Pardon or assemblies’ dissolution: President bound by PM’s advice, says Attorney Gen

LAHORE: Attorney General Ashtar Ausaf on Monday said the president’s powers to dissolve assemblies or pardon any convict were subjected to advice of the prime minister and the cabinet.
He was responding to media queries at the attorney general’s sub-office in the Lahore High Court regarding the rumours of dissolution of assemblies and any possibility of presidential pardon for disqualified prime minister Nawaz Sharif.
The attorney general said though the president was the head of the state but had a limited role in dissolution of the National Assembly and extending pardon to anyone. The status of president’s powers in Pakistan was equal to British Queen and Indian’s president, he added.
Rejecting the opposition’s claim that Nawaz was still running affairs as a premier, Ashtar Ausaf said Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi was fully powerful and did not take dictation from anyone.
He said the prime minister enjoyed no additional powers and all decisions had been made by the cabinet.
He added that chairing the cabinet meetings by party heads was a normal practice in democratic countries. Didn’t KP Chief Minister Pervaiz Khattak and Sindh Chief Minister Murad Ali Shah attend cabinet meetings presided by Imran Khan and Asif Ali Zardari respectively, the attorney general questioned.
He said there was no reason behind the Islamabad sit-in since the provision of Khatam-e-Nubawwat declaration had been restored.
Ashtar Ausaf said the demand for the resignation of Finance Minister Ishaq Dar and Law Minister Zahid Hamid was unwarranted. The finance minister was unable to travel back to country due to cardiac problem, he said.
To a query about possibility of early polls, he said the politicians demanding early polls were in fact preparing for the general elections. “If they do not say this what would they do for the upcoming next elections,” he added, terming the rumours about early elections as political stunt. About the case of Indian spy Kulbhushan Jadhav, he said the Pakistan would file its reply before the International Court of Justice (ICJ) on next hearing fixed for Dec 13. He said Pakistan would also highlight the grave violations of human rights in Held Kashmir by India before the ICJ, he added.
Ashtar Ausaf said the convicted Indian spy had been allowed to meet his wife on the basis of Islamic teachings and humanitarian grounds.
He said there had been a sense of anxiety in China over the delay in several projects under China-Pak Economic Corridor (CPEC). Delay in Orange Line metro train project caused a huge lose to national exchequer and also increased the project cost manifolds, he said.