERS 12 BOMBS |
 |
| Punjab | Haryana | Jammu & Kashmir | Himachal Pradesh | Regional Briefs | Nation | Editorial | | Business | Sport | World | Mailbag | In Spotlight | Chandigarh Tribune | Ludhiana Tribune 50 years of Independence | Tercentenary Celebrations | | 122 Years of Trust | Calendar | Weather | Archive | Subscribe | Suggestion | E-mail | |
In video
