Is corruption the real issue or a democractic government ? – by Saria Bhutto
Posted By: Jarri Mirza
To a number of eyes, awaiting the decision of the Chief Justice concerned with the NRO might have brought an image of an end to corruption or a step for its eradication but is that really factual….??? In essence, is that an attempt to overthrow corruption or a democratic government??? It is nothing to be surprised of that this is not something new in Pakistan….
The history has been rather miraculous too. In the past too, elected governments were overpowered by the so _ called “FAIR PLAYS” of the dictators and to further strengthen their cause and add more colors to it, the courts of Pakistan didn’t chose to stay behind , rather , they became the “HOUSE OF CONSPIRACY” and because of that injustice, we witnessed one of the darkest days of our history i.e. the 4th of April , 1979 , when Pakistan’s first elected Prime Minister & the founder of Pakistan Peoples Party Shaheed Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto was hanged in Central Jail , Rawalpindi and the so- called justice gave statements of his death , without having adequate proof of his being guilty.
It’s well said that history repeats itself. The following generations of the same “Supreme Court” and the military dictator General Zia ul Haq carried out their mission and tried with their might and main, not to spare any moment to harm the federation of Pakistan. That was just not a mere attempt to harm democracy, but PPP was always targeted _ the reason, we also talk of democracy, our opponents too, but Pakistan Peoples Party has been talking of empowering the poor population of Pakistan, to provide ‘BREAD , CLOTHING and SHELTER’ to the people…..to protect the federation and give sovereignty to the provinces _ this makes the difference,. To pave the way for dictatorship, the judiciary of Pakistan always played an inevitable role. It was no less than Zia ul Haq, Ishaq Khan or Farooq Laghari. In finishing both the governments of PPP,
The judiciary played a lamentable part. This is certainly a marathon of conspiracies against democracy. The history cited that and strongly condemned it and after years, again, there has been an attempt to destabilize the government of PPP _ the symbol of Pakistan’s sovereignty and federation. The cases filed under NRO were those , which had never been proved for years and now, the Supreme Court has gone nuts again for them….Is it again a Fair Play ???
President Zardari _ who gave commendable sacrifices for the sake of democracy , whether the gadget of Mr 10 % was used against him or of NAB’s fake corruption cases…..those long months in prison _ from one court to another….Didn’t Pakistan Peoples Party face that??? Didn’t President Zardari bear all the persecutions patiently ??? Didn’t he??? I ask the Chief Justice , Can’t he see the corruption of PMLN and Shareef brothers..Of former Prime Minister Shaukat Azeez and the greatest of all our honorable Ex President Pervez Musharaf??? Is this court of Pakistan blind to see the murders done in front of them or openly on the roads of Pakistan?? Can’t they see, but that’s much more horrible to realize that here , the courts belong to the establishment and dictators, there is no place or justice for democracy in them and the Chief Justice’s decision about the NRO cases and about President Zardari has further removed all doubts of their pro dictator ambitions.Thankyou Chief Justice!!! You proved that….!
Indeed , the world might lose hope, but there lies a hope of a new morning…..again , the sun’s golden rays will enlighten the day and will come there a revolution _ not to let the blood of our leaders or our President and party’s struggle & sacrifices go waste.
LONG LIVE BHUTTOISM.
LONG LIVE PPP.
PAKISTAN KHAPPAY.
Dr Ayesha Siddiqa in the following op-ed suggests that through its verdict on NRO, Supreme Court has served to strengthen the hands of the military against the democratic government in Pakistan. It is, therefore, not surprising to understand veteran journalist Mahmood Sham’s article in Jang today in which he has pointed towards the possibility of a 2-year government of technocrats, installed and supervised by the military, based on the (failed) Bangladesh model. What a shameful act by the Supreme Court of Pakistan!
http://www.jang.com.pk/jang/dec2009-daily/18-12-2009/col1.htm
After the NRO
By Ayesha Siddiqa
Friday, 18 Dec, 2009
One cannot undermine the significance of public perception. It is equally important for people to have faith in a judgment and not see it as driven by any political or other bias.
…It cannot be ruled out that if relations between Asif Zardari and the PML-N — more precisely, the Sharif brothers — had been better there might have been a possibility of an agreement being reached. Or perhaps if the president had not made the fatal mistake of trying to change the balance of civil-military relations and getting caught in the act, the different forces might not have aligned against him so cohesively.
Not that the present decision is not welcome. However, it is also a fact that some hidden forces were making a point of exposing the president’s questionable behaviour and decisions and hiding that of many others.
No wonder Asif Zardari cooperated in the NRO case and did not really try to hold back information. After all, there are others who were part of the NRO as well, including the MQM. Though the NRO pertained to cases of financial corruption, military dictator Pervez Musharraf had also included in the NRO criminal cases that did not technically belong there.
It will now be interesting to see if the Supreme Court actually takes the matter to its ultimate conclusion by also questioning those who pushed forward the NRO. Surely, it will take Musharraf and those of his close aides who had cobbled this questionable law together to task. Since the highest court has jumped into the fray of supporting state institutions before they crumble forever, the task should be completed.
One cannot undermine the significance of public perception. It is equally important for people to have faith in a judgment and not see it as driven by any political or other bias. Building faith in the judicial system is vital and calls for accountability of all other state institutions as well to strengthen the perception that the decision on the NRO was in good faith and to strengthen the rule of law.
But if a question is asked about whether the decision signifies the strengthening of the democratic process and civilian institutions, the answer must be in the negative. Since the perception regarding the decision is that it strengthens the armed forces and their ability to manipulate political stakeholders, it is not possible to see a major shift in the balance of power.
The decision does coincide with the growing anger of the security establishment against the civilian government for becoming ‘too big for its boots.’ Given the friction between Islamabad and GHQ over the Kerry-Lugar law and other issues, the military is certainly coincidentally, if nothing else, a prime beneficiary of the Supreme Court decision. A humiliated president has lesser possibilities with which to tackle a rival institution.
The presidency-GHQ tension denotes a third critical attempt by the political class to curtail the military’s power. The first attempt was made by Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, who inherited a relatively weak army and had ample room to reduce its relative power. He partly tried to do it through building institutional mechanisms such as the joint chiefs of staff committee and the defence ministry and putting all service chiefs under the supreme command of the prime minister. However, he did not put spirit into his reforms and ended up strengthening the military.
Nawaz Sharif was the second leader to get a similar opportunity. It was hoped that he could make headway because he belonged to the most powerful ethnic group and had managed to infiltrate the higher rungs of the officer cadre. Probably the reason that the army views Nawaz Sharif with suspicion is due to his ability to partially and temporarily divide the officer cadre. The appointment of Gen Ziauddin Butt as the new army chief replacing Gen Musharraf appeared to be accepted by a number of senior army officers. However, Sharif blew the chance because of his final rash move.
Most recently, Asif Zardari also thought of undercutting the phenomenal power of the military by convincing the United States to support the civilian set-up versus the military. Zardari was instinctively right in assessing that he had time on his side in making the move. The army was seen in a bad light due to a decade of Musharraf’s rule and people were talking about strengthening political institutions and decreasing the power of the armed forces. Zardari’s formula: it would take the Islamabad-Washington partnership to do the job.
But President Zardari seems to have fallen victim to his lack of understanding of the military, its institutional dynamics and the importance of creating internal partnerships and institutional protective barriers to achieve this objective. For instance, he did not realise that the same civil society that protested against the military would stand up to defend the ISI and oppose provisions in the Kerry-Lugar bill to defang the military. Nor did he understand the worth of putting life into the available institutions if the power balance had to be corrected.
In fact, what numerous politicians have failed to understand is the need to put life into the ministry of defence, to build its capacity and ‘civilianise’ its power or decision-making structure. Since the defence ministry is the only institutional cushion between the political government and the military, its capacity is critical. Politicians in Pakistan fall prey to their insecurity regarding lack of time and miss the point.
Now, the president can think about extending the deadline for repealing the 17th Amendment to be able to play a role in the extension or appointment of the army chief. That’s his last but temporary lifeline. He could buy some time by giving a cold shoulder to the US, but these are temporary mechanisms. It will be a while before another opportunity comes along for the civilian stakeholders.
The writer is an independent strategic and political analyst.
[email protected]
http://www.dawn.com/wps/wcm/connect/dawn-content-library/dawn/the-newspaper/columnists/14-after-the-nro-829-zj-02