Through judiciary this time
Things are happening that give one a sense of déjà vu. The SC removed an elected PM who still enjoyed the support of the majority in National Assembly. The ruling coalition accepted the decision without throwing tantrums but the CJ still considers it necessary to send the message that there could be no legislation which is repugnant to constitution or Islam. One fails to understand the need to affirm this at a time when the National Assembly cannot be accused of acting in a belligerent way. There are many who think that the SC would do well to avoid taking over the responsibility of defining where Islam ends and heresy begins. An SC bench has been formed, headed by the CJ, which is to start hearing the NRO implementation case among other cases. A new confrontation between the executive and judiciary may not be far off.
Attempts are on to divide, pressurise and malign institutions and civil society organisations. Sidestepping the Pakistan Bar Council and the Supreme Court Bar Association, PTI’s senior vice president Hamid Khan convened a lawyers’ convention which announced a countrywide strike by lawyers on June 27. As the convention and its announcements were declared unconstitutional by the PBC and SCBA, there is likelihood of a split among the lawyers. Many consider that the Arsalan Iftikhar affair was a conspiracy to pressurise the judiciary and malign the media at the same time. While this happens, political parties remain divided and sufficiently discredited.
The ruling coalition has committed enough sins of omission and commission to gain unpopularity. These include an abysmal neglect to tackle the power issue, failure to put an end to targeted killings in Karachi and Quetta and to ameliorate the lot of the common man. The PML(N) has been mired by financial indiscipline and bad governance. After recruiting the whole lot of politicians known for shifting party alliances, the PTI which was considered earlier by the youth as a harbinger of change is now seen by many as another party of the status quo. There is a perception that attempts are on by those who matter to oust the present PPP government through courts, install an interim administration, give it indefinite extension and delay the general election.
A peaceful transfer of power is the only hope for putting the system, battered by one military intervention after another, on an even keel. Any interpolation by the army or the courts would damage the system beyond repair. What needs to be done by the political parties is to agree on early elections, reach understanding on a permanent CEC and an interim set up and go for an orderly transition of power.
