Re: Presidential Election announced - 6th October
just coz you know the drama’s plot doesnt mean you dont wanna introduce the cast. 
Re: Presidential Election announced - 6th October
Mushy wins Pres. Bhutto takes Pm. Its an ok deal. Amina Shafat should be PM-I'd totally follow politics then.
Re: Presidential Election announced - 6th October
I think if all parties agree to get constitution changed, President Musharraf would love to have presidential election directly from the people.
Pakistan is already a Presidential system of government in all but name. The LFO and 17th Amendment has made the office of the President the most powerful it has ever been in the history of Pakistan. The Prime Minister is merely a ceremonial position, and Musharraf taking off the wardi won't change that as he will still have those massive Presidential powers. Just imagine if the politicians agreed to Musharraf being directly elected, then he would be even more powerfu,, without the need for a dummy PM and such.
Re: Presidential Election announced - 6th October
No i think its fine the way it is right now. We dont need to go back to presidential system. Our president's post is a ceremonial post anyway.
Read Reza's post above.
[quote]
I'd love to see Mush become president again and take his uniform off, give up the army post, and then be sacked by the PM Benazir. He may opt to go into exile in Boston, USA.
[/quote]
Even then if it happens (somehow) army will take over again.... apply shampoo, wash, rinse, repeat.
Re: Presidential Election announced - 6th October
Mushy wins Pres. Bhutto takes Pm. Its an ok deal. Amina Shafat should be PM-I'd totally follow politics then.
:D As would I, but it seems her husband doesn't let her out too often now...
Re: Presidential Election announced - 6th October
Thats what I am saying y’all 
Re: Presidential Election announced - 6th October
yeh 1988 mein konsi democracy thee Pakistan mein bacha jamhoora?
Re: Presidential Election announced - 6th October
A quick question, when a military general is in power is it really a democracy?
Re: Presidential Election announced - 6th October
It depends who how you define the word “democracy”. If elections equals democracy than yea…
http://thenews.jang.com.pk/daily_detail.asp?id=72966
Election for president
Friday, September 21, 2007
Rahimullah Yusufzai
On a daily basis nowadays, we learn more about the tricks being played by General Pervez Musharraf’s camp to ensure his election as President of Pakistan for five more years. There is intrigue in the air as efforts are being made to circumvent the law, override constitutional hurdles and overcome political challenges to install one more time the 64-year-old Pakistan Army chief in the coveted presidential office.
No other issue has preoccupied the minds of the camp followers of the uniformed president these past weeks and months. They have benefited immensely for the last eight years by having a military general at the helm of affairs in the country and every effort is being made to prolong the good times that the ruling elite has had by “electing” President Musharraf once again. If newspaper reports are to be believed, the president too has assured his political allies that he would facilitate their victory in the next assembly elections once he is elected and safely ensconced in the Presidency. Such is his belief in his right to be the perennial president that he is used to remarking that his election rather than that of the President of Pakistan is taking place. The President’s Camp Office, the ad-hoc-sounding name given to his Rawalpindi headquarters, is busy war-gaming the presidential re-election campaign due to the strong belief that General Musharraf would be able to cope with all threats to his political ambitions with the support of the Army and America. The nation doesn’t figure in their scheme of things because the General in the first place had used his troops to grab power through a coup d’etat after ousting the democratically elected prime minister, Nawaz Sharif. The idea is to first snatch power by whatever means that are available and then present the nation, courts and political parties with a fait accompli.
There is no concern also for the negative impact all this is having on the country’s international image, political stability and economic well-being. Having an army chief as president for two terms was bad enough but enabling him to secure the job a third time would surely make Pakistan the butt of jokes worldwide. We would end up setting a record of sorts as a unique military-managed democracy where the rules are bent and the Constitution tailor-made to suit an individual holding a soldier’s pistol in hand. There seems to be little realisation that never in Pakistan’s 60-year history has the military courted so much controversy on account of its brazen involvement in politics or provoked such a high level of opposition from the masses. The setbacks that the military has suffered in Waziristan and elsewhere have been the most devastating since the surrender of more than 90,000 soldiers to Indian forces in the former East Pakistan and one major reason for such unprecedented pitfalls has been the tendency among its top brass to devote more time and attention to politics instead of professional matters.
The announcement of the schedule of the election for president by the Election Commission of Pakistan even before the judgment by the Supreme Court is another indication that the rulers have every intention of going ahead with plans to elect General Musharraf in uniform and from the same assemblies. The Election Commission, spineless and vulnerable to executive pressure, had earlier earned criticism by allowing itself to be manipulated by the government and amending the rules for the presidential election aimed at exempting candidates from being subject to the requirements laid down under Article 63 of the Constitution. Few are ready to believe the Election Commission’s argument that the amendment in the rules was not person-specific and would apply to all presidential candidates. Even a blind person is able to see that the amendment, done secretly on Sept. 10 and revealed by chance a week later not by the Election Commission but by the talkative federal minister Dr Sher Afghan during the course of a television interview, is aimed at facilitating the one and only serious presidential candidate General Musharraf. A second amendment in the rules curtailing the powers of the returning officer for the presidential election is yet another evidence of the Election Commission’s complicity with the powers that be to ensure that General Musharraf isn’t disqualified as candidate.
As Justice Mohammad Raza Khan observed during the Supreme Court hearing of the petitions challenging General Musharraf’s right to hold the post of army chief while being President, the Election Commission cannot change the rules for presidential election as stated in the 2nd Schedule of the Constitution. As a member of the nine-member bench that would decide whether General Musharraf can contest the election of president while still in uniform, his observation carries weight because the Election Commission amended Article 63 of the Constitution to clearly help president-cum-army chief General Musharraf to escape disqualification. The petitions challenging General Musharraf’s dual offices have become another test case for the independence of the judiciary, and the Supreme Court’s eagerly awaited verdict would show whether there would be rule of law in the country or laws would continue to be bent and circumvented for the sake of powerful individuals and institutions. Most Pakistanis would want the judiciary under Chief Justice Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry to continue the march towards making Pakistan a country where there is rule of law and constitution and in which all institutions, including the armed forces, perform their assigned duties instead of illegally and unconstitutionally taking over the job of others.
Lawyers and opposition politicians have accused the Chief Election Commissioner, Justice Qazi Mohammad Farooq, of being biased after having amended these rules with mala-fide intentions only to favour General Musharraf. He has obviously become a controversial figure and this has happened just at the start of the election season with fresh general elections for the assemblies to follow once the president is elected. One has known Justice Qazi Farooq as a gentleman and respected judge while serving at the Peshawar High Court and it would be sad if he were to preside over one of Pakistan’s most awaited and contentious elections and earn disrespect in case the polls were rigged. Former chief election commissioners such as Justice Nusrat, Justice Irshad Hasan Khan and Justice Abdul Hameed Dogar are some of the names that come to mind for holding elections that weren’t recognized as free and fair and this certainly sullied their reputation. Won’t it be honorable for Justice Qazi Farooq to step down and reveal the kind of pressure that he is facing from the government instead of earning further criticism and going down in history with a tainted reputation?
The writer is an executive editor of The News International based in Peshawar. Email: [email protected]
Re: Presidential Election announced - 6th October
^ There is still hope. CJ and SC can put a stop to all this nonsence :)
Re: Presidential Election announced - 6th October
Nah the only hope is that Benazir will be our next Prime Minister. She and Musharraf have already divided up the 16 billion Forex.
Re: Presidential Election announced - 6th October
A quick question, when a military general is in power is it really a democracy?
Another one:
When an elected allegedly (fully) democratic government is in power (in Pakistan), is it really a democracy, in name as well as in spirit?
Re: Presidential Election announced - 6th October
so who are the candidates again?
- President Musharraf Pervez
- COAS Musharraf Pervez
- Ex-Chief Executive Musharraf Pervez
Re: Presidential Election announced - 6th October
Another one:
When an elected allegedly (fully) democratic government is in power (in Pakistan), is it really a democracy, in name as well as in spirit?
Atleast "legally" it would be :-)
Re: Presidential Election announced - 6th October
but why even this farce of "presidential elections" ?? I mean he's been customizing the constitution & issuing ordinances left n right according to his personal needs - so just make another amendment saying something like till death do us apart.
This will save us from being a laughing stock among the nations. Some circus!
Re: Presidential Election announced - 6th October
Excellent choice of candidates :k:
Re: Presidential Election announced - 6th October
Just 12 more days to go. :)
Re: Presidential Election announced - 6th October
It will be a proper democratic contest.
**Lawyers nominate Justice(R) Wajihuddin as presidential candidate **
ISLAMABAD: Supreme Court Bar Association has nominated Justice(R) Wajeehuddin Ahmad as presidential candidate. Justice(R) Tariq Mahmood on behalf of the Supreme Court Bar Association announced this here on Monday. Justice(R) Tariq said that Wajeehuddin Ahmad would compete President Pervez Musharraf on behalf of lawyers and if government would try to create any hindrance in filing of nomination papers, it would be resisted. He said that the nomination papers would be filed on September 27. Justice(R) Wajeehuddin Ahmad had refused to take oath under PCO and resigned from his office.
Re: Presidential Election announced - 6th October
good choice. Obviously he won't win but I already liked him.
I was guessing it would be Fakhur ud din Ebrahim seeing how he has been Governor Sindh.
Re: Presidential Election announced - 6th October
Fine man Wajihuddin, but how does he plan to tackle the issues surrounding Pakistan?
By wearing colorful kurtas and shirts and sitting half-reclined in a seat at one talk show or another every night?