Political And Constitutional Phases Of Pakistan 1999 Onward …

Sultana Jamil (11011561-012)Department: Environmental Science

University of Gujrat

• Military Comes to Power Again [Oct 12, 1999] 

• General Pervez Musharraf

2002-2007• General

Pervez.Musharraf announced,

• "The change will augur well for the future of Pakistan"; and said, "I think I have a role to play; I have a job to do here; I cannot and will not let this nation down".

• He gave three reasons for taking over as the President of Pakistan:

• 1.constitutional,• 2.political,• 3.economic.

Agra.Summit 

• A historic summit meeting was held between Pakistan's President Pervez Musharraf and the Indian Prime Minister AtalBehari Vajpayee in Agra, from July 14 to 16, 2001. The summit started amid high hopes of resolving various disputes between the two countries including the five decades’ old Kashmir issue.

Local_Government_System_[2001] 

September Eleven 9/11 and Its Aftermath [2001] 

On September 11, 2001, with the collapse of the World Trade Center started what the U.S. called "the war against terrorism". U.S. President George Bush termed it an act of terrorism and ssssthreatened strong action against the people who had carried out the attack. It was the Taliban and the Saudi millionaire-turned-militant Osama bin Laden who were eventually held responsible for it.

9.11…..

• General Musharraf made efforts to persuade the country's political and religious leadership to support an alliance with the United States but was partially successful in his efforts. Liberal-minded politicians agreed to fully back the government while leaders of some hard-line Islamic parties were not happy.

Referendum 2002

• The referendum took place on April 30, 2002, with no competition and no option but to vote for General Musharraf. The referendum question put forward to the people was: "For the survival of the local government system, establishment of democracy, continuity of reforms, end to sectarianism and extremism, and to fulfill the vision of Quaid-i-Azam, would you like to elect President General Pervez Musharraf as President of Pakistan for five years?" 

General Elections 2002

• After three years of military rule, Pakistan again headed towards democracy on October 10, 2002. More than 70 parties, big and small, contested the eighth national parliamentary election

• These elections were different from the previous ones due to the number of legislation passed by the Government. Convicted people were barred from taking part in elections under the Representation of the People's Act. Several other politicians were unable to contest the elections, as they did not have a Bachelor's Degree, which was a mandatory qualification in the elections

• And for the first time since 1977, the minority communities that included Christians, Hindus and Parsees contested and voted for all general seats in the National and Provincial Assemblies.

• The age limit of voting in these elections was also lowered from 21 to 18 years.

• With no party emerging with a simple majority Pakistan faced menace of a hung parliament. A coalition government was, however, set up with Mir Zafarullah Khan Jamali, the candidate of PML (Q) as the Prime Minister of Pakistan with the help of MQM, a number of independent candidates and 10 members of the Pakistan People Party Parliamentarians who defected from the party to form their own Forward Block. 

Zafarullah Khan Jamali Becomes Prime Minister [2002] 

• Zafarullah Khan Jamali was elected the 21st Prime Minister of Pakistan by the newly elected Parliament on November 21, 2002.

• President General Pervez Musharraf administered the oath to the new Prime Minster at the Aiwan-i-Sadr on November 23

• He now heads Pakistan's first civilian government after three years of military rule of General Pervez Musharraf.

Seventeenth Amendment[2003] • Seventeenth Amendment is basically the Legal Framework

Order 2002 that has been accepted as part of the Constitution with minor modifications and may be, therefore, termed as an LFO-amended Constitution. After a surprise deal between PML(Q) and MMA (MutahidaMajlis-e-Amal), the 17th Amendment has now become part of the 1973 Constitution after the formal approval of President General Pervez Musharraf.

• In the Article 179, retirement age of the Supreme Court judges has now been fixed at 65 year. This was a huge concern for the lawyers of the country who have at least welcomed this move. 

ShaukatAziz Becomes Prime Minister [2004]

• In July 2004 Pakistan's Prime Minister choose Shaukat Aziz survived a suicide attack aimed at him by al Qaida militants. Aziz would go on to win two by-elections in August paving the way to his assumption of the role of Prime Minister. Aziz had been Musharraf's Minister of Finance, and his assumption of the role of Prime Minister was aimed at attempting to focus energy on Pakistan's troubled economy.

In October 2005 an earthquake in Pakistan

• In October 2005 an earthquake in Pakistan killed over 80,000 people in the country's north. It provided a brief respite for the under attack organization of Pervez Musharraf as various political entities hooped together to tackle the civilized implications of the disaster.

• The disaster affected relationships between various radical groups and the Pakistani government and contributed to one of what had been a number of Indo-Pakistani thaws over Kashimir, despite Musharraf's claim earlier in the year that government policy on the doubtful land remained the same. The positive outcomes of the disaster were short lived as spurts of violence between the government and militants continued by the end of the year and into 2006.

2007: Year of Change

• The year 2007 brought a huge political crisis to Pakistan. Rooted in President Musharraf's initial idea of stepping down in 2007 and his following plans to stand in the long proposed 2007 elections, political crisis rapidly built up.

• Perhaps the most serious stirring incident came on 9 March 2007, when Musharraf suspended Iftikhar Chaudhry, Chief Justice of the Pakistani Supreme Court, who had largely been expected to rule that it would be illegal for Musharraf to stand in the upcoming elections.

2008 Elections

• The PPP's candidate for Prime Minister, Amin Faheem, was Zardari's main competitor.

• On 18 August 2008, under domestic political pressure from Pakistan's union government, Musharraf resigned from the presidency -- marking the end of an era.

• On 25 August 2008 Pakistan's previous prime minister Nawaz Sharif announced his Muslim League-N party is quitting the ruling partnership, putting the union at risk ahead of elections for the country's Presidency.

• On 06 September 2008Asif Ali Zardari won an estimated 482 of the 702 votes from lawmakers to become what some believe will be Pakistan's most powerful civilian leader.

• . Asif Ali Zardari won the majority of votes in three of the country's four provincial assemblies as well as in both houses of parliament. Zardari's win capped a remarkable political revival for a man who spent 11 years in prison on corruption and murder charges - without ever being convicted.

Asif Ali Zardari• . On 09 September 2008Asif Ali

Zardari, the widower of slain former Pakistani prime minister Benazir Bhutto, was confirmed in as Pakistan's new president. After his launch Tuesday, President Zardari told reporters he is accepting the position in the name of his late wife and, in his words, "in the name of all martyrs of democracy." President Zardari replaced Pervez Musharraf who stepped down under pressure a month earlier

• Pakistan’s under pressure prime minister, Yousuf Raza Gilani, made a rare appearance before the country's supreme court 19 January 2012, amid increased tensions between his government and the country’s violently independent judiciary.

• against President Asif Ali Zardari. Gilani told the court his government was unable to initiate legal proceedings against the president because he has immunity while in office.

• By mid-2012 Zardari’s government was reeling from a combination of rolling power blackouts, rising unemployment, militant attacks and a tense relationship with the United States.

• There was a situation of crisis and feeling of uncertainty, and in this kind of situation government officials do not really take very bold steps because they don’t know who would be there ruling the country next week.

• On 22 June 2012 Pakistani lawmakers elected a new prime minister to replace ousted Yousuf Raza Gilani, in a bid to end the country's political crisis

• Parliament voted crushingly in favor of former water and power minister Raja Pervez Ashraf, who had been hit with corruption claims and was partly blamed for the country's electricity crisis

• It would be a historic landmark in the country that a democratic government would complete its constitutional residence for the first time. On the other hand, as the 2013 general elections got closer, the political wheeling and dealing in the country gathered pace and new political alliances were copied before the elections. The process gained momentum as talks for new political grouping start.