16 March 2009

ISLAMABAD: In what is being described as the first major concession to popular opposition leaders, Pakistan President Asif Ali Zardari said his government would seek a review of a Supreme Court ruling last month that barred former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and his brother Shahbaz Sharif from elected office.

“The federal government will file a review petition in the Supreme Court against last month’s verdict,” said Zardari’s spokesman Farhatullah Babar. “This is part of the government’s policy to resolve political issues through reconciliation and negotiation. We want to bring down the political temperature.”

The presidency announced that Zardari and Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani agreed that the “issue of judiciary and restoration of judges would be resolved in accordance with the principles laid down in the Charter of Democracy.”

That document, signed by Zardari’s wife, Benazir Bhutto, and Nawaz Sharif in 2006, pledged to restore democracy, avoid confrontation and abolish the role of the military in politics.

Zardari has reneged on three written promises to reinstate judges sacked by former President Pervez Musharraf.

Yesterday’s climbdown by Zardari came a few hours after US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton telephoned him and the Sharif brothers. “Her telephone call was to convey US support for Pakistan’s democracy and its economy,” said Babar. “The US is keen to see a stable and democratic system strengthened.”

It was unclear if the government’s move to file a review petition would be enough to blunt plans by lawyers and Sharif supporters to converge on Islamabad for a mass sit-in in front of Parliament tomorrow.

Ishaq Dar, a close Sharif aide, said Zardari’s review petition decision was a good move. The court could suspend its previous decision, he said, effectively reinstating the Pakistan Muslim League (N) government in Punjab.

“Sense must prevail in the face of Pakistan’s mounting economic problems and struggle against extremism,” Dar told Dawn News television.

However, he said the party would not compromise on its support for the lawyers. “There is no trade-off,” he insisted.

Ahsan Iqbal, a spokesman for Sharif, said he would wait to see how the announcement on the restoration of judges would play out, but welcomed the review petition decision.

“We will see how these things happen ... how judges will be restored ... it is not yet clear,” he said.

Throughout the day yesterday, police detained hundreds of lawyers and opposition activists since a crackdown was launched on Wednesday in a bid to thwart the cross-country protest.

“So far our attitude is soft, but we can change our strategy,” Ali Ahmad Kurd, president of Supreme Court Bar Association, said in Quetta after police prevented him from boarding a plane to Lahore. “When one path is blocked, God opens 100 others, and we will reach Lahore and then Islamabad,” said Kurd, whose road convoy was turned back by police a day earlier.

The lawyers’ main demand is the reinstatement of deposed Supreme Court Chief Justice Iftikhar Chaudhry, who was dismissed in 2007 by Musharraf. The move triggered a countrywide protest, spearheaded mostly by lawyers, which ultimately forced Musharraf to quit in August 2008.

Army spokesman Maj. Gen. Athar Abbas said the government put the army on notice on Friday that troops might be needed to protect “sensitive areas” in Islamabad and elsewhere.

“When the situation deteriorates, gets out of hand of police, paramilitary (troops), only then the army is deployed,” Abbas added.