Musharraf eyes power to sack elected govt

Barely four months ahead of general elections, Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf on Wednesday unveiled a series of constitutional amendments to arm himself with the power to sack elected governments and to provide a permanent role for the army in the country's power structure.

The amendments, to be finalised and approved by the Cabinet and National Security Council (NSC) at a later date, were released to the press by Information Secretary Syed Anwar Mahmood.

Claiming that the amendments were aimed at establishing a "sustainable" federal democracy, Mehmood told the mediapersons here that the form of government remained entirely parliamentary with the executive authority of the state unambiguously vested in the office of the prime minister.

Outlining the power-sharing between president and the elected prime minister, the proposed amendments would empower the president to relieve the premier and the cabinet if the president felt that they were responsible for serious abuse of authority or failure to check corruption or compromise on national security interests or violation of the constitution.

Another controversial amendment proposed to be introduced by Musharraf is the formation of NSC by making the entire top brass of the military as its members.

In a measure to bar former prime ministers Benazir Bhutto and Nawaz Sharif from contesting elections, a controversial clause of the draft amendments bars people convicted by courts for corruption, immoral practices and misuse of power from being an election candidate.

The move to empower presidency permanently was strongly criticised by the mainstream political parties which said Musharraf was attempting to derive an unfair advantage without the responsibility of contesting polls.

Continuing the dual roles of Chief of the Army as well as President of the Country, Musharraf consolidated his rule recently by a referendum in April to get himself elected.

The referendum was marred by allegations of irregularities. Political parties argued that it was unconstitutional and Musharraf needed to get himself elected for the presidency by the elected representatives.

On the formation of NSC by making the entire top brass of the military as its members, the draft amendment says "there shall be an NSC to serve as consultation forum on strategic matters pertaining to sovereignty, integrity and security of the state, structures, systems and state of federal democracy and governance, removal of federal or provincial cabinets, dissolution of national or provincial assemblies or proclamation of emergency."

The president shall be the Chairman of the Council while prime minister and chief ministers of provinces, Chairman Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee and three services chiefs will be its members.

Questioning this, the political parties argued that this was an attempt by Musharraf to impose a permanent army rule as the amendment provides role for the armed forces in power sharing.

Musharraf in his recent briefings argued that the best way to prevent future military coups and destabilisation of democracy was to provide role for the army.

Islamabad, June 26, 2002 (PTI)