Amidst a brewing memogate storm and fresh grist to the rumour mills – President Asif Ali Zardari has laughed off the possibility of his removal from office on ‘health grounds’, saying that he’s fine and recuperating fast.
The 1973 Constitution stipulates that the president can be removed from his office, if he is physically or mentally unwell and hence unable to perform his official duties.
“Notwithstanding anything contained in the constitution, the president may … be removed from office on the ground of physical or mental incapacity or impeached on a charge of violating the constitution or gross misconduct,” reads Article 47 of the constitution.
But President Zardari says he is fine and invoking Article 47 against him is out of the question. “How can somebody invoke Article 47 against me – I’m alright,” he told The Express Tribune contributor Nusrat Javed.
“But if still Article 47 is invoked against me, I will contest the next election with the slogan ‘I don’t accept such a constitution,’" Zardari said quoting from the famous poem of revolutionary poet Habib Jalib.
The main opposition party – Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz – has been calling upon the government to disclose ‘full facts’ of the mysterious circumstances in which the president flew to Dubai.
On Wednesday, presidential spokesperson Farhatullah Babar said that President Zardari had been shifted from the American Hospital to his residence in Dubai where he was recuperating.
According to his medical report, all investigations were within normal range – but medics advised him to rest at home.
“I’m here in Dubai as a prisoner of doctors, and will return home as soon as they permit me,” the president said. “I’m anxious to board a plane and return home. The sooner the better,” he added.
The medical report says, “Asif Ali Zardari was admitted to the American Hospital Dubai on Tuesday, December 6, 2011, with a chief complaint of left arm numbness and twitching with a transient episode of loss of consciousness that lasted a few seconds.”
(Read: Is the ‘Get Zardari’ campaign democratic?)
Published in The Express Tribune, December 17th, 2011.
COMMENTS (6)
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When a few days in detention made Nawaz Sharif beg for mercy and left Pakistan not to take part in politics for a decade. A decade of detention is nothing to sneeze at. Name any politician who has been in jail this long and did not compromise? Hashmi may be closet to this but was he in jail this long I am not sure? Not seeing your kids grow and not being a part of them can do that to anybody's mind for a while.
He had a stoke which is not a small thing. He was incapable of leading us before, god knows that will happen now
He is our elected president of the country. He should come back and resume his duties till the time his tenure lasts. He is a fighter and don't push him to the wall. He will come back at you and his is the largest political party of this country.
We are impatient to see your shining smile as well beloved President...
Application of Article 47 is most relevant. See: http://www.thefrontierpost.com/?p=92416 Asif Ali Zardari; what now; Posted on December 16, 2011
Dr Ghayur Ayub
"I can give three examples from the UK courts; two pertain to British citizens, one to a Pakistani.”They were Peter Suthcliffe and Michael Fagan from England and Asif Ali Zardari from Pakistan. The article mentioned, “The third case involves, Mr. Asif Ali Zardari, in which mental health disorder was used as legal tool to abstain from court hearings when he was called to appear before a London High Court in March 2007 in relation to the Rockwood Property dispute in Surrey. He produced medical certificate issued by two psychiatrists, Philip Salteil and Stephen Reich from New York State. One psychiatrist wrote, ‘he (Asif Ali Zardari) was suffering from dementia, depression and post-traumatic stress disorder’ making him forget the names of close relatives such as his children. The other psychiatrist confirmed the diagnosis and added that his time in jail ‘left him with severe emotional instability, memory loss and concentration problems. I do not see any improvement in these issues for at least a year’. That certificate was accepted as valid document by the court.