Asif mulls over judicial activism

ISLAMABAD Consultations and contemplations continued in the Presidency late Sunday evening to find a way out of the imbroglio as the apex court starts hearing of critical cases questioning the Presidents immunity and Parliaments supremacy. According to well-placed sources, President Asif Ali Zardari sought advice from his political as well as legal aides for availing what they believed as constitutional immunity under Article 248. Even my personal ego should not come in the way of our manifesto of reconciliation, the sources quoted the President as saying to his closest ones. The sources were of the view that the President was hinting at possibility of his voluntary appearance before the apex court in order to prove his innocence despite the immunity available to him under the Constitution, should the need arises. The sources believed that Zardari was worrisome about his cronies especially Interior Minister Rehman Malik and Law Minister Babar Awan more than the protection of his own political stature in the face of the current judicial activism. According to the sources, the President has tasked the government of his party not to hit an impasse with the judiciary at any point of time as far as it was possible. He told his audience on Sunday that the 'hidden hands were waiting for some sort of constitutional crisis to ripe so that they could exploit the situation. The sources said that the President believed that no constitutional crisis could emerge until and unless any of the state organs oversteps its constitutional domain. Therefore, Zardari both as President and as head of the ruling party has revolved once again to defeat the non-political forces as the PPP did on a number crucial junctures during the last two years or so, the sources added.

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