The writing is on the wall for Pervez Musharraf. The only thing undecided is if he will go on his own volition or will he be eased out. So the question now is, who will they agree to nominate as the next President of Pakistan?
Anyone remembers Justice Rafiq Tarar? The guy who dashed off to Quetta on a government plane in the middle of the night to twist the Balochistan High Court at the behest of Abbaji. Yes, the same Rafiq Tarrar who claims he is still the President of Pakistan?
And if we are not in a mood for a flowing beard then there are other options not in any particular order.
Iftikhar Chaudhry
Zardari has reservations about restoring him to the bench and Sharif has made his restoration the cornerstone of his campaign. Both are agreed on judicial reforms, so the best compromise would be to ease him into Presidency. vakil bhee khush, quam bhee khush.
Aitezaz Ahsan
He is articulate, respected, intelligent, and in the forefront since March 09, 2007. And while Asif Zardari consolidates himself in PPPP what better way than to kick him upstairs?
Imran Khan
The poor fellow does not have a constituency, but has lots of passion and rhetoric. Him minus 58 -2(b) would be a good combination.
Asif Zardari
He is not a graduate, not a member of this assembly and needs to gain his spurs in politics after the sad assassination of Benazir Bhutto. From the top he can keep a better eye on dissent within PPPP. If he accepts, he would like to have the 58-2-(b) danda handy.
Nawaz Sharif
He is barred from becoming the Prime Minister and is not a member of this Assembly. He has been the Premier of Punjab and Prime Minister of Pakistan twice. And if he accepts the Presidency he would also like to have the 58-2-(b) around just in case.
So who is your choice?
Note: Temporal blogs at Baithak.
I want Pervez Musharraf to finish his term as President and then retire in 2012 for the following reasons:
1) Musharraf’s policies of killing terrorists is correct and must continue, if he remains in office, he will also contine taking the political blame for it, and nobody else.
2) Musharraf is a man who takes action and fulfills his promises.
3) I like Musharraf.
Scratch that about Aitzaz. Mukhtaran Mai as President would be a wonderful gesture of the new government’s commitment to women’s rights.
I absolutely agree with people who are uncomfortable about making judges presidents. The only way for Pakistan to achieve longterm stability is for its various institutions (judiciary, government, bureaucracy, military, police etc) to limit themselves to performing only those functions they were meant to perform and not allow any one institution to become hegemonic and take over other institutions’ responsibilities. That is what happened with the military and if we aren’t careful it could happen with the judiciary in a decade or two. Iftikhar Chaudhry, Bhagwandas etc are amazing judges and they should be reinstated as judges but they should definitely not be made the President.
Aitzaz however would be a great choice.
If it is just for symbolic post of president then Mukhtara Mai or Edhi can be great choice.
As for Bhagwan Das, he can not president for atleast 2 years but that will be good signal to world.
I still think that no body who were involved in the judicial crisis one way or the other should be made President.
People ought to remember that Bhagvandas was the acting chief while the case was being heard. The fact that he did not budge and lead from the front during those pressure months makes him my choice. He could have easily been an other Dogar signing up for a PCO. The fact that he belongs to a minority is just an additional plus.
Bhaganwan Das as president of Pakistan will totally rock! On so many levels! In fact that is my top choice now.
Aitzaz will be wasted in that role. He is much too intelligent and valuable to be wasted in that role. Imran Khan can play a good role as a pressure group. Zardari will be running the party a la Sonia Gandhi. Nawaz will be in the running in a bye-election soon (I think). That leaves Ch. Ifthikhar from this lot. My personal choice would be Wajihuddin or Fakhruddin Ibrahim.