A while ago, just after their embarassing defeat in the Feb 18th elections, Mushahid Husain came on Capital Talk and boldly supported a hypothetical push to revoke President’s power to dismiss Parliament. Amid tall claims of supremacy of Parliament and supporting democratic forces, a revocation of 58-2-b seemed almost inevitable.
Not so fast.
Two days ago, while watching Geo News (albeit just reading the darn ticker) it seemed to me that my least favorite Chaudhry (Parvez Elahi i.e.) has now stubbornly argued to resist any attempt to get rid of 58-2-b.
I can see why opposition parties love 58-2-b since it gives them the quickest way to power (like most people think of lottery tickets and instant wealth), I am not sure there is a real common sense argument to keeping 58-2-b there. Of course, one can always come up with a bull-$hit argument like “situation in Pakistan requires” a dictator to over-throw an elected government.
PML[n] and PPP said it will go, infact its in the constitutional package they are coming up, i.e. getting rid of it. Now Uncle Mush has said that he would resign if that power is taken away from him, but the problem is, he never lives up to his word. He clearly said that if his Kings party the PML[q] loses, and his enemies come to power he’ll leave. Now we all know what happened, and all of a sudden he wants to work with them The ANP is with the PPP on this as well. This leaves just the PML[q] (or whats left of it), even though there is no agreement or unity in the party on this topic, and ofcourse the MQM. The latter is keeping quiet as they know that supporting Musharraf openly is a disaster, and Altaf bhai after getting his ministers inducted in the sindh assembly has stopped supporting mushy verbally.
What public argument will Musharaf give to keep 58-2-b?
If he has threatened to resign on this, that'll be just plum. Pass this amendment and the dude goes. No need even to impeach the guy, and go through all the hassle.
don't think Mush will do a Leghari who went soon after NS stripped him of his excessive powers by getting rid of Zia's 8th amendment which was very similar to 58-2(b)
First I am not sure if the coalition has the required support in the Senate for them to get rid of 58-2 (b). So all this talk of Mush leaving seems quite premature.
Who knows maybe Mush is after Zia's Pakistani record!
Length of Rule:
- Zia: (5 July 1977-17 August 1988) - 11 years and 43 days
- Ayub: (27 October 1958-25 March 1969) 10 years 4 months and 26 days &
- Musharraf as on 11 June 2008: (12 Oct 1999-present) 8 years & 8 months
Interestingly all three were thought to be the least ambitious of the generals by their bosses. :)
President Iskander Mirza declared Martial Law on 7 Oct 1958 and made Ayub CMLA (isse kehte hein khud apnay paaon par kulhara marna). Ayub was promoted out of turn, ostensibly because he was the least ambitious of the generals and the most loyal! Infact at 44 he was the youngest full-rank general in our history. Three weeks later Ayub overthrew Mirza in a bloodless coup sending Generals Azam, Burki and Sheikh in the middle of the night to pack Mirza off to exile in England!
PM Bhutto appointed Zia thinking he was a non-political maulvi-type figure
PM Nawaz appointed Mush thinking an urdu-speaking general would not have that kind of support in a Punjabi-dominated army to stage a coup against him.
The ANP is with the PPP on this as well. This leaves just the PML[q] (or whats left of it), even though there is no agreement or unity in the party on this topic, and ofcourse the MQM. The latter is keeping quiet as they know that supporting Musharraf openly is a disaster, and Altaf bhai after getting his ministers inducted in the sindh assembly has stopped supporting mushy verbally.