An interesting artical from Ansar Abbasi about 18 amendment issue

YAHYA87

Senator (1k+ posts)
Saturday, May 01, 2010
Viewpoint

By Ansar Abbasi

ISLAMABAD: The PPP may not find strong partners in parliament to confront the Supreme Court if the latter hands down an adverse judgment on the challenged parts of the 18th Amendment.

After giving some confused signals, the PML-N, the second largest political party in parliament, has categorically announced that it would not become part of any confrontation between parliament and the judiciary no matter what the court decides.

The latest statement has come from Mian Shahbaz Sharif who told the correspondent of The News that everyone must respect the judgment of the SC, whatever it might be.

The PML-Q, yet another major political force and third largest in the Parliament, has too declared that the party would accept any decision taken by the Supreme Court.

The fourth largest political party- the MQM- also continues with its policy of showing respect to the superior judiciary whereas the other two coalition partners of the PPP- the ANP and JUI-F- may stay in the background as they have been doing in the past.

This situation would leave the PPP isolated, as the confrontation would remain between the PPP government and the judiciary. Already the PPP leaders are cutting jokes and mocking the judges on TV talk shows.

Opposition leader in the National Assembly and one of the most influential voices among top PML-N leadership Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan told The News here on Thursday night that the top PML-N leadership had decided not to become part of any confrontation no matter what the Supreme Court might decide on the petitions challenging certain parts of the 18th amendment.

He said that he had issued the policy statement of his party after consulting with the PML-N Chief Nawaz Sharif and Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif. Nisar said that the party respected the judiciarys right to do the judicial review of any law or constitutional amendment.

He said that any one could have reservations on any judgment of any court but the courts decisions had to be implemented and honoured.

The opposition leaders statement clearly disapproves recent statement of some PML-N minnows, who were of the view that the Supreme Court should avoid entertaining the petitions challenging certain parts of the 18th amendment. They had also warned that the Supreme Court would be isolated if it handed down any adverse decision in case of the 18th amendment.

It is expected that such voices would now die down after the PML-N top leadership has vocally announced the partys policy.

The PML-Q top leader Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain has already said that the Supreme Court reserves the right to review the constitution. In a recent statement, he said that his party would respect the decision of the apex court on the controversial parts of the 18th amendment.

Amongst the coalition partners, MQM, which is the second largest political party in Sindh after the PPP, is not uttering any word against the judiciary or its right to judicial review.

Some MQM MPs were asked in different TV talk shows to comment on the Supreme Court right to review the constitutional amendments if challenged but none of them questioned the judiciarys right to entertain such petitions.

The MQM, which in the past has been strongly opposed to the restoration of the pre-Nov 3, 2007 judiciary, did remarkably well to support the present judiciary by wholeheartedly accepting its decisions including even the apex courts NRO verdict, which led to the re-opening of thousands of criminal cases against MQM leaders and workers in Karachi.

MQM had shaken the world when last year it refused to vote in favour of the NRO if it was tabled before the National Assembly. After the NRO decision, the Presidency-led PPP started confronting the judiciary on different issues but the MQM never became part of any such government move.

Instead, its leadership has been demanding the implementation of the Supreme Courts decision in letter and spirit.

With this situation where the majority of the members of the Parliament would not be willing to side with the government, which is already in a confrontational mode with the judiciary, the PPP would again be isolated.

Close aides of President Asif Ali Zardari are openly criticizing the judiciary and have already expressed their displeasure over the questioning of certain parts of the 18th amendment before the Supreme Court.

Confrontation between the Parliament and judiciary suits the vested interests in the government but the things are not unfolding as per the expectations of those, who want this to happen to make the judiciary controversial.

http://thenews.jang.com.pk/top_story_detail.asp?Id=28583
 

Aniee

Citizen
I do not understand why do we support Supreme court so much? They are only protecting their own interests!
 

gazoomartian

Prime Minister (20k+ posts)
couple of weeks ago some one filed a petition against the article 248. Does any one know when is the hearing on that? Seems like PPP will keep dragging to finish its term.
 

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