A game with no rules?

Pragmatic politics flourishes only in a democracy and not under authoritarian rule. However, pragmatism doesn’t give the practitioners of politics the license to turn politics into a game of no rules. But, unfortunately that is the scheme of things in our political landscape. After a decade of dictatorship, it flabbergasted many plebeians like myself that those who boasted about their times of exiles and jail days and brandished them as their strength and sacrifice, simply brought shame on themselves with their recent actions. It is hurtful to say that our political leaders have learnt nothing from their mistakes of the past. The champions of democracy covenanted to save the political system by not siding with the military establishment but they couldn’t resist taking a short cut to power. They pledged not to be used by the ISI & co. but decided to use the sacred institution of the Supreme Court of Pakistan – the institution which has reinvented itself and is still in the nascent phase when it comes to finding its place in the polity and implementing the high standards of justice and impartiality. I may antagonise many but this is what everybody thought after 2008.

Democracy, which everyone thinks is the only way for Pakistan to move forward, demands not only the casting of votes in a transparent manner but the building of institutions also. Building institutions does not require that one start rallying support for the institutions in the political jalsa; what it required is letting them work independently. It is of utmost important that political actors not hide behind them to cultivate their partisan political interests. It is very unfortunate that our mainstream political parties are doing exactly this. Let’s substantiate this by citing some examples from the recent past. It was February 25, 2009 when Mr Zardari used the Dogar courts to get the Sharifs of Lahore disqualified under the pretext of their ineligibility to become members of the Parliament. Although it did not earn the orchestrators the results they desired but it reinvigorated the trend of using state institutions for personal benefits. It once again revealed the character of our politicians. The ostensible losers in this short lived intrigue were the Sharif brothers but it was the state of Pakistan which was the real loser.

It doesn’t take much to learn from others’ mistakes but that wisdom is missing in our opposition. Mr. Nawaz Sharif, owing to his political interests, has fallen prey to the same syndrome. He distanced himself from the establishment but he could not resist siding with the Supreme Court. Mr Nawaz Sharif should have realised that Supreme Court is an independent institution and it never needed a support campaign even from the print and electronic media, let alone any political party. It is an institution which is supposed to work in a constitutional framework while being completely uninfluenced from any and everything happening around it. This trend of opportunistically employing the SC for one’s political purposes was started by Mr Zardari but Mr Nawaz Sharif followed in his footsteps. Their actions brought unnecessary attention to the Supreme Court.

It is a food for thought that Mr Nawaz Sharif, who somehow became a party against the NRO in 2009, never criticized BB for returning to Pakistan under the notorious NRO in 2007. Mr Nawaz Sharif perhaps forgot that he could only come back to Pakistan after BB’s return through NRO. This notorious piece of legislation indirectly paved the way for Mr Nawaz Sharif’s return to Pakistan. The decision on NRO by the Supreme Court never needed any support from the any political party. The decision, if made independently, would always have been hailed and referred to. Mr Nawaz Sharif should not have tried to become the implementer of Supreme Court’s decision on NRO. I leave for the prudent readers to draw their own conclusion about this opportunism.

Mr Nawaz Sharif, after the PM’s conviction by the Supreme Court, refused to accept Mr Gilani as the PM of Pakistan. This was another example of the knee-jerk reactions our national opposition party is prone to. Mr Nawaz Sharif should be mindful of the fact that the Honourable Chief Justice of Pakistan, while heading a bench in Supreme Court Baluchistan Registry, still considered and addressed Mr Gilani as the Prime Minster of Pakistan. The Honourable Chief Justice, who heads the country’s apex court which has the sole authority to interpret law, acknowledged the presence of a prime minster in the country and even said that the PM had the right to file an appeal. Mian sahib must realise that by taking this ‘pro-judiciary’ stance, he is subjecting the country’s superior judiciary to unwanted attention and criticism.

I urge the leadership of this country to learn the lessons history has taught us. Our leaders think that having national institutions on their side will guarantee their continued rule but the need to outgrow this mindset. They need to recall that a deal between Mr Bhutto and the army brought him into power but it backfired also. Ms Benazir Bhutto too couldn’t get much after compromising with Mirza Aslam Baig in 1988. Mr Nawaz Sharif lost his government at the hands of his own chosen army chief. Don’t we agree that it is high time to have rules in the game?

The writer hosts a prime time talk show. He can be contacted at [email protected]