تاریخ اشاعت:۔26-01-2010

Pakistan heading towards another conflict among the institutions?

کالم :- Tauqir Ahmad

The Pakistan Peoples Party Govt. is in dilemma due to the fact that Supreme Court with its full bench of 17 members has given a final verdict about the National Reconciliation Ordinance (NRO) by declaring it ultra-vires to the constitution and illegal promulgation of Ex Army Chief and President Musarraf. One of the judges in his additional remarks said that those who had prepared and presented the NRO should also be prosecuted.

President Asif Ali Zardari and people around him are in deep trouble as there seems to be no way out except to face the various court trials. President Zardari’s immunity under article 248 of Pakistan Constitution is also in question as the clause 1-3 of this article may protect him however the clause 4 does not from civil prosecutions. The fact is that clause 4 of article 248 was overlooked by many of his legal advisors who perhaps gave him a misleading advice. The important question is who will implement the ruling and carry out the orders given by Supreme Court as the law enforcement agencies are fully under Govt. control. Is Pakistan heading towards a conflict between various institutions or will the Chief Justice use his constitutional powers under article 190 to call the army for help to implement its orders? May be history will repeat it self as we remember those days of former Chief Justice Sajjad Ali Shah when he called the army to carry out the orders and the army did not take any action for a long period of time but finally they were forced to takeover. All these theories and rumors have spread around despite the fact that PM Mr. Gillani has expressly said that the Govt. does respect the ruling and will obey the orders given by Supreme Court., therefore, there is no reason for any conflict. The time is a best judge as we have already seen lots of promises made by politicians and Ministers. Our people can recall those days when Water & Power Minster said that the Electricity load shedding will be deficiently finished by the end of December 2009 and if not he will resign. There is another example of Interior Minister who repeatedly commented on media reports that Blackwater or any other American Security Agency does not exist in Pakistan and if it is true then he will resign. The interior minister can rightly say that Blackwater is not operating in Pakistan as he exactly knows that Balckwater has changed the name to XE after this world largest private military organization was prosecuted in one of the Americans court on charge of killing 17 innocent people in Iraq.  

Our honorable PM also supported the Interior Minister but the truth came out when American defense Minister Robert Gates had recently confirmed in a live TV interview that Blackwater and other American security agencies are operating in Pakistan however they can be sent home if it is desired by Pakistani Govt. The Pakistani information minister gave a statement to media who denies the existence of Blackwater?

Certainly the foreign security agencies will be remain in Pakistan as long as the Pakistan Govt. requires them to stay and that is the reason why a bill was recently presented in parliament to protect them.

The leaders shall have the courage to tell the truth to nation or would they keep challenging the people, Judiciary and media which may lead to another conflict situation among the institutions?