Politics
Pakistan: Amnesty's expiry casts shadow over president's future
Islamabad, 16 Nov. (AKI) - By Syed Saleem Shahzad - When a controversial political amnesty expires later this month, senior analysts believe the knives will be out for Pakistan's president Asif Ali Zardari, who will be forced to step down or to accept a curtailment of his powers.
The decree - The National Reconciliation Ordinance - was issued by former president Pervez Musharraf in October 2007 to scrap pending corruption cases against civil servants and politicians.
It resulted from a political deal between Musharraf and slain former Pakistani prime minister and PPP leader Benazir Bhutto and dropped corruption cases against her and her husband Zardari.
A frontpage editorial published on Monday in the largest Pakistani (Urdu language) newspaper said Zardari's political career had reached a critical juncture.
"The non-political forces (the military establishment) have made up their mind to say farewell to a political president. Media, judiciary and the allies' political parties have mounted so much pressure against Zardari that those forces (the military establishment) feel that Zardari’s removal would not cause any reprisal in any part of the country except of parts (rural) of Sindh province,” wrote Mahmoud Sham.
Sham is the editor of the largest Pakistani (Urdu language) newspaper, the Jang group of newspapers which owns The News International and Geo TV.
The comments by the country's most seasoned journalist , reflected developments in Pakistan over the past few weeks. He has been very close to Musharraf and the present military establishment as well as to Zardari's ruling Pakistan Peoples Party .
Zardari has been determined to get the NRO approved by the parliament. But the prime minister, Yousuf Raza Gilani, who is close to the military establishment, refused to do so.
Gilani told Zardari he would rather resign than defend such a discriminatory law. After failing to get Gilani's support, Zardari decided not to table the ordinance in the parliament.
“The NRO is going to expire on the next day of Eidul Adha (when Muslims sacrifice the animals to remember Prophet Abraham and his Son Ismail).
The NRO will expire and warrant some people for a sacrifice,” a celebrity figure at Geo TV Dr Shahid Masood said in his TV show.
However, former prime minister Nawaz Sharif said in a TV interview that the NRO is a wholly judicial not a parliamentary issue. Sharif, who heads the largest opposition party, Pakistani-Muslim-League-N, has called the NRO "shameful".
The real power in Pakistan is the army and all power-broking is conducted with the armed forces, observers have said.
When United States secretary of state Hillary Clinton visited Pakistan earlier this month, she held meetings with army chief of staff Gen. Ashfaq Parvez Kayani and the head of Pakistan's military intelligence, Gen. Ahmad Shuja Pasha, according to sources.
Just as the US watched while Musharraf departed from office, Washington is ready to see Zardari sidelined in the realisation that the army is most likely to deliver success in the fight against militants in Afghanistan and Pakistan.
The decree - The National Reconciliation Ordinance - was issued by former president Pervez Musharraf in October 2007 to scrap pending corruption cases against civil servants and politicians.
It resulted from a political deal between Musharraf and slain former Pakistani prime minister and PPP leader Benazir Bhutto and dropped corruption cases against her and her husband Zardari.
A frontpage editorial published on Monday in the largest Pakistani (Urdu language) newspaper said Zardari's political career had reached a critical juncture.
"The non-political forces (the military establishment) have made up their mind to say farewell to a political president. Media, judiciary and the allies' political parties have mounted so much pressure against Zardari that those forces (the military establishment) feel that Zardari’s removal would not cause any reprisal in any part of the country except of parts (rural) of Sindh province,” wrote Mahmoud Sham.
Sham is the editor of the largest Pakistani (Urdu language) newspaper, the Jang group of newspapers which owns The News International and Geo TV.
The comments by the country's most seasoned journalist , reflected developments in Pakistan over the past few weeks. He has been very close to Musharraf and the present military establishment as well as to Zardari's ruling Pakistan Peoples Party .
Zardari has been determined to get the NRO approved by the parliament. But the prime minister, Yousuf Raza Gilani, who is close to the military establishment, refused to do so.
Gilani told Zardari he would rather resign than defend such a discriminatory law. After failing to get Gilani's support, Zardari decided not to table the ordinance in the parliament.
“The NRO is going to expire on the next day of Eidul Adha (when Muslims sacrifice the animals to remember Prophet Abraham and his Son Ismail).
The NRO will expire and warrant some people for a sacrifice,” a celebrity figure at Geo TV Dr Shahid Masood said in his TV show.
However, former prime minister Nawaz Sharif said in a TV interview that the NRO is a wholly judicial not a parliamentary issue. Sharif, who heads the largest opposition party, Pakistani-Muslim-League-N, has called the NRO "shameful".
The real power in Pakistan is the army and all power-broking is conducted with the armed forces, observers have said.
When United States secretary of state Hillary Clinton visited Pakistan earlier this month, she held meetings with army chief of staff Gen. Ashfaq Parvez Kayani and the head of Pakistan's military intelligence, Gen. Ahmad Shuja Pasha, according to sources.
Just as the US watched while Musharraf departed from office, Washington is ready to see Zardari sidelined in the realisation that the army is most likely to deliver success in the fight against militants in Afghanistan and Pakistan.
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