Leaderless: government, lawyers movement

I too have been here several times making such efforts since November 2007; these addresses have been from Harvard Law to Stanford, from Congress to the State Department etc.

On July 2 those that remain of the SCBA in Pakistan announced that it would hold another Long March and stage a sit-in. “The All Pakistan Lawyers’ Representative Convention being held in Lahore on July 19 will decide the date of the march,” SCBA secretary said. Does it spell end of the reign of the president of SCBA? Only time will tell but I do not think so. As long Musharraf continues, we are bound to witness this endless dance of musical chairs amongst contenders of power.

In this political and bureaucratic atmosphere, it is really astonishingly that Boucher said, “Musharraf is not an issue.” How naive can one be? No wonder his goading Nawaz to accept this utterly unrealistic persuasion was flatly rejected. Musharraf is the major issue in Pakistan since last many years. Since 1999, the entire law and constitutional schemes have revolved around this one fulcrum: how can he remain in power? That still continues to be the theme of all major states level actions.

In this season of democratic thinking unelected advisers, mostly of the Musharraf era have outnumbered the duly elected ministers in Gilani’s cabinet to establish the proxy situation we are now confronting. The first clear violation of the constitution was committed on June 25 when the sixth adviser to the PM was named; Article 93 of the constitution permits only five. Presently, the total number of federal ministers in the government is 15. However, the number of advisers to the PM or those holding some other key positions but enjoying the status of minister has gone up to 16. This is the first time in the country’s history that such a team of unelected advisers has outgrown the size of regular ministers. Gilani presently has six advisers, and the latest is Syed Hamid Saeed Kazmi, adviser on Religious Affairs.

Constitutional advisers to the PM not only attend cabinet meetings but can also attend sittings of both the houses of parliament. In addition to these 6 advisers, there are at least 10 individuals holding different public offices but enjoying the status of federal minister. Many of them are known Musharraf sycophants. Those who have been given the status of federal ministers and ministers of state often do not write with their name federal minister or minister of state. Such “hidden” ministers also do not take oath of their office, which is mandatory for formal federal ministers and ministers of state and hence is a violation of the constitution. Therefore it is most lamentable that while Musharraf continues to hold the balance of power and to ensure his nominees retain all basic powers structures in the bureaucracy of the country the nation’s economic well being is literally going astray and into doldrums.