Foqia Sadiq Khan
It would be a fallacy to assume the judiciary is acting independently and is lenient towards Imran Khan and his PTI. A more plausible explanation would be the establishment is continuing with the double game played by ex-COAS General Qamar Javed Bajwa against the PDM and PTI.
Take the case of Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) assemblies’ elections. The establishment’s official position is that due to the security situation, it would not be possible to deploy police and armed forces personnel to conduct the election duty. However, it is possible the establishment is influencing the higher judiciary to take on the ECP and insist on the holding of Punjab and KP elections in the next few months.
If this double game hypothesis is correct, it is very problematic. Bajwa is accused of playing the double game against the PDM and PTI since October 2021, if not earlier. It seems that the present establishment leadership is following the same policy – to support the sitting government as well as Imran Khan and his PTI through judiciary and law-enforcement agencies. The political leadership of the country will not agree to sit together and solve the major issues of the country till one side knows that it will be unduly and unfairly supported, even if covertly, over the other. The establishment will need to become truly apolitical not only in its pronouncements but also in deeds.
As far as the debate over holding elections of the two provincial assemblies in April as opposed to October 2023 is concerned, it is true that the constitution requires elections to be held within 90 days of the dissolution of assemblies. However, the constitution cannot be read selectively. Article 218 (3) of the constitution states, “election is conducted honestly, justly, fairly…” Can partisan provincial assemblies, if elected in April-May, assure fair elections of the National Assembly in October 2023? If not, then there is lots of merit in holding the elections of all assemblies at the same time. If the ECP decides the assemblies’ elections are held simultaneously in October 2023, it’s decision cannot be brushed aside.
Perhaps holding elections now or later is a political than a legal or a constitutional issue. Article 25 of the constitution emphasizes, “equality before the law”. Anyone who has witnessed the political developments from 2014 onwards, when the PTI mob attacked the PTV, not truly declaring the sale of Toshakhana gifts, hiding the prohibited foreign funding for PTI will vouch that the PTI and PML-N have not been equally dealt with by law?
Nawaz Sharif was removed from the prime minister’s office for not declaring the receivable from his son that he never received. On the other hand, Imran Khan’s all deviant behaviour is not being prosecuted by the iron hand of the law. The fairness requires that Nawaz Sharif’s punishments and bar from holding office must be overturned to create the level playing field, even if Imran Khan is not vigorously prosecuted. That would ensure some retrospective semblance of equality before law. Article 10-A of the constitution requires the “right to fair trial” and “due process” that was evidently denied to Nawaz Sharif. The constitution must be followed in letter and spirit and not be read narrowly – i.e. just one clause of 90 days election. It must be read in conjunction with other clauses of the constitution.
According to Miftah Ismail, if the loans taken by successive Pakistani governments are tabulated from 1947 to the end of the PTI government (in April 2022), then the PTI government has taken about 78-79 percent in its three and a half years of rule of all loans taken cumulatively in Pakistan’s history. So far, no one has asked Imran Khan where he has spent all those astronomical loans without showing any big-ticket development project.
The political leadership of the country will not agree to sit together and solve the major issues of the country till one side knows that it will be unduly and unfairly supported, even if covertly, over the other. The establishment will need to become truly apolitical not only in its pronouncements but also in deeds.
The bottom line is that due to the bad economic performance of the previous governments (including the PML-N governments), the PDM government has inherited the worst economic mess where it has been forced to resort to price hike and devalue the currency and raise interest rates as dictated by the IMF.
With inflation touching 40 percent, if elections are held in the next couple of months, the PML-N is surely going to lose. It won’t be fair because it was forced to resort to price hike to save the country from going to default. So, it is only fair the PDM government is given some months to overcome this price shock that it has given to people, get some economic breathing space and is able to give some relief to people. This is again needed to create a level playing field, so that no political party is adversely and unfairly disadvantaged in the general elections.
The political parties must hold a dialogue keeping in mind principles of justness and fairness. The judiciary must keep out of it and the establishment must not resort to playing its double games regarding manipulation of political outcomes in the country.
March 29,2023
source: The Friday Times