The Pakistani government introduced a constitutional bill in Parliament Friday to transfer President Asif Ali Zardari's sweeping powers to the prime minister, possibly ending months of political wrangling. The set of reforms, known as the “18th Amendment Bill”, is expected to be passed by the two-chambered Parliament, effectively turning Zardari into a titular head of state. “The proposed constitutional amendments would strengthen democratic institutions,” said Sen. Raza Rabbani, head of the committee that drafted the package. “This is a bill of hope.” It was not immediately clear when the assembly, the legislature's lower house, would vote on it. The bill was drafted by a committee made up of representatives from every party and must be approved by two-thirds of both houses of Parliament to be ratified. The reforms would transfer several powers, including the ability to fire an elected government and appoint military chiefs, from the president to the prime minister. The constitutional package presented Friday contains a slew of other provisions as well, including some related to judicial appointments and increasing the size of the Senate from 100 members to 104 members. It also would change the name of the Taliban-troubled North West Frontier Province to “Khyber-Pakhtoonkhwa.” The latter half of the new name is a nod to the Pashtun community, which make up the bulk of the population in the province bordering Afghanistan.The committee was expected to finalize the draft amendment last week, but opposition leader Nawaz Sharif raised unexpected objections at the last minute. The various sides resolved their differences Wednesday. The opposition had criticized President Asif Ali Zardari for being too slow to relinquish powers accumulated during the rule of his predecessor, Pervez Musharraf, the army chief who took over the government in a 1999 coup. The development may help calm political opposition to Zardari, but the government faces mounting pressure from an assertive Supreme Court to reopen corruption cases against the president after it threw out a controversial amnesty law in December. On Friday, Pakistan's Attorney General Anwar Mansoor Khan resigned, just one day after he told the Supreme Court that the law minister and his ministry were not providing him documents relating to corruption cases against thousands of people, including Zardari. “It had become impossible for me to work in such a situation,” Khan told Reuters. Anwar Mansoor's announcement was the latest chapter in a simmering dispute between the judiciary and Zardari that risks destabilizing the government just as Washington wants it to focus on the threat posed by Al-Qaeda and Taliban militants close to the Afghan border. Mansoor said the Law Ministry had been denying him access to documents needed to carry out the Supreme Court order. “The Supreme Court is our top institution, and there is no way you can defy its orders,” he said after announcing his resignation. “I suspect that after the signing of the 18th amendment, it (the political environment) is going to change,” said Samina Ahmed, South Asia director for the International Crisis Group. “Part of the problem is structural. Nobody knows where the locus of authority lies.” Because of that uncertainty, she said all branches of government are trying to expand their powers at the expense of the others. “There's a little bit of muscle flexing all around.” But if the 18th Amendment goes through smoothly, the center of authority goes to the parliament, “with the judiciary interpreting” - possibly leading to a less assertive bench. “It will settle down,” Ahmed predicted. Most analysts, however, say Zardari only agreed to the reforms reluctantly after intense political pressure.
