On Senate elections

The newly elected members of the Upper House of the Parliament will take their oaths this evening. Even with all the horse-trading accusations and shortcomings noticed in the election of the Senate held on 2nd of March, it was a great victory of the present democratic dispensation. With all the internal and external pressures and conspiracies against him, President Zardari demonstrated political maturity and depth. Even during the worst times of the Memogate scandal, he did not react to any provocations. His politics of reconciliation, a legacy of Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto, proved beneficiary for his party. The PPP has fortified its position in the Senate by increasing its members from 27 to 41, securing both offices of Chairman Senate and Leader of the House for the next three years. With the support of the coalition partners, the government will enjoy the two-thirds majority in the house which is compulsory for any constitutional amendment.

That might have been the reason why some political forces, including the PML(N), were demanding early general elections. We have witnessed much political turmoil in the last six months or so to destabilise the democratic system, however, thanks to all the stakeholders, including the executive, judiciary, opposition and the army, that they did not cross their constitutional limits.

The PML(N) launched a “Go Zardari Go” campaign in the last quarter of 2011, creating an environment for the fresh polls. It did not restrict itself to the Parliament building or to the public gatherings and rallies but also protested in front of the Presidency on the Constitutional Avenue. It threatened that if the government failed to announce general elections immediately, it might resign from the parliament as well as from the Punjab government opening the doors for the fresh polls. There could be other reasons for that this act of madness, however, many political commentators were of the opinion that Nawaz League was feeling nervous due to Imran Khan’s growing popularity, especially in the urban Punjab, including PML(N)’s political power centre Lahore.

If it held its political horses, the PML(N) feared, and waited till completion of the present assemblies’ tenure then Imran Khan with the backing of establishment would manipulate elections leaving a little or no chance for Nawaz Sharif to grab power in Islamabad. It wanted to kill two birds with one stone. Firstly, to block the PPP from getting majority in the Upper House; and secondly, to bring the Captain into early elections without allowing him ample time for re-organisation and new inductions into his party Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI). In the meanwhile, the Memogate scandal raised its head creating another good opportunity for the N League to squeeze the PPP leadership into declaring them “security risk” for the country, a slogan generally attributed to the party from time to time. Nobody knows who advised the former prime minister to rush physically to the Supreme Court in an effort to mend fences with the power centres at Rawalpindi.

Since his return in 2007 from exile, Nawaz Sharif has been doing an anti-establishment politics. Many in his own party and close friends were advising him to give up his harsh stance against military. So far, the tricky Mansoor Ijaz in his clumsy statements both to the judicial commission and media has embarrassed PML(N) and the army. He made an all out effort to create a rift between political and military leadership. However, unlike the past, maturity and sanity prevailed and the clash between the institutions was averted. It seemed that the memo was kind of a trap by those foreign forces who could not tolerate a smooth working relationship between the army and the elected government.

In the middle of this tense situation between the army and the government on the Memogate, Nawaz Sharif came out in the public with a clear statement that his party will not back any unconstitutional removal of the elected government. Following him, other opposition parties, both inside and outside the Parliament, and including the judiciary, warned of any misadventure in the country. This was really a positive change in our transitional political process. In the past, dirty power struggle game damaged political parties and weakened the state institutions.

Our past political history teaches us a lesson that if politicians behave in a responsible manner, non-democratic forces could not get the opportunity to exploit the situation in their own favour. The biggest responsibility lies with the two main political parties, the PPP and the PML(N), to follow the Charter of Democracy in its true spirit, respect each other’s mandate both at the centre and in Punjab and carry the system forward in a smooth manner. Because no economic development and prosperity could be ensured until we have political stability in the country. At the same time, the sweet fruit of democracy should also reach to the masses without disruption.

Just as soon as the Senate elections were over, the conspiracies against the government also died down. It is time to get back to the business as usual. Now, it’s the responsibility of the government to ensure good governance, control massive corruption, initiate reforms in the state institutions including Railways, PIA, WAPDA/PEPCO, Steel Mills, etc. The government’s economic team has to find out solutions to our growing budget and trade deficit, increasing energy crises and its prices, further burdening the low income classes. Democracy does not only mean to be in power but to deliver as well.

The writer hosts a primetime talk show on a TV channel and can be contacted via email: [email protected]