IslamicLawBlog

Pakistan has been unsuccessful in designing a stable presidency. Two competing models vie for approval. Pakistan’s formulaic constitution, borrowed from the legal-political traditions of England and India, establishes a ceremonial presidency subordinated to parliament. The president with few powers is the head of state and represents the unity of the Republic. The ceremonial presidency empowers elected assemblies to run affairs of the state and provinces in accordance with the wishes of the people. It also spawns political cronyism, allowing politicians to freely broker power relations, distribute ministries and governmental offices on the basis of connection rather than competence and, for the worse, use state resources to advance personal and family interests. The competing model, which Pakistan’s generals as well as American policymakers prefer, institutes a strong presidency – a praetorian presidency – that listens to the armed forces and kow-tows to American interests. Under t...

Pakistan's ruling coalition has finally gathered the courage to impeach Pervez Musharraf who assumed and retained power as the Army Chief for over eight years in violation of the constitution. Musharraf's hold on power collapsed when he took off his military uniform and his political cronies lost the 2008 general elections. Like previous military generals, Musharraf too had a profound messianic complex to single-handedly save Pakistan from real and imagined enemies. Despite its great human and natural resources, Pakistan has remained a Third World country, partly because its civil and military leaders are narcissistic to the extent that they see law as a barrier to their self-assessed greatness to run complex affairs of the state. Musharraf will be fighting impeachment because he fears that his criminality would possibly take him to the gallows. In addition to subverting the constitution more than once, Musharraf has engaged in a series of serious crimes that no decent nation w...

Watch a televised debate on Iranian TV about whether the ICC is doing justice or playing politics in prosecuting Sudanese President Omar-Hassan al-Bashir.