Archive for August, 2009

Office of the president by Anwar Syed

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August 31st by Anwar Syed.

PERVEZ Musharraf resigned as president on Aug 18. The two Houses of parliament and the four provincial assemblies, acting as an electoral college, will elect a new president on Sept 6.

One should like to think that the person they choose will have the qualifications that answer his job description spelled out in the constitution.

The president is head of the state and represents the unity of the republic. He is to be kept posted on the cabinet’s decisions and proposed legislation. He may suggest reconsideration of such decisions but must accept them if they remain the same even after they have been reconsidered. In performing his functions he is to act on the prime minister’s advice.

The president summons and prorogues the National Assembly and may call for a joint sitting of the two Houses of parliament; may dissolve the National Assembly in the event of a constitutional breakdown, order new elections, and appoint a caretaker government for the interim. He assents to bills passed by parliament before they can become law, may return a bill for reconsideration with his recommendations for revision, but must assent to it after it has been passed again with or without amendment. He may cause a referendum to be held on a question of national importance that will admit of a ‘yes’ or ‘no’ answer.

He appoints persons to the posts of chief election commissioner and chairman of the Federal Public Service Commission in his discretion; provincial governors in his discretion but after consulting the prime minister; chairman of the joint chiefs committee and chiefs of the army, navy and air force in consultation with the prime minister. He appoints the chief justice of Pakistan and appoints the other judges of the Supreme Court after consultation with the chief justice. The Supreme Court has interpreted this requirement to mean that the president has no discretion with regard to these appointments.

The president has real operational authority in relation to the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (Fata). Acts of parliament do not apply here except in so far as he may require. He is to make such regulations as he deems appropriate for the peace and good governance of these areas. The governor of the province where a tribal area is located acts as his agent and carries out his directions.

Commentators who assert that the president has enormous power are simply wrong. Apart from Fata, the constitutional stipulations noted above actually add up to a bill of constraints on his authority. His discretionary authority to appoint is limited to two posts (mentioned above) neither of which is a carrier of much power. He may disregard the prime minister’s advice in appointing provincial governors, but they too, are largely ceremonial heads of provinces as the president is of the federation.

The president appoints the service chiefs in (not after) consultation with the prime minister, meaning that the latter’s concurrence with the president’s choice is necessary. And he has no discretionary authority at all when it comes to the appointment of judges. His power to dissolve the National Assembly (Article 58-2b) can be exercised only if it can be shown that a constitutional breakdown has indeed occurred. The courts can annul his action if it is found to have been arbitrary.

It should then be clear that there isn’t a whole lot the president can do of his own accord. Unless the prime minister turns out to be excessively submissive and willing to take external direction, the president of Pakistan cannot be much more than a figurehead.

As stated above, the president represents the country’s unity, dignity and honour. It follows that a candidate for the president’s office must also be a man of honour, one who inspires trust and confidence. He must also have the qualifications required of a member of the National Assembly. Article 62 of the constitution lists these qualifications including the following. A person seeking election to the National Assembly must bear a good moral character and have an adequate knowledge of Islamic teachings. He should not be known as one who violates Islamic injunctions. He must also be sagacious, righteous, honest, ameen, and a keeper of his covenants.

Nomination papers for the presidential election have been filed for a large number of persons, including Mr Asif Ali Zardari, who is being billed as the candidate most likely to win. It is not clear why he wants a post which, as we have seen above, is for the most part ceremonial and devoid of operational authority.

I saw a report in this newspaper (Aug 21) saying that Nawab Zulfiqar Ali Magsi, governor of Balochistan, had sent in his resignation, but Mr Zardari had asked him to continue working. Another report had it that Nawab Raisani, the chief minister, had gone to Islamabad and requested Zardari not to accept Magsi’s resignation. Normally Mr Zardari, who holds no elective or appointive office, would have nothing to do with the acceptance of a governor’s resignation. But it so happens that he does: he has been directing the present government since his party took power five months ago. One may then expect that he will do more of the same, and unabashedly, when he comes to hold an office, and in this case that of the president of Pakistan.

Moving on to another aspect of the matter, it may be argued that Mr Zardari, who has recently advised us that covenants made with others need not be kept, does not meet the constitutionally mandated conditions of eligibility for election to the National Assembly (noted above), which a candidate for the presidency must also have. He may be intelligent, even clever. But one’s imagination would have to be stretched to preposterous limits for him/her to believe that Mr Zardari is a preserver of Islamic virtues, righteous, trustworthy, sagacious and capable of personifying this country’s honour.

Yet, the PPP has named him as its candidate for the presidency, and the ANP, MQM, JUI-F and some of the provincial assemblies have endorsed his candidacy. I cannot claim to understand this show of support for Mr Zardari’s ambition to occupy greater heights of power and glory. I have been studying this country’s politics for some 40 years. I thought I understood it all. But evidently there is an abominable streak in the culture of Pakistani politicians that I had failed to see.

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