ISLAMABAD: The opposition Pakistan Muslim League-N may challenge ‘suitability’ of Asif Ali Zardari to remain in the Presidency on health grounds and a process of consultation within the party has already started, sources told Dawn on Wednesday.
The option, according to the sources, had been discussed by some senior members of the party and any decision to that effect would be taken only after a complete homework and giving the government an ample time to take the nation into confidence about the nature of illness of the president, who is under treatment in Dubai.
“Yes, of course. If a person is not able to even travel to Pakistan how can he function as the country’s president,” said a senior PML-N member when asked if the party could go for a move to get President Zardari removed from the office on health ground.
Without elaborating, he said the party had been receiving various “conflicting and disturbing” reports about the health of President Zardari, who is also Co-Chairman of the Pakistan People’s Party. The PML-N leader said the political situation had become fluid and uncertain since the day Mr Zardari suddenly departed to Dubai under mysterious circumstances and such a situation for a longer period could be detrimental for the country, already facing multiple crises.
The first hint to the PML-N’s possible move came from Leader of the Opposition in the National Assembly Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan. He told reporters outside the Parliament House on Wednesday that he would raise the issue of the president’s health in the assembly meeting on Thursday.
Chaudhry Nisar said conflicting statements coming from the prime minister, presidential spokesman and a number of PPP leaders about the president’s health had created confusion and doubts in the minds of people. He accused the government of holding the media and the opposition responsible for the prevailing state of confusion.
The opposition leader said his party did not want to play up the issue of president’s health, but at the same time wanted to remove the confusion. “In every democratic country, it is the right of the people to know about the illness of their president or prime minister.”
He alleged that hiding facts from the people had become a habit of the government, be it May 2 US Abbottabad raid, terrorists’ attack on a naval base in Karachi or negotiations with the Taliban. When contacted, former Supreme Court judge Fakharuddin G. Ibrahim said only parliament had the powers to remove a president on health ground or for any other reason. “I don’t think so,” he said when asked if the Supreme Court could be moved to ascertain the health condition of the president and his eligibility to remain in the office.
Mr Ibrahim said any medical board to determine the health condition of a president could only be constituted by the parliament.
President Zardari’s sudden ailment and his choice of Dubai for treatment on Dec 6 has left political circles and general public guessing about his future and what will follow if he resigns as being speculated in some circles, particularly after the publication last week of an article by a credible US foreign policy website.
The country’s political history marred by frequent military interventions shows that Fazal Elahi Chaudhry was the only democratically-elected president who had completed his five-year term from August 14, 1973, to September 16, 1978.
Former presidents Ghulam Ishaq Khan, Farooq Leghari and Rafiq Tarar had to go home without completing their terms.
Although former president Gen Pervez Musharraf managed to complete his first five-year term with the help of the 17th Amendment which provided him indemnity for his unconstitutional acts, he could not complete his second term and had to resign on Aug 18, 2008, to evade a possible impeachment through parliament.
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