Guest Post by Kruman
The single most important issue raised in the affidavit filed by the Chief Justice of Pakistan, Mr Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry was that the president did not have a reference from the Prime Minister when they met in the GHQ on March 9, 2007. The president has kept insisting that he merely performed his constitutional duty to forward the reference submitted by the Prime Minister to the SJC.
This statement by the president was challenged (by implication) in the affidavit filed by Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP). CJP’s affidavit stated that the president only had hand-written notes during their meeting on March 9th i.e. no reference had been submitted by the PM till then. This is a very serious allegation against the president as it implies that the presidential reference was prepared after the CJP refused to resign on March 9. It was expected that the PM would file an affidavit (in support of Musharraf’s position) clarifying that he (Shaukat Aziz) had submitted a reference to the president prior to the president/CJP meeting on march 9 2007.
Interestingly, Sharifuddin Pirzada stated this week in the Supreme Court hearings that if the reference was not forwarded by the PM then it should be nullified.
The affidavits filed by DG MI, DG IB and President’s Chief of Staff have circumvented the issue above. The most important player in this crisis, after the president and CJP, the Prime Minister has preferred to stay mum. All of these are ominous signs for the president, general Pervez Musharraf. In a meeting with his allies in the parliament he complained that he felt alone in the current crisis. His isolation seems to be growing.
Dillam dar aashiqi awarah shud, awara tar bada
Tanam as bay dilli baycharah shud, baychara tar badaMy heart is lost in love, may this state ever grow
I have gotten helpless in this state, may this helplessness ever grow
(Hazrat Amir Khusro)
Vaissay, the u-turn on the pemra ordinance adds one more to a long list of u-turns on part of Mush.
He should be called u-sharraf rather than Musharraf.
Ref Zak’s comment’s of june 9. Nobody is above law be it Chief Justice, Prime Minister or President. It is another thing if President Musharraf thinks himself an emperor or king and thus not answerable to anyone. Then only Allah will deal with him.
Thanks Nazir, Owais please make that correction.
Kruman, I don’t think DG ISI submitted anything. It was President’s chief of staff who did instead. Please correct this. This may be significant in that ISI, possibly the real force behind all this, wants to remain behind the scene.
Two observations, one is that the precedent for Shaukat to file an affidavit is dangerous, the entire point behind all the other affidavits is to avoid the humiliation of Musharraf of being treated like an ordinary person. Shaukat Aziz saying getting directly involved would embolden the CJ’s legal team to ask for Musharraf to come on “stage”.
Secondly, it is possible that Musharaf sidelines Shaukat Aziz as a scapegoat for the whole issue.
I think observation two is less likely as power mad people like Mush rarely compromise.