Mashallah. People want the Great Presiident Musharaf of Pakistan to continue to be a very powerful President. Looks like Great Zardari has recognised this fact. 
http://thenews.jang.com.pk/top_story_detail.asp?Id=15112
**President can indemnify any act, even his own **
In a stunning move, which defies logic and common sense, the constitutional package proposes additional powers for the president âto indemnify any act whatsoeverâ, including probably the unconstitutional and illegal acts committed by anyone, including the chief of the Army staff. This sweeping power has been added in the Article 45 of the Constitution but the only saving grace is that under this article the president has to act on the advice of the prime minister. The Article 45 of the current Constitution reads: âThe president shall have power to grant pardon, reprieve and respite, and to remit, suspend or commute any sentence passed by any court, tribunal or other authority.â
After the PPP amendment, it would read: âThe president shall have power to grant pardon, reprieve and respite, and to remit, suspend or commute any sentence passed by any court, tribunal or other authority or indemnify any act whatsoever.â The insertion of indemnifying any act whatsoever means the president would have the powers to indemnify any action, including subversion of the Constitution, acts of high treason, suspension or abrogation of the Constitution for any period of time, an expert said.
The amendment also does not clarify whether acts against the Constitution itself would be open for indemnification. It also does not clarify whether acts committed in the past, before this amendment, would also be open to indemnification. âOn the one side, the thrust of the proposed package is to weaken the president, while on the other side this proposal is intended to strengthen him through an indirect route,â the expert said. This, he said, means that the president is being empowered to âindemnifyâ any illegality, may be the ones he himself committed, if the prime minister so desires or recommends.The PPP package also seeks to drastically emasculate the widely-hailed suo motu powers of the Supreme Court to enforce fundamental rights under the famous Article 184(3) of the Constitution. Now, the apex court will only pronounce a âdeclaratory judgmentâ in such matters, which will not be binding on anybody. As defined by the dictionary, a âdeclaratory judgment merely decides the rights of parties in a given transaction, situation, or dispute but does not order any action or award damagesâ. This provision has been exceedingly important and even repeated dissolutions of the National Assembly by the president in his discretion since 1988 was always challenged under it. Similarly, all the suo motu actions taken by the chief justice or any other judge were always taken under this article. The constitutional expert said the existing provision would become totally irrelevant after the apex court orders on enforcement of fundamental rights would no more remain mandatory and enforceable.
Further restricting the court powers, the draft constitutional package says that an application under Article 184(3) âshall be heard by a bench comprising not less than five judges to be constituted by the chief justice of Pakistan in consultation with two most senior judges of the Supreme Courtâ. After deposed chief justice Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhryâs aggressive judicial activism, the then government had also thought of cutting his suo motu powers but failed to do so. Another proposed amendment seeks to discard the president as part of parliament (Article 50). This does not make sense as the Indian president and the Queen of England, who is just a figurehead, are still part of parliament. The expert sensed some problem being faced by the government in replacing the incumbent Attorney General Malik Qayyum. He based his opinion on an amendment proposed in Article 100, where the president has been totally omitted and substituted with the words âfederal governmentâ in appointing the chief law officer. However, he said previously the president had been nominating someone as attorney-general, whose name was recommended to him by the federal government. Some original provisions of the 1973 Constitution are being restored. For example, the name of the successor would have to be given in a no-confidence motion against the prime minister. Similarly, the senior minister will act as prime minister in the absence of the latter from the country. Likewise, in the case of difference on a bill between the National Assembly and the Senate, the proposed piece of legislation would be put before a joint sitting of parliament and would not be referred to a mediation committee as provided now. The speaker of the provincial assembly has been proposed to be acting governor when the incumbent governor is not available. At the moment, the government can appoint anybody as acting governor. The Supreme Judicial Council has been replaced with a commission comprising retired ânon-politicisedâ judges, who will decide the fate of the sitting justices of the Supreme Court and high courts in case of complaints against them. An appeal against the decision of the commission can be filed with the Supreme Court, which will be heard by a bench not less than nine judges to decide it within 30 days. The proposed package takes away the discretionary powers of the president to hold a public referendum. Now, it will be parliament that will decide so in case of a matter of public importance. Commenting on the package, former Senate chairman Wasim Sajjad said the package was of far-reaching consequences and needed intensive debate in parliament.
he will not be in a mess like Mushy is now. All he will have to do is to make a call from Nao Dero to Gillani house and bingo⌠All actions will have a âconstitutional coverâ, who cares about 2/3rd majority! BTW there goes the trump card NS & CJ. 
