Amendment to PCO

General Pervez Musharraf has transferred the power to lift the state of emergency to President Pervez Musharraf by amending the Provisional Constitutional Order (PCO) which he as army chief promulgated earlier this month, basically to achieve certain objectives, which the Constitution could not.
If Attorney General Malik Qayyum is to be believed, from the first of next month General Pervez Musharraf will cease to be the Chief of Army Staff, for by then the Supreme Court would have, hopefully, upheld his eligibility for re-election. He had made a commitment to the court that if re-elected he would doff his military uniform. But his desire to keep his grip on things as tight as he has had all these eight years remains strong, so much so that he has refused to take counsel on the issue of lifting emergency even from his very close foreign friends and allies.
He says, in so many words, that in the absence of state of emergency democracy cannot come to Pakistan. Of course, there are few takers of his argument in support of retaining the state of emergency, especially when it is seen to have nothing to do with, turbulence in tribal areas or suicide bombings which were mentioned as the causes having triggered imposition of emergency. Two obvious successes the emergency brought to the government were a ban on the rallies by the opposition parties and a suffocating stranglehold on the media.
These bans and bars are likely to continue during the run-up to general elections that are expected to take place in the first week of next year. But there is a silver lining to these dark clouds that envelop the national political scene, and it is that General Pervez Musharraf has finally made up his mind to shed the uniform. Given our historical perspective his decision to retire from the all-powerful army post is no mean achievement of the civil society and political opposition.
To transfer the power of imposing emergency from the Chief of Army Staff to the office of President could have stemmed from General Musharraf's thinking that he should not be seen to be depending on the future army chief to keep the emergency enforced, the present emergency being the product of the PCO promulgated by a man in uniform. Such a perception draws sustenance also from the fact that during his power-sharing negotiations with Benazir Bhutto he had stuck to his stance that he would not give up his right to dissolve the National Assembly under Article 58(2)b.
Armed with the power to dissolve the National Assembly under Article 58(2)b and the power to lift emergency when he wished would give a civilian President Pervez Musharraf almost the same political clout as to a uniformed President.
People ask what is it that keeps him so tightly hooked to power? Is it his belief that in this country of 160 million people there is no other person who matches his competence in running Pakistan or is it the fear of revenge by his victims that stops him from dismounting the lion he is riding? It is General Musharraf who is on the cross-roads.
What is it that he wants to do now that he could not do in the last eight years of his absolute rule? He can take the road - which he seems to be taking - or, call it a day and let the Constitution work the way for a harassed people out of the quicksand that is taking them down inch by inch hour by hour. This is the defining moment for President Pervez Musharraf.
As things tend to develop on the political front, there is no hope of the situation getting any better on the economic front. Uncertainty has already triggered a downtrend with all-round negative impact on myriad economic activities. Pakistan's ranking abroad is in a nosedive, foreign capital is being withdrawn and new projects have been put on hold in a wait-and-see mode. There is a noticeable decline in foreign investment in the backdrop of a desperate situation created by political uncertainty.
We fully recognise and endorse the right of political parties and groups to strive and struggle to gain power with the help of vote. We also uphold the concept of change of guard through election. But we believe that the desperate situation that Pakistan is in today does not brook a desperate way out of it.
Political leadership, in power or out of power, is beholden to the people of Pakistan to protect and promote national interest by keeping their movements within the confines of law and decency. Everything is at stake. We may differ with the United States government on many accounts but what Ambassador Anne W. Patterson said the other day, needs to be reheard. Addressing the National Defence University, Islamabad, she warned her Pakistani audience not to "throw away in weeks what it has taken years to achieve".