Tuesday, December 8, 2009


Pakistan Muslim League again won the elections held in February 1997, and Mian Nawaz Sharif was re-elected as Prime Minister with an overwhelming majority.
Taking advantage of his absolute majority in the National Assembly, he added a landmark in the constitutional history of Pakistan by repealing the controversial Eighth Amendment. This Thirteenth Constitutional Amendment stripped the President of his powers, under Article 52(b) of the Eighth Amendment, to dismiss the Prime Minister and dissolve the National Assembly. He added another milestone to the Constitution when his Parliament adopted the anti-defection Fourteenth Amendment Bill. His development venture of the Lahore-Islamabad motorway has also been appreciated by a segment of the society, while others have criticized it for being an extravagance for a developing country.

During his second tenure, his working relationship with the apex court severed, and his differences with the Chief Justice came out in public. He also developed an uneasy relationship with the President, Farooq Leghari, who had earlier been his major political opponent. With the passing of the Thirteenth Amendment, the President was on a direct collision course with the Prime Minster. A few months later, this, and the dramatic confrontation with the Judiciary, culminated in the removal of the Supreme Court Chief Justice, Sajjad Ali Shah, and on December 2, 1997, the resignation of President Farooq Leghari.

No comments:

Post a Comment