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Democracy inaction - Pakistan's political paralysis
18 March 2010
The ruling Pakistan People's Party (PPP)-led coalition government is fighting for its survival as it faces two increasingly confrontational organs of the state: the judiciary and the military. By most accounts, 2010 will be a make-or-break year for this parliament.
Within months, if not weeks, of the PPP coming to power after the February 2008 elections, the stalemate over the restoration of higher-court judges sacked by then-president Pervez Musharraf during emergency rule in November 2007 had virtually paralysed government. Together with a perceived failure to tackle non-state violence, the party faced growing demands for its resignation or ousting, by the military if necessary. The democratic transition seemed like it would collapse before it even properly began.
President Asif Ali Zardari checked his government's weakening popularity when he yielded to pressure in March 2009 to restore the judges. The unwritten agreement was that in return for reinstating the higher-court judges, the restored chief justice, Iftikhar Chaudhry, would recuse himself from any politically sensitive cases.
However, in December 2009 a Chaudhry-led bench of the Supreme Court ruled that the National Reconciliation Ordinance (NRO) was unconstitutional. Promulgated in October 2007, and extended indefinitely during Musharraf's emergency rule, the ordinance essentially quashed all corruption and criminal cases against politicians and government officials initiated between January 1986 and Musharraf's coup in October 1999.
As such, the December ruling by the Supreme Court essentially reopened the cases against major political figures, including key ministers and Zardari himself, who is accused of money laundering in Switzerland. Zardari has denied these accusations. The potential impact of this is great: the first elected civilian president after eight years of military rule faces possible prosecution, his government may collapse and any ensuing political paralysis will ensure that policy responses to non-state violence that is increasing in intensity and scope will be hampered.
Pakistan's Chief Justice Iftikhar Chaudhry arrives at the Supreme Court compound in Islamabad, Pakistan, in March 2009. In December 2009, a Chaudhry-led bench of the Supreme Court ruled that the National Reconciliation Ordinance was unconstitutional, undermining governmental stability. (PA)
Democracy inaction - Pakistan's political paralysis
18 March 2010
The ruling Pakistan People's Party (PPP)-led coalition government is fighting for its survival as it faces two increasingly confrontational organs of the state: the judiciary and the military. By most accounts, 2010 will be a make-or-break year for this parliament.
Within months, if not weeks, of the PPP coming to power after the February 2008 elections, the stalemate over the restoration of higher-court judges sacked by then-president Pervez Musharraf during emergency rule in November 2007 had virtually paralysed government. Together with a perceived failure to tackle non-state violence, the party faced growing demands for its resignation or ousting, by the military if necessary. The democratic transition seemed like it would collapse before it even properly began.
President Asif Ali Zardari checked his government's weakening popularity when he yielded to pressure in March 2009 to restore the judges. The unwritten agreement was that in return for reinstating the higher-court judges, the restored chief justice, Iftikhar Chaudhry, would recuse himself from any politically sensitive cases.
However, in December 2009 a Chaudhry-led bench of the Supreme Court ruled that the National Reconciliation Ordinance (NRO) was unconstitutional. Promulgated in October 2007, and extended indefinitely during Musharraf's emergency rule, the ordinance essentially quashed all corruption and criminal cases against politicians and government officials initiated between January 1986 and Musharraf's coup in October 1999.
As such, the December ruling by the Supreme Court essentially reopened the cases against major political figures, including key ministers and Zardari himself, who is accused of money laundering in Switzerland. Zardari has denied these accusations. The potential impact of this is great: the first elected civilian president after eight years of military rule faces possible prosecution, his government may collapse and any ensuing political paralysis will ensure that policy responses to non-state violence that is increasing in intensity and scope will be hampered.
Pakistan's Chief Justice Iftikhar Chaudhry arrives at the Supreme Court compound in Islamabad, Pakistan, in March 2009. In December 2009, a Chaudhry-led bench of the Supreme Court ruled that the National Reconciliation Ordinance was unconstitutional, undermining governmental stability. (PA)
Democracy inaction - Pakistan's political paralysis
