World | Pakistan
Zardari presents constitutional reforms draft
Leading coalition party hands over proposal package aimed at reducing musharraf's power.
- Agencies
- Published: 23:35 June 1, 2008
Islamabad: The main party in Pakistan's shaky coalition government on Sunday gave its estranged key partner a draft of proposed constitutional reforms aimed in part at reducing President Pervez Musharraf's powers, officials said.
The parties of former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and Asif Ali Zardari both consider Musharraf an archrival with outsized powers. But the partners have disputed whether restoring dozens of judges ousted by Musharraf should be linked to broader legal reforms.
The president, a longtime US ally who seized power in a 1999 coup, has faced stepped-up pressure to resign in recent days but has resisted the calls. A breakup of the two-month-old coalition, meanwhile, would further plunge into political turmoil a country considered key to US goals in the war on terror.
Few specifics have been released about the proposals crafted by Zardari's party. But the party chief has indicated they will include stripping Musharraf of the right to dissolve parliament and appoint military chiefs.
Yesterday, Law Minister Farooq Naek, who delivered the proposals to Sharif, said the package "says that the judges' restoration should be according to the constitution and through a constitutional amendment". That could prove to be a sticking point. Sharif's party declined to comment until it had a chance to thoroughly review the package, but a spokesman said it still believed that the judges could be brought back through a parliamentary resolution followed by an order from the prime minister.
"We still believe that restoration of the judiciary should not be part of this constitutional package," said Farooq.
Ministers left
Sharif already withdrew his ministers from the Cabinet over Zardari's insistence that laws have to be changed before the government can reinstate the judges.
Musharraf sacked the judges during a burst of emergency rule last year to halt legal challenges to his presidency.
Zardari and Sharif's parties defeated the president's allies in February elections.
Another Sharif party spokesman, Pervez Rasheed, linked the party's approval of the package to backing from the popular lawyers' movement, which has agitated for the justices' return.
The lawyers plan a series of protests this month to press their demands and have held rallies to build momentum in recent days.
Deposed Chief Justice Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry said that a "country without an independent judiciary faces terrorism and chaos".
In a major relief to former premier and Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) chief Nawaz Sharif and his brother Shahbaz Sharif, Pakistan's Election Commission yesterday allowed them to contest the by-polls to be held later this month.
The decision came a day after a two-member election tribunal gave a split verdict on the validity of their nomination papers and referred the matter to Chief Election Commissioner Qazi Mohammad Farooq.
The Election Commission upheld the initial decision by returning officers to accept the nominations filed by the Sharif brothers.
Sharif, unable to contest the February 18 general election due to the rejection of his nomination papers on the grounds that he was convicted in a criminal case, is seeking to enter parliament through the by-polls scheduled for June 26.
Shahbaz, who too could not participate in the polls in February, is contesting by-elections to the Punjab assembly.
The PML-N has said he will be made chief minister of the province once he emerges victorious in the elections
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