Adil Najam
UPDATE: The picture on the left, published in Daily Times, comes with the caption:
“Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz, Foreign Minister Khurshid Kasuri, PML-Q President Shujaat Hussain and MNAs react to an announcement by the Election Commissioner (unseen), at Parliament on Saturday. President Pervez Musharraf won a landslide victory in the election but the official results will be declared after the Supreme Court verdict on his eligibility.“
Maybe our readers can suggest what some of the people here are thinking as they clap. Suggestively, some, you will note, are making too much of an effort to clap, and others too little! The picture is also a good compliment to an earlier one we had posted here.
ORIGINAL POST: It is neither a surprise nor really news that Gen. Musharraf just got himself elected. It was always clear that he would get himself elected by hook or crook; eventually it took a bit of both. The way it had to be done is sad - pathetic really - and no one has come out of this mess looking good. Gen. Musharraf got the votes he needed, but neither he nor anyone else is a winner.
Gen. Musharraf lost whatever little credibility he might have had as someone interested in Pakistan’s development or people’s aspirations. He also lost the ability to make the claim that he was any different or any less p
ower-hungry than his political predecessors. He is now, clearly, one of them and has lost the one thing that had given him a support base. Benazir Bhutto lost the principles her party and father might once have stood for. PML(Q) had little to loose and yet lost big, they may even loose the government. Nawaz Sharif had already lost out some weeks ago. Maulana Fazlur Rehman had already lost all credibility but now they can’t even pretend to have any left. The Supreme Court lost at least some of the public goodwill they had gained as an institution with last minute shenanigans. America lost too because instead of backing one bad bet (Musharraf) they are now backing two (Musharraf + Benazir Bhutto).
But the biggest loser here may be the people of Pakistan who - once again - lost big time. But, then, I guess we are used to it.
Frankly, there is little need or point in commenting on the sham elections today. This was not a news event, this was a scripted stage drama. The real question remains what will happen next. There, it seems, that all of the losers - including Gen. Musharraf - may be confronted with some unexpected turn of events. There, one continues to hope, the people of Pakistan may yet emerge as winners eventually. Whenever ‘eventually’ comes!
Summing up all crooks in one line…………
Lets see where all these will lead our land of pure!!
Well it just shows that people of Pakistan are powerless. Army has always been strong, atleast against its own people.I think the biggest looser is MQM for standing by musharraf which just shows that self interests stands above democracy and freedom for its people.
MQM = Musharraf Qumi Movenement
Has for BB and Mullahs we know their colours.
And the lawyer movement, the only people who are real Pakistani and have given some hope to the frustrated people of this country. As a Paki I thank you.
Deewana ji
makes you feel like throwing up ….lotas or chaires on……
chal rehn day, rehn day rhen day chal rehn day.
As the General has unofficially been declared as “elected” president of Pakistan, the dual office case is dead. Although we have to wait for 17th October to get the final outcome of the case but here is my analysis how Supreme Court Judges are going to come up with miraculous decision in this case. First of all we need to understand the scenario in which our current Supereme Court exists.
Regardless why 20th July happened in the history of Pakistan, but it has posed some serious challenges to the Judges. Prior to 20th July it was pretty straight forward for the Judges to reach any decision with the help of Jadogar of Jeddah. There were three ways to arrive at any rediculous decision.
One: a technical knockout , usually a petition will be dismissed summarily by the Registrar suprement court or sometimes by the bench itself on technical reasons.
Two: Prolong the hearing of petition so that the circumstances in which petition was raised have naturally passed and then they can come up with the correct decision later on when there are no consequences of the decision , this was used in case of Asma Jilani case when the court declared Yahya as dictator when he has left the stage and then in case Junejo case when court declared dissolution of Assemblies by Zia as illegal after Zia had died.
Three: Use the notorious “Doctrine of Necessity” to declare any extra constitutional action as legal.
In the current scenario , use of any of the above three options have become very difficult for the Supreme court for the following reasons.
After 20th July, some of the Judges found it very difficult to be on the side of dictatorship in the eyes of people. We must look at from the social perspective the Judges are human beings , they live in family and friends , as I was hearing the other day a Journalist’s remark saying “How can General face his children after making deal with Benazir“, it needs to be a shameless like General Musharraf for a judge to give verdict in favor of the General. That is why though 6 judges knocked out the pervious petition by Imran Khan, but still they tried to save face by sitting in the current bench.
Somehow due to the Lawyers activism , Judges do not want to be called “Justice Munir” and the term “Doctrine of Necessity” has become extremely nasty. Even the judges like Javaid Iqbal have to say “Doctrine of Necessity” is dead. These judges will have to come upto a decision that will give them some sort of face saving in the eyes of people.
On the other hand few “upright” judges have found an unexpected strength by the Lawyers and they have now become more and more vocal in airing their views in favor of constitution. We should remember that these Judges always existed just like good people exist in every society. However in old days they could not stand up and speak as nobody was backing them up. They will either resign in the face of PCO , or they will write a dissenting note quitely and leave , however now they are vocal (ala Justice Ramday.) It makes difficult for the other Judges to argue with these upright Judges.
So the million dollar question is how the Supreme Court is going to declare the General , constitionally elected President? As I said the judgement will be 7-3 , but how would they arrive to this judgment.
Can they use “Doctrine of Necessity” ? No.
Can they technically knockout the petition again ? No.
Can they delay the hearing long enough till the General dies or leaves the president office? Well chances are NO as the General wants at least 5 years more.
Jadoogar of Jeddah has got very old he does not have any more magics in his bag otherwise CJ Iftikhar would have been sitting in his home now. So some other magic is needed.
I am not 100% sure but I think there are few magicians out there working on a plan. The plan is rather sketchy however two things are important in this regard.
One: Ashfaq Kyani becoming VCOS , it is very important to see if he actually is eyeing for the Chief Of Army Staff, I think no. General is not going to shed his uniform.
Two: National Reconcilation Ordinance , Who is going to be winner. BB or General?
We should not expect the decision before 15th November.
“makes you feel like throwing up….”
sums it up.
This man who condemned the past governments as “sham democracies” and promised to give the country a true democracy has staged the biggest farce in the name of democracy in the history of the country.
Getting elected in uniform by an expired “parliament”, which was the product of rigged elections and manipulations in the first place!
Watching all these “lotas” falling over each in order to congratulate the man on his “huge success” with “bhari aksariat” makes you feel like throwing up.
‘Eventually’
We have been waiting for this moment for last 60 years, but i have no idea how many more generations have to wait for this monet..
you should put this in losers category adil bhai
i thought you are optimist but you made it sound so bad that i may not bet on pakistan if i believe you.