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PARLIAMENT OVERSTEPPED ITS MANDATE, saysPirzada Monday, April 19, 2010

News Desk

RAWALPINDI: Eminent lawyer Abdul Hafeez Pirzada,while expressing his views in Geo TV Programme, µMery

Mutabiq¶ of Dr Shahid Masood, said that it was notnecessary to challenge the 18th Amendment as a whole.

However, he said, some of its articles could be challenged and the court could reject the same.He said the 18th amendment was beyond his comprehension as the four basic elements of theconstitution, on which the whole constitution depends, had been violated by parliament.

He said the first pillar is parliamentary democracy under which any party leader is given the

power to recall and the prime minister being elected by the people could be called and hismembership could be terminated. The prime minister could be called to parliament for a vote of

confidence any time. Pirzada said the prime minister needed a simple majority rather than anabsolute majority for his election. ³The powers under Article 58-2(b) and appointments in the

armed forces have been taken from the president but still he enjoys the powers to ask the primeminister to take a vote of confidence,´ he said, adding: ³Definitely this article could be

challenged in the court.´

According to Pirzada, under this article the prime minister is accountable to the party head andcould be sent home any time the party head wants. Abdul Hafeez Pirzada said the second pillar is

provincial autonomy. He said it was decided to abolish the concurrent list and give powers to provinces and the most important subject remained under the provincial autonomy agenda since

the beginning but the concurrent legislative list was converted to a central legislative list. Hence,the powers were shifted from provinces to Centre, which could also be challenged in the court.

The third pillar, the eminent lawyer said, was about basic human rights. ³When human rights are

snatched from the masses and given to a single person, who is not bound to get himself elected

from the party and brings someone else after removing a public representative, this practice willdeprive the masses of their rights,´ he said.

According to Pirzada, the fourth pillar is the judiciary. He said the 1973 Constitution, thecommittee of which was headed by him, empowered the Senate standing committee to remove

the judges. ³When this proposal came to parliament, the then Chief Justice Mehmoodur Rehmantold him, as he was the law minister, that three chief justices had tendered resignations on the

issue as they could not be accountable to such a large body, that would curtail their freedom.After that all the parties unanimously decided to take back the proposal,´ he said. Pirzada said

this point could also be challenged in the court.

He said the court would be empowered to examine the 18th Amendment after the presidentwould sign the document. He said every legislator had the legislative powers but not the

constitutional powers, as both are two different things. He said this parliament was notempowered to change or terminate the basic structure of the Constitution. In such case, he said,

they needed to go for a referendum.

Pirzada said Aitzaz Ahsan¶s talk about the possibility of clash between judiciary and executivewas totally wrong. He charged parliament played havoc with the Constitution to benefit some



After the insertion of the 18th Amendment, President Zardari would not be able to remove the prime

minister and dissolve the assembly but as the PPP-head he can remove the prime minister, get unseated

any number of ministers or the members belonging to his party.

Before the 18th Amendment, the president¶s decision to remove the prime minister and dissolve the

National Assembly was linked with the upholding of such a decision by the Supreme Court but in the

post-18th Amendment Constitution, there would be no such check on the party head.

President Asif Ali Zardari is expected to deliver a speech on this occasion in order to claim credit for his

³sacrifices´ for the sake of strengthening democracy in the country. However, he is unlikely to utter a

word as to what kind of powers he is getting through the 18th Amendment as the head of the PPP.

PML-N Quaid Nawaz Sharif would also be a great gainer. The 18th Amendment would debar the present

constitutional bar on him to become the prime minister for the third time. There would now be no such

limits in the Constitution for Zardaris, Bhuttos and Sharifs. What Nawaz Sharif is getting in bonus are the

dictatorial powers that are being given to party heads.

There is no more room left for any member to vote according to his or her conscience except at the risk of

getting unseated. Even otherwise, like Co-chairperson of the PPP Asif Ali Zardari, PML-N Quaid Nawaz

Sharif, ANP leader Asfandyar Wali, PML-Q President Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain, MQM Quaid Altaf Hussain, JUI-F leader Maulana Fazlur Rehman and their likes can now get any of their member of the

National Assembly, the Senate or provincial assembly removed purely on their sweet will.

The 18th Amendment would also secure the future of these party chiefs and their families¶ hold on their

respective parties, as the mandatory condition of intra-party elections in the political parties would also

become history from Monday.

Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani is getting back his powers from the president, who, because of the

17th Amendment, has been using successive prime ministers as mere puppets. Previously, we had puppets

like Shaukat Aziz, Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain and Zafarullah Khan Jamali. Gilani too served like a puppet

because of the same 17th Amendment but to his bad luck the 18th Amendment would push him under anew set of slavery, the slavery of the party head. Bad news for Gilani is that he would continue to stay as

a puppet.

A lot has been said against corruption and against the corrupt but the good news for such a rotten lot is

that the 18th Amendment has removed the life time bar on the convicts, those dismissed from service or

sentenced to jail for misuse of power or for crime involving moral turpitude.

A sham democracy of the 17th Amendment is being replaced by the strange democracy under the 18th

Amendment, which is bound to turn political leaders into political dictators. Monday¶s Presidential

ceremony would show to the whole world how the future political dictators would celebrate these ³greatmoments´ in the history of the country¶s democracy.

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