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Tribunals give relief to ‘victims’ of returning officers

Thursday, April 11, 2013





Tribunals give relief to ‘victims’ of returning officers
Saeed Minhas
ISLAMABAD: Questions hovering around the discretionary powers of the lower judiciary in scrutiny process of candidates and relevance of Articles 62 and 63 seems to have gained legitimacy on Wednesday as many of the known political big shots including PML-N’s Ayaz Amir, PPP’s Amin Fahim, and Abid Imam and PML-Q’s Faisal Saleh Hayat got their nomination papers accepted from Election Tribunals.
Chances of Gen. Musharraf getting his rights to contest elections from Kasur, Karachi and Islamabad are likely to be restored as he too has challenged his disqualification. Former prime minister Raja Pervaiz Ashraf is also expecting the same from the judges of election tribunals as he too was thrown out of the race by ROs on grounds of dishonesty. “Restorations of these candidates from tribunals seems to have exposed standards of our lower judiciary for which our supreme commanders of judiciary would be feeling ashamed,” commented many of the restored candidates and their legal counsels.
Election Tribunals, headed by judges of High Courts in all four provincial capitals or their regional registries, have received more than 500 applications against the discretionary decisions of Returning Officers (ROs) in the first two days of their functioning. Majority of the candidates rejected by ROs were considered to be misfit to contest elections either on moral or purported allegations of corruption. Open ended articles 62 and 63 were used with such an inconsistent impunity throughout the first phase of scruntiy by ROs that a syndicated columnists Ayaz Amir was thrown out of the race for exercising his fundamental right of expression.
Talking to reporters , Ayaz Amir said his case was different from the others, adding that he had just given his personal views in his column. He said that he would try to raise his voice against Articles 62 and 63 after winning the election.
Tribunals will be taking decisions on appeals till April 17. Last date for withdrawal of candidature is April 18. After which, the EC will publish a revised list of candidates on April 19.



World capitals keep anxious eye out for election results

Mohammed Rizwan
LAHORE: As the national elections draw closer, not only people across the country wait with bated breath for the outcome of what is being billed as ‘make or break elections, foreign capitals around the world too, are watching anxiously for the emergence of new leader in Islamabad.
True, most nations that deal with Pakistan understand where the equilibrium of power lies when it comes to foreign policy issues, however, the ideology and public demeanor of the new national leader will certainly have the potential to induce changes, however slight, in the framing of foreign policy objectives. The all important capitals for Pakistan – Washington, New Delhi, Kabul, Beijing, Riyadh and Tehran – would certainly like to know how the new leader responds to centrifugal forces. Given, like all other civilian leaders, the new leader would also remain in the national security orbit but certain leaders would have different tendencies dealing with various capitals. And that slight tilt or pull in certain situations, could matter.
Take scenario one. If, as some polls suggest, Nawaz or brother Shahbaz head a PML-N coalition, it will be an interesting scenario for Washington as both Sharifs are publicly staunch opponents of US drone policy which has been so effective so far for Washington. Here, Washington will definitely have to give concessions to new civilian government to save them from public embarrassment. The concession could come in form of more intelligence sharing from Pakistan which, consequently, could cut back on collateral damage, the main source of friction.
Two, the sources of aid from Washington are not going to flow back to heydays anytime soon and it has the potential of decreasing the US leverage on Pakistan. It would mean that Pakistan’s dependence on Riyadh will increase more as long as Sharifs would stay in power. However, the catch is to perform the balancing act between the Saudi wishes and Tehran’s aspirations. Pakistan, like during President Zardari’s time would be in a position to keep acting as a balancing wedge between Riyadh and Tehran.
Pakistan will continue to seek a friendly, if not pro-Pakistan, government in Kabul and the use of proxies against any future Northen Alliance-led government is likely to reduce.
As far as New Delhi is concerned, Islamabad will be practically receptive to friendship offers but in public, the rhetoric will have to match the wishes of real power centres. The bilateral trade with Beijing and Delhi will pick up as would the quest for new markets.
If Pakistan Tehrik-i-Insaf, somehow, surprises its detractors and manages to form government in either Centre (unlikely) or Khyber Pakhtoonkhaw (more likely), there could be a long-drawn process of talks with TTP and affiliates with the help of tribal leaders that may result in relative calm in the country’s embattles north-west. FATA will be brought under the provincial government to give the Pakistan administration more development leverage in the area. Imran’s personal charm and influence over the tribals would play a key role in bringing those areas to normalcy and that might give PTI a nation-wide popularity. If PTI rules in KPK or centre it will be the time of talk-talk and little fight on the side. However, none of these two parties will have ultimate say in the affairs of Balochistan. Islamabad’s foreign policy preferences will continue to reflect in Balochistan and mere dressing on the wound will not be enough to bring peace in the province. However, here, PTI will be more willing to change its foreign policy directions to redress the situation in Balochistan as compared to conservative PML-N. 

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