PPP leader Aitzaz Ahsan. — File photo

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) leader Aitzaz Ahsan on Tuesday resigned from his seat in the Senate, DawnNews reported.

Speaking to media representatives in Islamabad, Ahsan said the Election Commission of Pakistan should rise from its slumber, adding that the results of constituencies which recorded 150 per cent voter turnout should be re-assessed and their results be reviewed.

Ahsan was elected Senator in the 2012 election of the Parliament’s Upper House. His wife, Bushra Aitzaz, who had contested from Lahore’s NA-124 in the May 11 polls, lost against Rohail Asghar, a candidate from Pakistan Muslim League – Nawaz.

The PPP leader’s resignation is the second to come from within the PPP’s ranks. Earlier today, Manzoor Wattoo resigned from his position of the party’s central Punjab president days after PPP suffered a defeat in Punjab in the May 11 elections.

Once she married Aitzaz Ahsan, another world opened up where rallying against dictatorship was usual, often ending with arrest. She came to better understand the political world and, influenced by her husband and of course Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, very soon made this world her own. — File Photo

Many might have considered it odd for the daughter of a military officer to protest against military rule, but not only did Bushra Aitzaz rally against Gen Ziaul Haq (and later Gen Pervez Musharraf), she also suffered incarceration during the 1980s because of her stand.

Irony seems to be one of the running themes in her life, having always landed at places that she had never dreamed of. From her 30 years as an educationist, followed by her chairpersonship of the women’s wing of the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB), Ms Aitzaz has today taken a leap into politics to run from Lahore’s NA-124 constituency.

Born in Lahore, Ms Aitzaz was like many other women not immune to the pressure of cultural norms, but she learned to work around them.
She felt that to be treated equally, she would have to study much harder to prove herself; with her excellent debating skills (she was also secretary of her college Debating Union), she rarely lost arguments. When her father vetoed her long cherished dream of pursuing a career in administration sciences and told her to study in Lahore College because it was closer, Ms Aitzaz opted for something else, eventually making her own decision rather than that of her father.

She chose to major in English literature from the University of the Punjab, which was an intellectual hub during the 1970s. One of the main reasons she could not have followed her own plans in the first place was because of a serious transport problem that women faced at the time. Nevertheless, her university experience widened her horizons and exposed her to many ideas.

Her contact with politics began as a child. In the home of her father, the military officer who was at the cusp of retirement, the family would often discuss politics, especially during the Ayub Khan military rule. The field marshal loomed large over the news media, so the young Bushra was aware of him as a personality more than anything else. But later, when in college she studied democracy in a civics course, she realised the problems posed by dictatorships along with several other new concepts. It was also then that she realised herself first as a person, and then as a woman, and fighting for women’s social position became her prerogative.

Once she married Aitzaz Ahsan, another world opened up where rallying against dictatorship was usual, often ending with arrest. She came to better understand the political world and, influenced by her husband and of course Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, very soon made this world her own.

As a teacher, Ms Aitzaz was assertive and motivating, especially because she taught young girls whom she advised that they must come to understand themselves before anything else, and must work. She proved her passion for promoting women’s rights after she became the chairperson of the PCB’s women’s wing. With Shirin Javed, she helped build up the club for young aspiring players. Their dedication paid off and today the women’s team has seen recognition and success.

NA-124 is the seat from where Aitzaz Ahsan has contested in earlier elections. This time, though, as a member of the Senate, he cannot stand for election. The PPP leadership and Benazir Bhutto had on earlier occasions offered Ms Aitzaz the constituency, but she had refused.
Now, though, she has decided to not let the seat go to someone else.

Contesting against the PML-N’s Rohail Asghar in a constituency that roughly includes the Shalimar Link Road, Ring Road, Harbanspura and Mehmood Booti areas, Ms Aitzaz is up for a tough fight. If she prevails, observers say that it will be even tougher to sustain a victory.
The area is amongst Lahore’s most underdeveloped and poor, with environmental problems at the top of the list. Till recently, Mehmood Booti was used as a garbage dumping site and the water lines are mixed with sewage lines at certain places. People breathe poisonous fumes from furnaces in this semi-industrial area, and face health challenges.

Yet despite all this, Ms Aitzaz is as always positive — almost infectiously confident. She seems to already know what it takes.

Born on September 27, 1945 in Murree, he received his early education from Aitchison College and Government College, Lahore. He later studied law at Cambridge University.

Equipped with his education in law and jurisprudence, Ahsan appeared in Pakistan’s prestigious Central Superior Services (CSS) examination. However, he did not join government service in defiance of Ayub Khan’s military rule.

Apart from being a lawyer, Ahsan is also a human rights activist, politician and former federal minister with the portfolios of law and justice, interior and narcotics control and education. He is married to Bushra Aitzaz and has authored the book the Indus Saga and the Making of Pakistan.

An active member of Pakistan Peoples Party, Ahsan started his political career in the 1970s. He was elected unopposed in the by-election of a Punjab Assembly seat after the 1975 killing of Anwar Samma, a PPP MPA from Gujrat. Following his election, Ahsan was inducted in the provincial cabinet and was given the portfolio of information, planning and development.

Ahsan left PPP after the 1977 poll-rigging fiasco. He resigned from the provincial cabinet and was subsequently expelled by the party. After this falling out, Ahsan joined Asghar Khan’s Tehrik-i-Istaqlal but returned to PPP many years later when PPP chief Benazir Bhutto came to power in 1988. He was also an active leader in the Movement for the Restoration of Democracy (MRD) during Ziaul Haq’s military rule and was jailed several times in this respect.

From the then NA-93, Aitzaz Ahsan won for two consecutive terms in 1988 and 1990 and lost the 1993 election to Humayun Akhtar after a very tough fight. In 1994, Ahsan was elected to the Senate. He also won from NA-124 and NA-187 in the 2002 election and eventually decided to retain his Lahore seat. He however did not contest the 2008 election due to his involvement in the movement for the reinstatement of deposed judges. Ahsan was elected Senator in the 2012 election of the Parliament’s Upper House.

Ahsan made legal history by representing three prime ministers – Benazir Bhutto, Nawaz Sharif and Yousuf Raza Gilani – in various cases. He was also part of a panel representing Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry before the Supreme Judicial Council in the reference filed against Pakistan’s top judge by former president Pervez Musharraf. The SJC reinstated the chief justice who was later again deposed by the then president in the wake of the November 3, 2007 emergency. Ahsan remained true to the movement for the judges’ reinstatement until the end.

— Research and text by Saher Baloch

Barrister Aitzaz Ahsan. — Photo by Reuters

LAHORE: Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) senator and barrister, Aitzaz Ahsan said on Tuesday that former military ruler Pervez Musharraf can not be a hero to the nation anymore and it’s the responsibility of the federal government to take action against him under Article 6 of the constitution, DawnNews reported.

Talking to media persons at the Lahore High Court premises, Aitzaz Ahsan said that rather than obstructing the decisions of the Supreme Court, the orders need to be implemented.

Aitzaz Ahsan said that the lawyers should adopt non-violent measures in the Musharraf case because such measures have undermined the prestige of the judiciary.

Moreover, he said that all the leaders of all political parties were the same and Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) should treat them equally.

Senator Aitzaz Ahsan speaks to reporters outside the Supreme Court. — File Photo by AFP

ISLAMABAD: Renowned lawyer and Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) leader Barrister Aitzaz Ahsan on Friday said general elections may be postponed if the Supreme Court decides to admit the petition filed by Tehrik-i-Minhajul Quran (TMQ) chief Tahirul Qadri, DawnNews reported.

Qadri had filed a petition in the apex court on Thursday seeking immediate reconstitution of the Election Commission of Pakistan and appointment of a new chief election commissioner. He had prayed that pending a decision the court should restrain the ECP from working.

Speaking to media representatives outside the apex court, Ahsan said it was not possible to constitutionally remove any member of the election commission in its present form or to constitute the commission anew.

The lawyer added that Qadri had begun moving in another direction and was no longer abiding by the agreement he had reached with the government.

Qadri had reached the agreement with the government in January after holding a sit-in in Islamabad which lasted four days.

The sit-in’s agenda was to obtain assurances for a clean-up of the system, consultation with the army and judiciary and dissolution of the assemblies and the election commission.

However, the TMQ chief went back with a vague date for assemblies’ dissolution and a promise that he would be consulted again by the government and that he would suggest two names for a caretaker prime minister.

Qadri, who played a role in backing a military coup in 1999, had returned to Pakistan from Canada over a month ago to lead a call for electoral reforms to bar “corrupt politicians” from office.

Barrister Aitzaz Ahsan. — Photo by Reuters

ISLAMABAD, Feb 4: The Supreme Court hearing the LPG extraction licence case on Monday objected to Barrister Aitzaz Ahsan’s insistence to place the matter before a different bench since he did not want to appear before Chief Justice Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry.

“It is being made precedence and being misused,” observed the chief justice, while Justice Sheikh Azmat Saeed found the application not amusing at all.

A three-judge bench had taken up a challenge by PML-N member of the National Assembly Khawaja Asif against the grant of LPG extraction plant licence to Jamshoro Joint Venture Limited (JJVL) in 2003 in a non-transparent manner.

But the court postponed proceedings for two weeks to provide Barrister Ahsan an opportunity to review his decision.

The court also asked the media not to report an altercation between Khawaja Asif and Barrister Ahsan on the LPG quota issue and observed that the latter was a towering personality and a thorough professional for which he was also respected abroad.

Appearing on behalf of JJVL, Barrister Ahsan insisted that he had been following a salutary principle by not appearing before the chief justice for four years, except on two occasions – to defend him (chief justice) before the Supreme Judicial Council (SJC) when a reference on misconduct was sent by former president Gen (retd) Pervez Musharraf on March 9, 2007, and to represent the petition of the chief justice against his sacking and launching a countrywide campaign for his reinstatement.

Barrister Ahsan requested the chief justice to fix the matter before another bench, especially when the case had already been heard partly by Justice Anwar Zaheer Jamali.

The court, however, observed that it would have to decide the application if the counsel kept on insisting for the transfer of the case. It reminded Barrister Ahsan that he had appeared before the chief justice to defend former prime minister Yousuf Raza Gilani. Then the Supreme Court itself appointed Barrister Ahsan as amicus curiae in a presidential reference concerning the judgment relating to conviction of former prime minister Zulfikar Ali Bhutto.

In his application Barrister Ahsan contended that he had been seen by people in several images as quite close to the chief justice between March 2007 and March 2009 touring together at home and abroad.

“The above is recorded only to show that the chief justice would be under some stress, as a human being, to avoid the impression of favouring Barrister Ahsan by deciding the case in favour of his client, even though it may be merited.

“This may cause injustice to occur despite the best intentions of the learned bench to avoid that circumstance,” the application stated.

But the court observed that it decided cases on merit without going under stress.

The application mentioned that Barrister Ahsan had refused several lucrative briefs to appear before the chief justice. Without prejudice to whatever had been stated, it was the constitutional right of any party to the proceedings to engage a counsel of its choice, it added.

“Therefore, it is submitted that it would be in the interest of justice to direct the hearing of this case by any other bench as it would enable him to effectively assist the court, which is also a ‘constitutional right’ of respondent (JJVL),” the application said.

Meanwhile, Khawaja Asif alleged that the LPG extraction contract was awarded to the sole bidder JJVL at the behest of former president Pervez Musharraf in 2003, causing a huge loss to the exchequer.

For the past 30 years, he alleged, the allocation of quotas for LPG was being misused by successive governments only to oblige certain individuals or companies, instead of auctioning the same in a transparent manner.

Law Minister Farooq H Naek. — File photo by APP

ISLAMABAD: In the PPP darbar, the legal eagles keep coming and going. Such is the pace of their comings and goings that it is difficult to keep track of who is in favour and who is not.

A year ago, it was Aitzaz Ahsan who was the blessed one, with hopes running high that he would be able to save then prime minister Yousuf Raza Gilani from the SC’s contempt case. Mr Ahsan followed President Asif Ali Zardari at Garhi Khuda Bakhsh in addressing the gathering for Benazir Bhutto’s death anniversary.

A year on, he may not be as out of favour as Babar Awan, but he is no longer the party’s man for legal issues.

That role now belongs to Farooq H. Naek who is handling a lot more than the files that pass through his law ministry.

With the ever expanding role of Mr Naek in the PPP, party sources believe he will be playing a key role in backdoor negotiations with the opposition PML-N over a caretaker set-up.

After having resolved the Swiss letter issue and the recent passage of the controversial fair trial bill through unanimous vote in the National Assembly, the PPP leadership has decided to use Mr Naek’s negotiating skills with the PML-N for the selection of the caretaker prime minister, an insider said.

Mr Naek is a relative of Khawaja Asif, a PML-N stalwart, and the two are often seen exchanging notes during National Assembly sessions.

Talking to Dawn, Mr Naek reiterated his party’s stance that under the Constitution, a caretaker set-up should be in place after March 16. “The PPP and PML-N will resolve the issue amicably before then.”

When pressed, the law minister said the Constitution, after the 20th Amendment, was categorical that both the leader of the house and the opposition had the mandate to hold discussion over a caretaker set-up.

However, the PPP sources said Mr Naek, who had played a key role first in persuading President Asif Ali Zardari to write a letter to the Swiss government and then convincing Supreme Court judges in closed door meetings to work for an amicable resolution of the contempt issue, was the man in charge in the ruling party.

Last week it was Mr Naek who single-handedly managed the passage of the controversial fair trial bill with support of the PML-N.

“One can imagine the level of confidence which the law minister is enjoying at the moment with the party’s high-ups from Mr Naek having allowed on his own, on the insistence of the opposition party, over 30 amendments to the bill after it had been presented before the National Assembly,” the PPP sources said.

A PML-N office-bearer close to its leadership also confirmed back-channel contacts between the two parties regarding selection of a caretaker set-up and said the Naek-Asif duo would be playing a key role. If Mr Naek was enjoying his new found love with the PPP leadership, Khawaja Asif had always been taken seriously within the PML-N, he said.

Therefore, it wouldn’t be a surprise if the two lawmakers played a key role in reaching a consensus on a candidate for caretaker prime minister, he said. He said it was good for the two parties that their key-lawmakers were not only relatives but also on good terms with each other.

A PML-N spokesman, Senator Mushahidullah Khan, said leaders from the two sides had been meeting every now and then. “But so far there hasn’t been any formal consultation between the prime minister and leader of the opposition over names for the caretaker set-up.”

In reply to a question, the senator said he believed the prime minister should by now have contacted the leader of opposition to initiate the process.

About the choice of a candidate, sources from the two parties said instead of picking some retired judge, bureaucrat or a distinguished lawyer, as reported earlier, now the focus was on somebody with a strong political background.

“We don’t want to put in place somebody who tomorrow might agree to the much talked about idea of a prolonged caretaker set-up. A consensus care-taker prime minister, from the PPP, PMLN or any other political party, at least would stick to his basic job of conducting general elections,” a PML-N lawmaker said.

The appointment of the new governor in Punjab, Makhdoom Ahmed Mehmood of the PML-F, was a case in point, he added.

In the second week of November, Leader of Opposition in National Assembly Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan had said that he had short-listed names of a couple of judges for caretaker prime minister. His reference appeared to be to Justice (retd) Nasir Aslam Zahid and Justice (retd) Shakirullah Jan.

Earlier, Chaudhry Nisar had said that the PML-N had short-listed nine names to head the caretaker government and the list would be released after consulting other opposition parties, including the Jamaat-i-Islami, Pakistan Tehrik-i-Insaaf and nationalist parties.

The 20th Amendment provides for the appointment of a caretaker prime minister by the president in consultation with the prime minister and the leader of opposition in the outgoing National Assembly. In case the outgoing prime minister and leader of opposition do not agree on any name within three days after dissolution of the National Assembly, each of them will forward two names to a parliamentary committee to be immediately constituted by the National Assembly speaker to decide on a name within three days. Otherwise, the names will be referred to the Election Commission which will take the final decision within two days. A similar procedure is to be followed in the provinces.

Barrister Aitzaz Ahsan. — File photo

ISLAMABAD: Renowned lawyer, Barrister Aitzaz Ahsan, has excused himself from representing Muttahida Qaumi Movement’s chief Altaf Hussain in the contempt of court notice against him, DawnNews reported.

Speaking to media representatives in Islamabad, Ahsan said he could not take the case due to the fact that Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry was on the bench hearing the notice.

Ahsan said an MQM leader had asked him to become Hussain’s counsel.

Moreover, Ahsan said the chief justice should not cancel his trip to Karachi due to security issues, adding that, if Chief Justice Iftikhar did not make the visit, it may give the MQM chief the justification to not to come to Pakistan.

The MQM chief could say that if the chief justice did not have enough security, how could Hussain come to Pakistan from the United Kingdom, Ahsan said.

On Dec 14, the Supreme Court had asked the MQM chief to appear before it in person and explain why he should not be charged for contempt over “his contemptuous assertions against the judiciary”.

In a telephonic address from London to a gathering in Karachi on Dec 2, Hussain had criticised the judiciary and said that judges of the apex court should apologise for their remarks on delimitation of Karachi’s constituencies or face the consequences.

Former Supreme Court Bar Association president and PPP Senator Aitzaz Ahsan. — Photo by Reuters

SWABI, Nov 9: PPP Senator Aitzaz Ahsan on Friday said economic prosperity could not be achieved unless women were given due place in the society.

“If we really want to materialise our dreams of economic prosperity, then we will have to give due place to the women in the society and if we fail to do so, it might be difficult to achieve our objectives,” he said while speaking at the inaugural ceremony of GIKI Model United Nations Conference at Ghulam Ishaq Khan Institute of Engineering Sciences and Technology on Friday.

The three-day conference is organised by the students’ Society for the Promotion of Higher Education in Pakistan, GIK Institute chapter.

The PPP leader said the great issue was that the woman was considered a problem instead of assisting and enabling her to play her constructive role for the strengthening of the society.

“When the services of the half of the country’s population are not be utilised, then how could it possible to make our dreams true,” he said.

“We must change our mindset to confront the challenges and achieve a valuable place in the comity of the nations,” he said.

Mr Ahsan said besides giving due place to women, the society should work for promoting the culture of tolerance.

“This is very vital because we have suffered and faced numerous problems owing to lack it. Tolerance is the key to put the nation on the track of progress and political stability. We should realise that where we stand right now and what possible could be taken to put our nation on a right track,” he said.

The PPP senator said the government had some problems with the judicial system of the country. He, however, didn’t elaborate on it.

He said around 2,000 educational institutions in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa had been destroyed by militants and among them, majority was of girls.

Mr Ahsan asked how a country could progress when its educational institutions were targeted by militants and girls were stopped from going to school.

He said youths should not see the continued deteriorated situation in the country silently and must play their due role because the future belonged to them. He said the country expected a lot from its youths, who should live up to those expectations.The PPP senator said the prevailing confused environment demanded that youths come forward and help the country meet its current issues and challenges.

Rector of GIK Institute Jehangir Bashir said the UN Model Conference was a platform where students from across the country exchange their views about international issues, role of the world body and foreign policy dynamics of the different counties and their impact on the world politics.

He said the conference promoted awareness among participants of women’s role in society and also inspired them to work for peace in the country.

Pro-rector (academics) Professor Fazal Ahmad Khalid spoke about the role of the UN and appreciated the world body for preventing the third world war and resolving numerous regional and international disputes peacefully.

He also highlighted the challenges faced by the world community, especially developing countries.

He said the UN admitted that poverty generated various problems and its eradication was vital for prosperity.