CJ warns Nawaz of opening cases if he supported judicial commission

[sonicboom]

CJ warns Nawaz of opening cases if he supported judicial commission

WASHINGTON: Chief Justice of Pakistan, Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhary had warned PML-N Chief Nawaz Sharif of opening all cases against him incase he supported Government proposed judicial commission regarding judges’ appointment.

It is revealed in a report published on the website of Time dot com here on Sunday. It was quoted in the report that a senior leader of PPP on condition of anonymity said that Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhary has become an absolute dictator and did not want his powers reduced.

The differences between the Chief Justice and the government over the proposed constitutional reforms have widened and the differences worsened at a time when last year Chief Justice had given verdict regarding elimination of amnesty to Pervez Musharraf.

It is also mentioned in the report that there was Chief Justice’s hand in opposition of constitutional package by Mian Nawaz Sharif at the eleventh-hour when the package was scheduled to be tabled in the parliament on Friday.

Some senior political leaders also see hands of Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhary in pressurizing Mian Nawaz Sharif while several legal experts think that the government wanted such a chief justice and court ,which to be its subordinate and not independent.

The report further says the deadlock on judges’ appointment issue could have far-reaching implications on the political situation of the country.

Director International Crises Group Pakistan, Samina Ahmed said that the differences over the issue could affect various sectors of the government and the problem in Pakistan has been the military’s intervention and the judiciary in the past has supported every military intervention. The supporters of CJ’s stance were of the veiw that he would continue playing his role by keeping himself impartial. Despite of all criticism, the CJ was also stated as a hero who stood against the establishment and a military dictator. It was stated that he was an active jurist who had many powers.

The Chief Justice’s relationships with the pillars of civilian and military power, President Asif Ali Zardari and Army Chief General Ashfaq Kayani respectively, could be important in shaping Pakistan’s transition from de facto military rule to civilian democracy.

For complete article, please see:

Pakistan's Chief Justice Takes on its Political Class - TIME

 

[qsaark]

Where is the proof of any such warning? Looks like what role 'Jang' was playing for the PML(N), is now being played by the 'Dawn' for the PPP. If that 'anonymous' PPP politician had any concrete proof (audio recordings etc) he wouldn't have to conceal his identity like this. Recently PML(N) had expressed its reservation on Babur Awan (as he is nominated in cases of corruption) to be the member of the commission; I wonder if that anonymous PPP source is no one else but Mr. Awan. The PPP is playing a very dirty game, first trying to associate the PML(N) with Taliban, and than associating the CJP with the PML(N). Who is stopping Zardari regime to request the SCoP to open up the cases against the PML(N) politicians? Were such request made? Were these requests turned down by the SCoP?

 

[sparklingway]

Nawaz has acted like an idiot no doubt, the kbab mein hadi but this is pure gossip mongering and rubbish.

 

[SekrutYakhni]

What happened to Musharaf's case in SC?

 

[sonicboom]

Zardari camp believes Nawaz was under pressure

Monday, March 29, 2010

By Tariq Butt

ISLAMABAD: President Asif Ali Zardari’s confidantes, though optimistic about breaking the deadlock over some clauses of the proposed constitutional package this week, assert that PML-N chief Nawaz Sharif found fault with the unanimously agreed mechanism of judges’ appointment at somebody else’s behest.

Most of Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) leaders have an idea as to why Nawaz Sharif backed out at the last minute ofwhat his nominees in the Raza Rabbani Committee had agreed to after due deliberations and debate, and they did convey it to the president, a senior political associate of Zardari told The News on condition of anonymity.

He did not cite the precise reason, individual or institutional, that prevailed upon Nawaz Sharif to take the U-turn, but said the president was as stunned as others over the PML-N chiefís sudden announcement.

However, the aversion of Zardari and his closest aides and the PPP as a whole towards Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry and the present superior judiciary is well known, which they loudly express in their private discussions.

PML-N Information Secretary Ahsan Iqbal dubbed as scandalous the claim that Nawaz Sharif took the stand on the judgesí nomination mechanism at somebody elseís prodding and prompting. He said what all should try to understand was that the fundamental idea behind the PML-N chiefís stance was to have an independent judiciary, much beyond the interference of the executive, especially on the issue of the judgesí appointment.

He said the accusers did not realise that amending the Constitution had always been a complex and complicated affair and emergence of difference of opinion on various issues, even at the eleventh hour, as had happened now was not something unusual, adding rather it was healthy so that no loophole was left.

A Zardariís confidante said that although there had been talk within the PPP that Nawaz Sharif came under pressure from certain quarters to change his stance, they were still trying to find out the exact reason behind his about-turn.

A political aide to Zardari said that it was part of the well-considered policy of the Presidency not to condemn what Nawaz Sharif did on Thursday but just give a mild reaction so as not to vitiate the atmosphere. “If Nawaz Sharif had succumbed to pressure, then he needs our support to offset that,” he said. “But if he had changed his mind just to avert a situation that the present government takes the credit of removing distortions and mutilations from the Constitution, we should fight it out politically.”

Another PPP leader said that the government knew it well that the PML-N and the ANP had agreed to renaming the NWFP and they were about to ink an agreement on the new nomenclature. Even after the present hassle, they would finally converge on that, he said.

In fact, a senior PML-N leader, who is always a part of the key decisions taken by Nawaz Sharif, told The News a day before Thursdayís bombshell that his party would settle on a name like Khyber Pakhtoonkhwa or Abaseen Pakhtoonkhwa. “Our preference is that Pakhtoonkhwa comes after the name suggested by us because then the province would be called by this title in future,” he said.

The PPP leader said it was wrong to assume that Nawaz Sharif did not weigh the heavy political cost that he was now paying for his surprise announcement. “If he has decided to face such a monumental loss, there must be some pressure that he could not resist,” he emphasised.

Although, Ahsan Iqbal and other PML-N leaders criticised Federal Law Minister Dr Babar Awan for giving a definite date and day for the presentation of the 18th Amendment in parliament as part of the damage control exercise, the fact is the timing and other details of the ceremony to sign the constitutional package by the members of the Raza Rabbani Committee on Thursday evening and even its tabling in the National Assembly on the following day had been decided with their consent, agreement and involvement.

Awan had made the announcement, prematurely in the PML-Nís opinion, just to hit the headline when everything had been sealed and settled. However, apart from what most PPP leaders believe, there are indications from legal circles that Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry has not been comfortable with Nawaz Sharifís demand that the prime minister should consult with the top judge about the constitutional amendments relating to the nomination of judges to the superior courts.

One source said that the chief justice might not agree to a meeting with the prime minister for such consultations because he knows that his authority to adjudicate upon the vires of the 18th Amendment subsequently, if it was challenged in the Supreme Court, would be compromised.

Even otherwise, Supreme Court Bar Association President Qazi Anwar, who has been accused by some media men, sympathetic to Zardari of having taken the chief justiceís message to Nawaz Sharif at his Raiwind residence last week to oppose the amendment regarding the judgesí appointment procedure, has publicly spoken against Justice Iftikhar Chaudhryís consultations with the prime minister for this purpose.

He held the same view when the chief justice had met the prime minister a few weeks ago at the height of the confrontation over the SC judgesí nomination. This nails the argument that Nawaz Sharif aired the different opinion on the judgesí nomination method after being asked by the chief justice to do so.

Zardari camp believes Nawaz was under pressure