UPDATE [930 EST]: Media outlets reported Monday that former PM Nawaz Sharif announced he is withdrawing his party from the ruling coalition. The Associated Press reported, “Sharif said Monday that he is pulling out of the five-month-old alliance because it has failed to restore judges ousted by ex-President Pervez Musharraf.”
Original Post Below:
There was a great deal of speculation this weekend over the future of Pakistan’s ruling coalition government. On Saturday, PPP co-chairman Asif Ali Zardari emerged as the party’s official candidate for the presidential elections next month, reported media outlets. Although an AFP report Saturday noted that PML-N leader Nawaz Sharif said “he was ready to accept” Zardari as president “if he does away with powers to dissolve parliament,” other media outlets, including Dawn and the UK’s Guardian, provided slightly different accounts. The Guardian reported, “Nawaz Sharif, leader of the other major party in the coalition, is furious that he was not consulted over Zardari’s bid for the presidency.” Dawn noted in its coverage, “Nawaz linked his party’s support for Zardari’s candidacy “to the restoration of the judiciary by Monday and also called upon the government to repeal the 17th Amendment [slashing the presidency's powers] before the presidential elections.”
However, such demands are unlikely to be fulfilled, “putting the future of the coalition at stake within a week after the ouster of president Pervez Musharraf.” The Associated Press cited an aide to Nawaz, Pervez Rashid, who told the news agency Sunday that “general opinion” in the PML-N “favored an exit from the coalition and that party leaders would meet on Monday to decide.” Moreover, noted the AP, a PML-N leader, Javed Hashmi, indicated that “he was willing to run in the Sept. 6 election to succeed Musharraf if his party asks him to.” Currently, news sources have implied that Zardari “is almost certain” to win the presidential election, since his party has the required votes in parliament to get him elected. However, a collapsing coalition will surely complicate the already volatile political environment in the country.
With nomination papers for the September 6 election due Tuesday, much hinges on Monday’s judiciary deadline and the slated PML-N meetings [on whether or not to exit the coalition]. A PML-N spokesperson said Sunday, “There is no need for the party to be part of the coalition government, if one party is taking decisions unilaterally.” For further coverage of this developing story, watch this space.
[...] Link to the original site Author: wtfpakistan Time: Monday, August 25th, 2008 at 4:30 am Category: Pakistan Comments: You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site. RSS: You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Navigation: « Prognosis of Kashmir as the Valley Erupts Yet Again [...]
all i want to say, the musharraf dictatorship was far better than this democratic government.
[...] president pervez musharraf, presidential election, presidential elections, rashid Read more at: CHUP! – Changing Up Pakistan This post [...]
Dictatorship is never good for a country, as absolute power corrupts absolutely. Whenever dictatorship has occurred in our country, we have gone back in time and suffered immensely. Musharrafs regime, gave people a belief that we were doing well, however, if you study economics, you’ll realize that most of it was a consumption propelled growth and worse off, it was on the cost of our agricultural base. During his regime, our agriculture grew only 2% and the number of people living below poverty line increased.
I’m not saying that the current government or our previous democratic governments are the ideal democracies, however, they are still better (as long as they don’t turn into a democratic dictatorship). As much as i dislike zardari becoming the next president, what we need right now is perhaps some patience. We need three-five year term ‘free and fair’ elections to be truly democratic. If we become impatient, we will loose our path to dictatorship.
Participate, reject, protest, debate for a better future. As unlike dictatorship, we have a voice in democracy.
@ bilqis, I think people got their voices better heard in musharraf tenure isn’t?
I’ve been mulling over this for a while.
In all honesty, I absolutely detest the man. I can not stand him. I probably never will. But then again that’s my personal bias.
When I was in Pakistan a little while back, my brother and I would occasionally speak to random people on the street and ask them what they feel about Zardari. And not one person, “average person” if you will, said they liked Zardari. They said that democracy was better than dictatorship, true, but they never once expressed any liking for Zardari. How does Zardari as president represent the voice of the people then? How does him being elected as a president by his own party — a party whose logic I DO NOT UNDERSTAND — make any sense? How can you thrust power, as it stands right now thanks to Musharaf, in the hands of a man who displayed his greed and hunger for power without actually even being politically involved in the country?
Musharraf made the mistake Ayub Khan did. He did not think people were fit to run the country. He thought he, with his military discipline and education, would bring about a revolution in Pakistan. To an extent, I think he was right. Things he did to realize his view, those were wrong. But he did resign. And he is not likely to shamelessly come back into politics like our beloved democratic parties do. With the same leaders, might I add.
But let’s leave our personal opinions aside. Let’s discuss reality.
Yes patience is a virtue, but not one we can afford right now. Ask the people who don’t have access to water, who can’t afford gas, electricity, ask them if they are willing to wait five years. All this time that they are taking, to decide whether judiciary should be reinstated, who becomes president, for what? How is the average man concerned with this? They are doing this for themselves. If they want to look after the people, whom they claim to represent, then they need to stop looking out for their own interests. At this point, to be honest, it doesn’t matter WHO becomes the president. What matters is that someone steps up, takes control, makes the changes, the decisions and restore the same faith and progress with which this country came into being. And if that person’s Zardari, so be it.
And I’m sorry, I meant how can PPP elect Zardari as a candidate for president.
Hats off to you Kals, i get all my Paki news from here and each time i see an update, i cringe with a feeling of “AHH, what is it this time..” hah. Anyway, my 2 cents – I’m glad Nawaz resigned and showed some b@lls….i’ve been pretty impressed with his leadership….i hope he’s not as corrupt though. The future of Pakistan is looking pretty grim with instablility and I think he realizes that.
Zardari needs to be shot or God Save the country!!!
Thanks Sherry – but out of curiosity and for discussion sake, what has impressed you with Nawaz’s leadership? What do you think he accomplishes by resigning from the coalition? Doesn’t his resignation make the country more instable?
I think those are good questions to address for discussion sake!
I was waiting for Nawaz to finally come through. His party has been the only one to stand on a platform this time around. He had two major sticking points– remove Musharruf and solve the judicial crises. He has also stuck to the London Declaration, in the sense that he has remained in objection to the MQM because of their role in the 2007 Karachi violence.
Nawaz is right to assert that the country should have a unifying candidate– which entails neither Zardari nor Nawaz btw!
The PML-N is setting itself to replace the PPP as soon as the government failed. This perception of “behind the back wheeling and dealing” that Zardari has created, combined with the lack of backbone that the PPP hierarchy is showing in their dealing with Zardari is benefitting the PML-N.
Right now, the perception of Nawaz will be better than Zardari because it seems that he is sticking to his guns (however grudgingly) while Zardari seems to have put himself above the party.
Mr. Bilquis I’m curious as to who you can attribute those economic statistics to? The Wall Street Journal has a piece a few months back which contradicts what you had mentioned about people living under the poverty line. Not saying you’re wrong just wondering what the source is. I don’t think that Nawaz Sharif’s “platform” is really a genuine platform. “removing Musharraf and solving the judicial crisis” is a pretty thin platform to prop a government up. One cannot declare political revenge and damage control as their “political platform.” Getting rid of Musharraf is nothing but an old axe to grind for Nawaz and that’s not impressive considering he was a lame duck president with waning influence and support. As far as the judicial crisis is concerned I think Nawaz is just being politically expedient. He knows that if Musharraf is gone and all the judges are back he has all the eggs in his basket. While I think sacking the judges was the worst move Musharraf made, I don’t think the judiciary needs to be so politically involved taking on the stance of “activist judges.” Nonetheless, I understand the need to restore them, but I also think they shouldn’t be given blanket support because they should be held accountable for shaking the system up as well. That being said-Which one of these so-called leaders really has a platform? Do you think that they will forget all the cribbing and settling of old scores to lift people out of poverty, tackle extremism and educate people?If so, I would like to see some sort of plan. Maybe they have one, and if they do, one is hard pressed to ever hear them talking about it. Makes you wonder what their priorities are.
@PML-N resigned at the right time with far more justified,
clear and historic reasons, this resignation or breakaway
from coalition is registered in the history, exactly as Bhutto’s
treason was registered, everything is on papers, PPP’s Govt
is as solid as Bhutto’s in 1970, PPP keeps on singing the Pslams of PPP + Zarbhutt’s triumphs and victory.
The country was, instable already, since 8 years, and in every
PPP regime the country was always at the brink of ruin.
So Sherry’s reactions and observations are far-sighted and
representative. With such strength in the house, if still, Kalsoom worrys about instablity, then I think this
” majority strength ” is totally FAKE.
thanks
@Shaheryar,
your response to MRS. or MISS Bilquise not Mr.
can you please name any reliable authentic economical
statistics from USA about the third world ??
BTW, had’nt we followed Nawaz Shareef and the lawyers
with their “thin” platform ” we would’nt have acheived the departure of that shameful “burden” called Musharraf.
PPP was always ready to build anything with “any” Musharraf
in the past or present, one can not deny that !!
PPP, was and is a dictatorial-styled Political party.
Sorry about that Ms. Bilquis! @rafay- I was merely pointing out that I had read a contradictory report to what was being said. Now if you take a comment on a blog with an unattributed source and you compare it to a report from a credible newspaper like the Wall Street Journal then I think one has the right to ask where the source for the unattributed comment came from ( I never said she was wrong-just wanted to know the source). You may have an ingrained bias to economic analysis coming from an American source but the fact is that very qualified and educated people are responsible for a lot of the research-just as in Pakistan. It would be arrogant for me to ask you to give me “one authentic reliable economic statistic from Pakistan about the USA.” That would mean I am assuming that just because it is from Pakistan it is not reliable. Is that fair? Economists and business leaders AROUND THE WORLD get information from the Wall Street Journal. So as far as your quest for a reliable economic source in the west goes, you can start your search there. As far as the “burden” of Musharraf being lifted-what has it achieved? I don’t support the PPP or PML-N and as far as I’m concerned they are doing very little aside from shoring up their own power and ego. So I’m sorry to say, unless they start talking about something that actually affects the common man, I stand by my statement that they are running on a thin platform. That goes for both parties.
I just want to answer Fahd’s point. Yeah, Nawaz is sticking to his guns. He’s playing this game that Zardari started quite well. Nawaz’s popularity is soaring. And here he’s nominated a man who represents the legal movement and represents the anti-Musharraf (dictatorship) movement quite well, Saeeduzzaman Siddique.
We all have to be weary of politicians though. Nawaz might not be the angel that we hope as compared to Zardari’s devil but as people said for a long time about Musharraf when comparing him to the duo, “he’s the best out of the worst”.
@Shaheryar,
US sources are well known to be biased, based on
speculative and selfmaintained figures in favour of
US policies dictated by the powerful State Department
using such infos in their own interest and security, for
that, they infiltrate and dilute any info as disinformation.
THE GROUND REALITIES ARE COMPLETELY DIFFERENT
THAN PROPOGATED ONES.
One has to be prudent in relying on US Infos.
Experiences and good memory is the best tool.
No, I still vigorously disagree with amalgam of two
different Parties with diferent backgrounds, records and
performances. I have given earlier my humble analysis on
the removal of Dictator.
@ will the “new” coalition survive ? yes
New coalition includes
PPP + Jui F + MQM + ANP & others
Talibans be re-habilitated now I suppose as they
are excercising their voting power thru JUI F beyond
anyone’s doubts ? Zardari will be the next President
with “their” decisive votes. Sirs
@rafay
You greatly over-estimate the power of the State Department. They do not have the time, money or manpower to manipulate all independently published research. While there is a lot of propaganda out there, you are at the same time grossly under-estimating the independence of the press and other research institutions in the US. While one can argue the merits of American foreign policy one should not make the mistake that all the media and intellectual capital in the US are an extended arm of US policy. The ground realities in the US are completely different from the certain paranoid tendencies in our part of the world. The media is not an arm of the state in this country. I will agree that a lot of the reporting in the US can be biased-but that is not the case with the largest and most reputable papers and research institutions in the US. To make a blanket statement such as “US sources are well known to be biased” is merely generalization, speculation, paranoia and dismissive of a country which has an extremely vibrant and diverse press. A few bad apples don’t spoil the whole barrel. It is just a matter of scrutinizing where one gets his/her information-and good information can be found in many different media outlets in many different countries. That includes the US and Pakistan.
@Shaheryar,
when I compare US infos with European’s, I am shocked
to observe an enormous gulf between US public and official
opinions and a missing element of pluralism, I am not advocating European’s “freedom of opinion ” but indeed
Europeans don’t want to be bombarded with officiality,
as far as analysis of recent financial busting of big bankers
and property finance instituions, there was a big confusion
and the feeling among Europeans that US infos were
systematically retained, without any sort of public debate
open to everybody not one politician spoke on this grave
matter, thousands of people lost their homes. It is known to be a hushed-up financial collosal scandal of loses largely underestimated. Don’t know what you call a vibrant and
diverse presse, with the fact that the “other” press is
completely absent, from US media, journalism etc.
All of them seems to be either Domocrates or Republicans, thats all ?
You seemed quite impressed by US freedom of expression !
I know Kalsoom brought this up before, but I am interested to know why exactly everyone is lionizing what Nawaz Sharif has done? Have we forgotten his past errors? He is no less innocent than Zardari and I am surprised people have forgotten how happy and relieved the public was when Musharraf took office. How everyone rejoiced at his departure and criticized him for being corrupt and power hungry himself?
I agree with Yawar, he is playing the game Zardari started rather well. But I also do think that at this point, it’s not about the lesser or greater evil. It’s really just about hoping that whoever comes in place, does a good job. I am hoping that now that the coalition has broken down, PPP will put all these politics aside and take the decisions it needs to.
@ Dear S,
Lionising is exaggerating, NS is a genuine Democrate,
but was systematically victimized at the hands of Pakistan’s
Politicians who have a colonial mentality, comparing Him with
anyother Present day Pakistani Politicians will be
narrow-mindedness, and distortions of history.
THERE IS NO COMPARISON OF THE SHAREEFS WITH Zarbhutts, no way, you can try. You were suprised how people have forgotten perhaps Bhutto’s treason, Benazirs openly selling
out AQKHAN & Nuclear and Fata to usa
and hundreds of ” patriotic and faithfull “achievements alongwith Musharraf, her so called “rival & dictator” with
whom she negociated everything except her death. The
canonized Bhuttos at Garhi K.Buksh, venerated as holy shrines of Children of GOD sect.
Kalsoom should perhaps start a blog like Comparison of
SHAREEFS AND ZARBHUTTS, I will be delighted to participate,
and bring by 2 pences in.
Rafay – I don’t think people have forgotten “Bhutto’s
treasons”. It’s just that one can no longer talk about them because the Bhutto’s are effectively out of politics now. What we have instead is “Bhutto’s widower” – and his exploits are his own.
As for Nawaz Sharif being a genuine Democrat – I disagree. When he was in the Government, he introduced two Ammendments that effectively took away all checks on the prime minister’s powers. Correct me if I’m wrong, but last I checked, democratic structure presupposes the existence of a functioning system of checks and balance. And that has either been missing from Pakistan’s political process or removed forcibly be by some politican or the other.
So I would be inclined to agree with what Tariq said earlier – no politician that has come into power in Pakistan has had a clean record. I think it’s a waste of time to sit there and talk highly about one political party over the other. They have all let us down. They are not better than the other.
And Rafay since you are such a fan of quotes, here’s one from my friend that sums up Cassius’ remark on Ceasar:
“Romans think that their Caesars are lions. But Rome’s Caesars are not lions. It is rather the case that romans are sheep”
S, thanks for making an excellent point and reminding us of Sharif’s tampering with the constitution and attempts at solidifying his position as PM during his second term.
@S & O
the two amendemnets, if I recall, were demoratically
handled & approved by the majority (democratic) in the
house ! after fulfilling 2/3 requirement, have you forgotten ?
what an excellent point, is’nt that ?
Can anyone define what is a “clean record ” ? apart fom
financial thuggery and tempering with CJ institution ?
cheers
@ Dear S,
Btw, very impressing cassius’s remark on Caesar !
one day if the sheep turns up to be the fatal Hyenas !
in Politics every thing is possible,
thanks
@ Rafay:
Actually, I’m not sure if I agree with your use of the word “democratically.” During Sharif’s second term as PM, the 14th amendment was passed which “imposed strict party discipline on memebers of parliament. This allowed party leaders to dismiss any of their legislators if they failed to vote as they were told and made it nearly impossible to dismiss a PM by a motion of no confidence.”
@ O
yes, of course you are not sure, as the legere supposition
of ” this allowed party leaders to…..” you mean any amendement which is passed has its seperate hidden
consequences “supposedly” carrying a series of drawbacks
according to its interpretation flying around in thousands,
particularly that of opposition ?
I am not sure about that !
What?!
@ O
what ? what ! how come you ” can not ” afford to
beleive the democratically run amendements took place
at that time with PPP in the opposition ?
your assumptions are paradoxically paranoiac.
@ O
what ? what ! how come you ” can not ” afford to
believe the democratically run amendements took place
at that time when PPP was in the opposition ?
your assumptions are paradoxically paranoiac.
@Sheharyar,
erratum
ref: my comment no.19
” thousands of people lost their homes ”
exact figure is 2.5 millions of houses were subjected
to seizure-sealed by Bailiffs and county sheriffs reasons being
non-payment to the Bank. ( just confirmed by an European
French FR2 TV ). The families were simply thrown out !!
Kals to answer ur question, here’s some things i’ve observed from my past trip to pak and being glued to Geo.
1) While on exhile, Nawaz seems to have brushed up on his english, pretty articulate, logical and was able to tackle pretty difficult questions posed to him by journalist. Nawaz from the 90′s looked like a fat fobby paan wala with no communication skills what-so-ever.
2) In a few of his speeches expressing his desire to return to Pakistan (when Mushy decided to declare elections), he was greatly concerned about the future of the country – economical instability, changing global conditions, War on Terror,
cost of living and Pakistans diminishing role in the continent. His soundbytes were consistently about wanting to help out pakistan, pointing out the fact how BAD the situation
has gotten and if not acted soon, it could be grave. He even said that it doesnt matter at all if his party doesnt win, he’s just concerned about the welfare. His rhetoric and seeming “sincere” look and approach while talking was pretty impressive too.
3) When Bhutto was assasinated, he pulled out PNL/N out of the election so that PPP could figure things out and host a fair election.
4) I was most impressed by how he didn’t allow the PML/Q sell-outs, who ran to Mushy’s party 4 yrs ago, go back into his party for the elections. We’re talking about big shot legacy politicians like Shujat/Elahi Chaudhury’s, shIEK rashid and a whole lot more.
He rewarded his loyalists and maintained dignity and honor within his party, and didn’t let those scumbags back in even though they could have helped his MNA/MPA count by winning their jurisdictions.
5) When Benzir was assasinated, there was a lot of anti Punjab sentiments from Sindhi’s…..the country was crippling…ppl were riotting and destroying things….Nawaz stepped up to the occassion, gave a really good speech to the nation, hugged people, was there emotionally and took part in their grief. WHERE WAS MUSHARIF or any other douchebag!?! Oh right, probably planning their big party at Marriott.
6) One of his biggest party agenda’s was to restore the Judiciary. How can you have a goverment run without national LAW/ORDER & Judiciary!?!?! Since Mushy forgave Zardari’s corruption charges due to a backroom deal they had, a lot of the stolen money and corruption would be unchallenged.
A restored judiciary would desolve that “deal” and hopefully prosecute him accordingly. Zardari def does not want the Judiciary back cuz 1) he’ll be thrown out of power since he’s illegally appointed and 2) he’ll be charged for corruption.
7) and the biggest thing im pleased about was NAWAZ pulling out his support for PPP just now, and backing up the Chief Justice as a President Candidate. If he was greedy, he could have ran himself. The CJ seems like a nice honest guy and Nawaz backing him is shows a NEW NAWAZ thats looking out for the country.
haha…way tooo long of an answer but i was bored at work
.
let me know if i got any facts wrong, this is based on some stuff ive been following.
ohh…and with Nawaz backing out, i dont think the country will be instable. With Zardari being “prez” there would have been a whole lot of plundering and more corruption going on because they would have done whatever they pleased
.
With Nawaz sitting in opposition, there will now be a WHOLE lot of Check-and-Balance happening…..so PPP better think twice before doing any more shady schemes.
….hopefully…
@$herry,
I happen to read your comment, I wounder if your 7 paras are
the net result of your bordum at work, and suppose, if you
were not bored, goodness gracious !! this blog would have
been jolted with tremors of 7 on scale.
Your
No.1, thank God, 90′s Nawaz was not thin moustacho mr
10 % thug, or a mongolian Pir bhai or any Tom Dick and Harry,
He was and is always polite, handsome, healthy, logical, courageous and bold Politician, and on top of it , a Kashmiri,
(my pleasure)
his hair transplantation gave him less 10 years.
[...] When writing my previous post, I feared – like many others – that unnatural alliance of PML-N and PPP will break apart soon. Though it was expected to fall since its birth yet everyone wished for its success, hoped [...]
@ Coalitions are “constructed” among mentally matured
and courageous diplomates of Politics in any society, a
backward (vocablury deficit), unreliable and feudal Politics
can not survive any coalition,
just watch the Political encounters on TV and the “Tujzias”
given by journalists, there is a huge split between and
nobody knows what are they talking about, bickering can
be justified if there is some concrete reasons, in Pakistan,
it is pure hooliganism, the only attitude you can witness on
such TV Journalist-politician encounters, is that they end
up talking about nothing but panic-ridden “moralist”
naive conclusions, in the end you hav’nt understood any
thing and nothing was revealed to dumb electors, no
answers. Media is systematically exploited by the Feudals
of Politics. Cheap propaganda is allowed, what kitch !!
@ hundreds of thousands displaced in Fata NWFP,
hundreds killed every day,
the life in NWFP is impossible, survival is difficult,
food disappeared, load-shedding, foreign agents
sabotaging everyday, else where in Pakistan the
everyday life has become impossible,
but on Roshankhayal TVs the
f……g politicians and the ars……ls journalists are
making jokes and laughing together, taunting each
other like Khussrahs, cracking slogans of their
God-damned Shaheeds, as if we breathe on this
planet with the grace of these hooligan, thugs
shaheeds and their left-behinds dogs. I am sorry just
can not tolerate such inhuman attitudes. They have
become animals.
I have sent my vigorous protest against such behaviour
to the TVs hope they change their attitude, is it going
towards democracy or towards circusocracy .