Many a slip twixt cup and lip

ISLAMABAD, April 1: The oath-taking of 24-member Pakistani cabinet from Pervez MusharrafPervez Musharraf, who is imposing himself against the decission of the 160 million Pakistanis.
Judges' restoration issue and repealing of article 58(2)B may irk President Musharraf
ISLAMABAD, March 31: A 24-member cabinet on Monday took oath from President Musharraf who is a thorn in the flesh of almost all the coalition partners who have presently formed the government as a result of the February 18 general elections in this South Asian country.
Several of the ministers who took oath of their office and even the Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gillani have suffered jail terms while Pervez Musharraf's erstwhile supporter, the Pakistan Muslim League Quaid or PML-Q was in power from 2002 till end 2007.
The cabinet that took oath in Pakistan on March 31 is unique in a sense that it is consisting of four parties - Pakistan People' Party (PPP), Pakistan Muslim League Nawaz (PML-N), Awami National Party (ANP) and Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam (JUI) - all of them have fought a long struggle against Pervez Musharraf since 1999.
This is the first cabinet in the history of Pakistan that the liberal PPP, moderate PML-N, nationalist ANP and hardliner JUI have come together and have formed a government to drive the nuclear-armed country out of the mess where it is presently in, especially the worsening security situation.
Another interesting aspect of the March 31 oath-taking ceremony was that several of the future ministers have fastened black bands around their arms to mark their protest against an "un-elected" president.
Last year, Pervez Musharraf had elected himself for another five-year term from the same assembly the life of which was going to end less than a month back and which had already elected him for five years in 2002.
Leaders of all the four coalition parties, including Asif Ali ZardariAsif Ali Zardari, Nawaz SharifNawaz Sharif, Asfandyar Wali and Fazlur Rehman, were also absent from the unimpressive ceremony where President Musharraf readout the wordings of the oath with grim face while the 24 members followed.
With the oath-taking of the 24-member cabinet, the government formation in Pakistan has been completed although it is expected that another batch of about a dozen ministers would also take oath of office in the come fortnight; however, the biggest tumbling stone in the way is the presence of an unwanted president who seems adamant to resign despite numerous voices from all directions.
While the PPP of late Benazir BhuttoBenazir Bhutto's widower Asif Ali Zardari has taken a softer stand so far against Musharraf and trying to avoid a direct conflict with the presidency, the PML-N of Nawaz Sharif, who was overthrown, jailed and then exiled by Musharraf in 1999, is in no mood of reconciliation with the "controversial" president.
Looking at the track record of Pakistani democracy since 1988, the year when the despotic ruler and architect of Afghan jihad in Pakistan Gen. Ziaul Haq and more than a dozen other senior officers killed in an air crash, three of the four elected governments, who refused to toe the line, were sent home by the president using the power conferred in him through the article 58 (2) B of the Constitution of Pakistan.
The government formed in 2002 was the exceptional case as it completed its term, but it was because it had the blessings of Pervez Musharraf and was composed of "yes" men. Now that Pervez Musharraf is still armed with the same 58 (2) B, the foremost job for the coalition government would be to clip his powers so that he may not be able to create hurdles in the way of democracy.
Secondly, the coalition partners - Zardari and Nawaz Sharif - in their Murree declaration soon after the February election, had promised the nation that they would restore the judges, including the top judge Iftikhar Chaudhry, who were sacked by Pervez Musharraf for refusing to take a fresh oath of office under his provisional constitutional order (PCO) after his imposition of emergency in Pakistan on Nov. 3, 2007.
The two leaders, Zardari and Nawaz, had promised they would re-instate the judges in 30 days after the kicking off of the parliamentary business. Hence, the countdown is underway and the Pakistan masses are looking towards the outcome.
In the meantime, while the repealing of 58(2)B would not irk the president as much, the restoration of judges can become a matter of honour for both the Presidency and the Prime Minister and can prove the first stone in the still water in the days ahead.
ENDS