ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s top law official yesterday ruled out courts interfering in a possible impeachment of President Pervez Musharraf. “It (the impeachment) is a political issue and not a legal one,” Attorney General Malik Qayyum told Arab News. “Now decisions will be made by Parliament and not the courts. Parliament makes laws; courts simply interpret them.”
Qayyum, who was appointed by Musharraf, was responding to reports that Sharifuddin Pirzada, a legal luminary and constitutional expert, had advised Musharraf to move the Supreme Court to block impeachment proceedings. All judges in the current Supreme Court have pledged loyalty to a constitution rewritten by Musharraf and hence are considered biased in favor of the president by his critics.
Musharraf also received a setback yesterday when a key ruling party held firm against any deal that would protect him from criminal charges. Sadiqul Farooq, a spokesman for the party of ex-Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, whom Musharraf ousted in a 1999 coup, said legal guarantees were out of the question.
Sharif’s party is the second largest in the coalition, and has said Musharraf should be tried for treason, which carries a maximum punishment of death.
“It will be in the interest of the country and the nation to make him an example in accordance with the constitution and the law,” Farooq said.
That is a tougher tone than the line taken by the senior coalition partner, the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP).
Information Minister Sherry Rehman, a top PPP member, said that her party “does not indulge in the politics of revenge as it wants a stable Pakistan and a sustainable democracy in the country.”
But the country’s foreign minister, also from the PPP, said Musharraf needs to make up his mind in two days. “Musharraf is running out of time,” said Shah Mahmood Qureshi. “If he fails to decide to quit within the next two days, the impeachment process will take its course.”
Talking to reporters in Multan, Qureshi said the Pakistani Army and the United States respect the constitution of Pakistan. Answering a question, he said that if Sharif would like to become the president, the coalition government would consider it.
Musharraf dominated Pakistan for years after seizing power in the bloodless military coup, gaining favor from the US after supporting its war on terrorism. He gave up his dual role as army chief and president late last year, but by then he had grown very unpopular. Many Pakistanis blame rising violence in their country on his alliance with the United States against the Taleban and Al-Qaeda.
— With input from agencies
