Is the P.M. going to rise to occassion?

It is being widely circulated in media reports that P.M. Yousuf Raza Gilani after successfully getting the Army, Foriegn actors, Civilian & Military beauraucracy and even N-League & Lawyers leaders on his side, is going to take a series of steps to implement the charter of Democracy & reinstatement of judges & Punjab Assembly.

What remains to be seen is that, the circulated news is based on proper facts or a mere wishful fragment of imagination of political pundits and analysts.

Though a couple of weeks ago, it seems that P.M. & President seemed to be playing the classical 'good-cop/bad-cop' game, but now it is more evident than ever, that P.M. is acting as an independent actor.

Will he rise to occassion? will he be able to deliever what it takes to pacify the situation and take the country out of the current Zardari & cohorts produced political turmoil ???????????

PPP old-school irked over Governor Rule & Opposition to Long March

While it is no secret that after assuming PPP leadership & becoming president Mr. Zardari has side-lined the former prominent members of BB erra and placed his assosciates on key positions i.e. Governor Punjab, Advisor on Interior Ministry and now the Chairman Senate.

This was supposed to have irked the former active and prominent members, but it has started to surface now, more than ever, that they are being irked and oppose the iron-fist tactics of Mr. Zardari.

Resignation of Mr. Razza Rabbani, Enver Baig, the vocal opposition and arrest orders of Naheed Khan & Fakhr, The oppostion of Makhdoom Amin Faheem and in-party sympathies of MNA's with him & most importantly indifferent stand of PM Yousuf Raza Gillni on mobile courts, his recent adresses in National Assemble expressing concerns over opposition of Long March are all indicators that for the first time in 40 year history of PPP, an internal pressure in building up against the party leadership.

PML-N & Nawaz Shareef's policy of targetting Zardari rather than PPP in general seems to have been carefully thought of, and is paying off. He provided the old-school members with a position to support the Lawyers movement and his stance on Punjab Govt. crisis, while at the same time starting an active public movement.

It still remians to be seen, however, how this will effect the events of 16th March. A miraclous executive order from PM, or involvement of resenting members of PPP in long march might still be a long-shot, but possibility is more than ever!

PPP and PML-Q to make joint Govt. in Punjab. Session called on the same day as LONG MARCH.

Finally the rumors are out there that PML-Q is going to sit in Punjab Govt. with a party whose chairman pronounced it as "QATIL LEAGUE".

But, even then they dont have numbers. Thats why Salman Taseer has called the provincial assembly session on 16th of march. The same day as LONG MARCH. So, that no one from PML-N can attend the session.

Detained Judges Released. Well Done PM

گرفتار ججوں کی رہائی: نئے وزیرِاعظم کا پہلا ’حکم‘

یوسف رضا گیلانی نے اپنے پہلے مختصر خطاب میں گرفتار ججوں کی فوری رہائی کا ’حکم‘ دیا ہے لیکن کہا ہے کہ جج اپنے مسائل احتجاج کی بجائے پارلیمان کے اندر حل کرائیں۔ انہوں نے یہ بھی کہا ہے کہ ان کی حکومت بینظیر بھٹو کے قتل کی تحقیقات اقوامِ متحدہ سے کروانے اور ذوالفقار علی بھٹو کے عدالتی قتل پر معافی کے لیے پارلیمان میں قرارداد پیش کرے گی۔

More on BBC Urdu

Excerpts from BBC

New Pakistani PM Yusuf Raza Gillani has said he will order the release of all judges detained under emergency rule, minutes after being elected by MPs.

President Pervez Musharraf in November sacked dozens of judges as the Supreme Court was set to rule on whether his re-election was legal.

Former chief justice Iftikhar Chaudhry was among those still held.

...

Mr Gillani made two key pledges in his speech following his election.

The first was to demand "the immediate release of all the arrested judges", sparking cheers from most of the gathered MPs.

Police have already removed barbed wire from outside Mr Chaudhry's home in Islamabad, where he has been under house arrest.

Mr Chaudhry later appeared on his balcony to wave to hundreds of supporters. It was his first public appearance for four months.

He thanked his "fellow judges and the entire nation".

Iftikhar Chaudhry made his first public appearance for four months

"I have no words to express my gratitude to the way you have struggled... to reach this day," he said.

It is not clear exactly how many judges are held or when they might be freed.

However, correspondents say the PM should have the power to free those such as Mr Chaudhry who were held under executive rather than court orders.

Mr Gillani's second pledge was to seek a resolution calling for a UN investigation into the assassination of former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto.

...

The PPP, which was led by Benazir Bhutto until her assassination in December, emerged as the biggest party in the February elections.

It is now headed by her widower, Asif Ali Zardari.

On Monday he was quoted in The News newspaper as saying that Mr Gillani would serve a full five-year term as prime minister.