President vs parliament

It would be no exaggeration to say that politics in Pakistan has always revolved around the struggle for supremacy between the two centres of power i.e. president and parliament. In the last about six decades, the struggle more often than not resulted in the victory of the former over the latter. But the moment of final victory of democracy over authoritarianism in Pakistan arrived with the President's announcement of resignation. The resources available to the heads of state in the past with which they had been able to send the assemblies packing home were no longer available to Musharraf. According to Alan MacGrath, the author of Destruction of Democracy in Pakistan, Governor-General (GG) Ghulam Muhammad had dissolved the First Constituent Assembly (CA) with the tacit support of the then Army Chief General Ayub Khan. In addition to that two other factors had helped the GG in taking the drastic step: One, the CA was indirectly elected and extra-ordinary delay in constitution-making had considerably eroded its representative character. Two, the political parties were weak and disunited. The party, which only a few years ago had spearheaded successfully the struggle for Pakistan - All India Muslim League - had suffered humiliation in the 1954 provincial elections in East Bengal. Third, the US, whose capacity to influence political affairs in Pakistan had considerably increased following latter's decision to become a Cold War ally, had no interest in supporting democracy in Pakistan. General Zia axed Junejo's government through the use of 58-2(b) because he enjoyed the support of his constituency. Ishaq Khan exploited the PPP-PML-N confrontation to twice dissolve the assemblies and Leghari took advantage of a judiciary that had turned hostile to the sitting government. But the present situation in the country presents a completely changed picture. The current parliament is a genuinely representative body. Its lower house i. e. National Assembly is a directly elected body with a popular vote. There is no longer political or ideological polarisation in the country. The politics of confrontation has given way to consensus based politics. Four major political parties i. e. PPP, PML-N, ANP and JUI-F have entered into an arrangement to rule the country at the federal and provincial levels. Despite the fact that the coalition holds divergent views on some of the major issues, it stands united on the issue of re-establishing the sovereignty of parliament. This is evident from the solidarity shown during the formulation of decision on the president's impeachment. Unlike in the past, this time the army has not put its weight behind the head of the state against parliament and has instead opted to support the process, which is strictly according to the constitution. Army's decision to avoid taking sides in the struggle between the president and parliament emanates from its deep anxiety to salvage its public image badly damaged due to its prolonged involvement in the politics of Pakistan. General Kiyani has been very careful in not giving any impression of alignment with either of the two sides, and according to the reports from various circles, this policy has led to tremendous improvement in the image of the army among the people of Pakistan. Musharraf, therefore, could not count on its former constituency - Pak Army - to save him. However, the initiation of impeachment process against Musharraf marked the latest phase of struggle for supremacy between the president and the parliament. Since all the political parties of Pakistan have unanimously resolved to restore the supremacy of the parliament according to the 1973 constitution and the external as well as internal forces that hitherto sustained authoritarianism in Pakistan have either retreated or become dormant. The president has finally resigned, paving the way for the supremacy of the parliament and the flourishing of democracy in the best of national interest.