‘Zardari to shed many of his powers’
By IANSMonday, March 15, 2010
ISLAMABAD - Pakistan President Asif Ali Zardari has agreed to shed many of his powers, including those to dismiss the federal and provincial assemblies, as recommended by a parliamentary panel on constitutional reforms, a media report Monday said.
Zardari has agreed to quit the presidential powers taken by former president Pervez Musharraf during his regime, Online news agency reported, quoting sources.
The report of the Parliamentary Committee for Constitutional Reforms relating to this is likely to be presented in the National Assembly, the lower house of parliament later this week, it added.
Musharraf had transferred key executive powers from the prime minister’s office to the presidency through the controversial 17th amendment in 2002, which the committee has recommended to be repealed.
The powers include those to appoint the chief justice and the military chiefs.
The repeal of the 17th amendment and the reinstatement of the Supreme Court judges Musharraf had sacked after declaring an emergency Nov 3, 2007, had been the corner stone of the charter of democracy the ruling Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) and the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) had agreed upon ahead of their one-two finish in the Feb 2008 general elections.
The two parties formed a coalition government but the PML-L walked out after Zardari, the PPP co-chair, reneged on the promises.
The Supreme Court judges were reinstated in March 2009 after the PML-N’s Nawaz Sharif, a former prime minister, led a bruising lawyers ‘long march’ to Islamabad.
Now, with the repeal of the 17th amendment, the PML-N is likely to return to the coalition.
