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Pakistani
President Pervez Musharraf
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By
Asif Farooqi, IOL Pakistan correspondent
ISLAMABAD,
November 16 (IslamOnline) - Democracy was formally restored
Saturday, November 16, in Pakistan after three years, with the
swearing in of the newly elected house of Parliament, the National
Assembly.
At
the Presidential Palace, 334 newly elected members of the National
Assembly took oath of their offices following a swearing in ceremony
where President General Pervez Musharraf also took oath of his office
for five years under the revived constitution.
Under
the road-map for the revival of democracy announced by General
Musharraf, who led a military coup to overthrow an elected government
in October 1999, revival of the constitution and the National Assembly
was to take place simultaneously followed by the fresh oath to the
President and swearing in of a new Prime Minister.
Election
of the new Prime Minister is still pending as the two main contenders
for this office, PML(Q) and the Islamists alliance Muttahiddah Majlis
e Amal Pakistan (MMAP) have not been able to reach any agreement on
this issue.
Negotiations
between these two groups are likely to go well into next week when the
Parliament has to hold elections for the Speaker and Deputy Speaker
and the Prime Minister.
Early
on Saturday when the National Assembly met for the first time in three
years, three major opposition parties refused to take oath under the
constitution as amended by General Musharraf.
Members
of the MMAP, PPPP and PML(N) asked the presiding officer of the
opening session that they would take oath only under the original 1973
constitution.
The
oath taken later went smoothly when the presiding officer, a former
speaker himself, assured the members that there was no change made in
the oath.
The
objections raised by three major groups on the very first day of the
Parliament showed that it would not be easy for President Musharraf to
get away with the amendments he made in the 1973 constitution to make
him more powerful as President against an elected civilian Prime
Minister.
Earlier
late Friday night, November 15, President Musharraf returned the
constitution back to his country after holding it in abeyance since 12
October 1999 when he led a military coup overthrowing an elected
government and arrested the then Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif.
Through
another Presidential order, General Musharraf allowed himself to
continue to exercise the powers of the chief executive of the country
till the oath taking of the new Prime Minister.
This
late night order showed that the military government had decided to
give more time to the pro-government alliance to negotiate the
government formation with the MMAP.
MMAP
leaders have expressed their inability to join the government till
such time that the President reverts some of the controversial
constitutional amendments he brought about in the original
constitution.
The
main contender to form the government, PML (Q) has been trying to
strike a deal with the MMAP on behalf of President Musharraf on the
basis of give-and-take formula.
However,
these negotiations got stalled Thursday, November 14, when the PML(Q)
leaders failed to get assurances from President Mushrraf on the
demands put forward by the MMAP.
Country
returned to democracy Saturday but without a government.
Newly
elected National Assembly also stood revived along with an amended
constitution with election of the Prime Minister still pending.
Emergence of the new government would largely depend on the success of
the negotiations between PML(Q) and MMAP.
As
the President would continue to exercise powers of the chief executive
of the country till the new Prime Minister takes office, there would
not be any constitutional vacuum even if the election of the Prime
Minister may take many days.
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