19th constitutional amendment: All set to amend the constitution, again

Senator Rabbani said the consensus on the amendments shows democracy is gaining strength in Pakistan. PHOTO: FILE/APP

ISLAMABAD:?

The National Assembly on Wednesday unanimously approved the 19th amendment bill.

The bill has now been to the upper house for approval.

Earlier, the Federal Cabinet had approved the draft of the 19th amendment bill, which was then tabled in parliament by Senator Raza Rabbani.

The Constitutional Reforms Committee had unanimously crafted the bill, in the light of directions by the Supreme Court. Amendments had been recommended in six clauses of the constitution.

Updated from print version (below)

19th constitutional amendment: All set to amend the constitution, again

The top political leadership on Tuesday dispelled fears of confrontation among state institutions as the lower house of parliament prepared to amend the constitution for a second time in a year, this time in compliance with a Supreme Court order.

“All those who were predicting confrontation among state institutions will be disappointed today,” Senator Raza Rabbani told lawmakers after tabling in the National Assembly a report on the 19th constitutional amendment.

The fresh amendment seeks changes in a two-pronged mechanism for appointing judges in the superior courts in light of proposals forwarded to the parliament by the Supreme Court in its order.

The apex court’s order came in response to several legal challenges to the judges’ appointment mechanism envisaged in Article 175A of the 18th amendment, approved by parliament earlier this year.

The amendment is likely to be passed by the National Assembly and the Senate in their current sessions after a ceremonial approval by the federal cabinet today (Wednesday).

According to the new mechanism, the prime minister would also have a ‘symbolic’ say in the procedure. A parliamentary committee to finalise nominations by a judicial commission would have to cite reasons for rejections.

Furnished by a 26-member all-party parliamentary committee, the amendment has suggested changes to Article 175A of the constitution that deals with the appointment of judges in the superior courts.

The report by the Parliamentary Committee on Constitutional Reforms (PCCR) has increased the number of members of a judicial commission formed for appointments under the 18th amendment.

The commission to be headed by the chief justice would now have as members three serving and one retired judge in addition to the federal law minister, the attorney general and a representative of the Pakistan Bar Council (PBC). It also specifies 15 years experience for the PBC representative.

According to the draft of the 19th amendment, the judicial commission could not resend the nomination of a person who was once rejected by the parliamentary committee. But ?in case of rejection the parliamentary committee would have to give reasons.

If a nomination is not confirmed, the judicial commission would have to send another one. In case the National Assembly is dissolved the members of the committee from the Senate would take over this job.

If confirmed, the committee would send the name of the nominee to the prime minister to be forward to the president for appointment.

More powerful than ever before

Speaking in the National Assembly, Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani called the consensus on the amendment “a gift for the nation.” He said those who had been doubtful about the powers of the incumbent parliament were mistaken.

“I tell you this parliament is more powerful than all in the past, otherwise bringing two amendments to the constitution in a year would have not been possible,” he said in a brief speech after the report.

“The political leadership of the country has shown maturity by agreeing to this amendment, history will remember them,” he added.

Senator Rabbani, who heads the PCCR, said the consensus on the amendments shows democracy is gaining strength in Pakistan.

Published in The Express Tribune, December 22nd, 2010.

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Roll With The Cycles, Grab Some Cisco While It’s Cheap Again

Darwin's ideas work in stocks, too

“If I’d known I was going to live this long, I would have taken better care of myself.” – Eubie Blake, American composer (1887–1983)

You cannot underestimate the power of cycles.? They reoccur in nature, business, and financial markets with great regularity.? When we ignore them, cycles seem obvious in hindsight.? Foresight is where you’ll make your money.

Time frames may be different based on secular trends, weather phenomenon, innovations in health care, and government intervention, but generally, what goes around, comes around.? For example, economic booms and busts occurred, on average, every 14 years for 2,000 years.?Beginning in the late 20th?century, they began cycling every seven years as a direct result of government efforts to stimulate economic activity during recessionary downturns.? While they occur more frequently, they’re cycles nonetheless.

Tall Parents Have Shorter Children, On Average
Charles Darwin and his cousin, Francis Galton, were the first to note that tall parents have shorter children, on average, and vice versa.? With Karl Pearson, they studied over one thousand father and son pairs.? Galton termed this phenomenon in nature “regression to mediocrity.”? Since then, the method of studying how one variable leads to another variable has been called “regression analysis.”

Financial market observers see it all the time.? Excessively high prices eventually lead to excessively low prices.? The key to succeeding as an investor is knowing where the excesses are when they’re happening and exploiting them.

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“Joining The Dow Can Be The Kiss Of Death”
In September, Jeff Reeves of InvestorPlace.com conducted research showing that by the time companies have grown to become the recognized leaders in their industries, share prices are inflated.? For example, turning the clock back to March 1999 when the Dow Jones Averages closed above 10,000 for the first time, then crested to 11,000 a few months later, four of the biggest names of the day joined the Dow 30. Here’s how they fared: AT&T (then SBC Communications), down 38%; Intel, down 50%;?Microsoft, down 47%;?Home Depot, ?down 38%.

During subsequent reformulations of the Dow Jones Industrial Average, laggards were replaced with other leaders of the time.? They included Pfizer, Verizon, Bank of America, Cisco, and AIG.? As a group, these stocks have been shellacked since they joined the Dow 30, but along the way they have continued to make a lot of money for anyone who purchased shares when stock prices were excessively low.? Many have tripled off of lows in 2003 and 2009.

The point is this: You cannot fight the power and magnitude of cycles.? They can make or break an investor.? Here’s one stock that appears far too low right now:

Fallen Angels Focus Stock: Cisco Systems? (CSCO, 20.15)

Cisco is the dominant player in the global networking industry.? Shares plummeted more than 16% on ?Thursday following a less than stellar outlook presented by company management.? While management cited near term challenges, we believe the selling has provided an attractive entry point for longer-term investors.

The company has a solid balance sheet, operating profit margins of more than 20% and net margins in the high teens.? Our fair value estimate (based on discounted cash flow analysis) is $30 per share; providing investors with 50% potential upside from current levels.

Gabriel Wisdom and clients of American Money Management LLC, including mutual funds managed by AMM may buy or sell securities mentioned without prior notice.

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18th amendment under review… again

Constitutional Reforms Committee meeting will discuss SC's verdict on the 18th amendment.

ISLAMABAD:?Senator Raza Rabbani is chairing a meeting of the parliamentary committee for constitutional reforms at the Parliament House today (Monday) to tackle and seek a solution to the long standing 18th amendment issue.

As reported in The Express Tribune, the committee will review a Supreme Court interim order that asks parliament to?reconsider an amendment it made in?Article 175-(A)?that deals with the procedures for appointing superior court judges.

Raza Rabbani, the committee’s head, once again faces the daunting challenge of bringing political groupings with divergent views together with political outfits expressing fears that a consensus would probably be difficult to reach.

On October 22, the Supreme Court sent Article175-(A) of the Constitution back to parliament with certain recommendations to amend it again.

When the case was being heard by the court the government representatives defended the 18th amendment and argued that parliament has the supreme right to amend the constitution and that no institution could undo it. It is likely that some parties represented in the committee will continue with this stance.

“I believe that it is the sole prerogative of the parliament to amend the constitution,” said Haji Adeel who represents the ANP in the constitutional reforms committee. He said that the 18th amendment was passed by parliament through a consensus.

In its interim order, the Supreme Court wrote that Article 175-A should be amended in a manner that “in all cases of an anticipated or actual vacancy a meeting of the Judicial Commission shall be convened by the Chief Justice of Pakistan in his capacity as its chairman and the names of candidates for appointment to the Supreme Court shall be initiated by him, of the Federal Shariat Court by the Chief Justice of the said court and of the high courts by the respective chief justices”.

The Supreme Court on Sunday said that the appointment of judges?in the superior judiciary will be made on the recommendations of the?judicial commission as mentioned in the 18th constitutional amendment.

Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry, also the chairman of the Judicial Commission, on Saturday,?summoned the first meeting of the commission on November 6.

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Map Watan protests turn again

Victims of the floods of block roads in and out of Windows Governments "apathy".

MUZAFFARGARH: flood victims in various regions of southern Punjab protested against the local administration and the Federal Government are not Maps Watan despite a severe food crisis in affected regions.

The demonstrators stated that the destruction of crops on thousands of hectares of land and the delay in government assistance had caused serious problems and that people were now in the midst of a food crisis serious.

Rajanpur, Dera Ghazi Khan, Taunsa, Muzaffargarh, Rohelawali, Shehr Sultan, Mr Kot, Kot Addu, Sanawan and other crops in areas affecting hundreds of thousands of hectares have been totally decimated flood. "We lost tout.Nos cultures were both our source of food and income, and now we depend entirely on the Government and there is no aid, said Shehr Sultan resident Jamaluddin.

Experts of agriculture stated that cultivation of wheat for the upcoming season will begin on October 25, 2010, but the Ministry of agriculture had done nothing to prepare the ground for this connection.

"If the situation persists then the crisis food will be likely be extended and we can experience a severe shortage of next year," said farmer Khurram Baig.

In the Muzaffargarh Jamal Shah area of hundreds of people protested outside of the Office of the national authority for database records (Nadra). The Office was designated as one of the many spots in the distribution of cards Watan district and demonstrators broke Windows and set on the main road leading to the Office.

Demonstrators said that the authorities had "fake" lists Watan card recipients to respond to their own ends. " "The names on each list includes at least thirty people who are close to the Bank Manager or DO," said Malik, a victim of the flood of Layyah.

Layyah affected by floods people protested on the third day outside Nadra Office to have not received their cards Watan.Hundreds of flooding affecting persons also observed a sit-in before Bureau.Nowshera Nasheb Chak 117 B, 149 affected B and C, stated that revenues staff had not included their names in the list of personal grudges. "We have protested for some time now, and the authorities have said that if have protested our names could be operated with others, said Khawar Sial, flood victims who had participated in the demonstrations. ""They threatened tell us that they will be delete our names from the list, but it is little that they put our names on the list, even" Naveed said.

"These lists appear to be reserved for their friends and their families," he said, accusing officers of local administration.

Also, victims of the floods have protested outside of the Office of the Commissioner for providing does not support which they said was due to the negligence of the Department of the finances.Des tens of residents of Jhawarian Sargodha have protested outside of the Office of commissaire.Les said protesters that they went to their homes of the parents to escape the flood, but it was being counted against them. ""Number of survey teams told me that I would not be paid for my losses because I already had a roof over my head," Salman said, adding "they realize that my entire family is confined to with my sister in a single room family."

The demonstrators stated that the Ministry of finance had not included their names in the list because they were given shelter by their parents.

Published in the Gallery of the express, October 17 ^th, 2010.

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