Former ministers from the 2013 caretaker government, newly-elected federal and provincial parliamentarians and civil society representatives were on the same page in demanding clear guidelines and well-defined laws that explain the mandate, functioning and neutrality of future caretaker governments.
The demand was made at a consultative forum organised by Democracy Reporting International (DRI) on Saturday. Former federal caretaker minister Dr Sania Nishtar chaired the event.
The speakers highlighted that the purpose of the caretaker government was to create a conducive environment for elections, ensuring the neutrality of state machinery in order to facilitate smooth transfer of power from one government to another. However, both sides of the table-technocrats who served in the caretaker cabinets at federal and provincial level as well as the parliamentarians were candid in sharing that the caretaker set up needed to be reformed so that it lived up to the spirit of the constitutional provisions envisaged in the 18th and 20th amendments.
Former caretaker federal minister Dr Sania Nishtar said: “any outgoing government should communicate strategic policy decisions to the next government and in the case of caretaker government it becomes all the more important given that it is meant to be a bridge between one government and the next.” Sania Nishtar’s handover papers were widely appreciated both domestically and internationally as they set a precedent in transparency in decision-making and self-accountability.
“Accountability is a central thread in governance. By making public my handover papers, I wanted to voluntarily submit myself for accountability,” she said. However, she insisted that the mechanism for accountability of public office holders needed to be in place in a systematic way as the lack thereof was a root cause of all problems.
Former caretaker information minister Arif Nizami said working in the caretaker set up was highly challenging because there was lack of coordination among the key stakeholders of the system including the prime minister, president and chief election commissioner. He admitted that there was lack of transparency on part of some key institutions and it was because the limits were not well defined by law.
Former caretaker law minister Ahmer Bilal Soofi said the caretaker government succeeded in smooth transition and transfer of power despite many fears which loomed over the caretaker government that the elections would be postponed on the pretext of law and order situation. He said limitations on the role of caretaker government were implicit in the constitution that’s why he advocated against taking any decisions which had long term implications. “A code of conduct should clearly define the roles and put the limitations in place” he said.
Member National Assembly from Pakistan the Tahreek-Insaf (PTI) Shafqat Mahmood said the caretakers should only focus on conducting elections and providing enabling environment for the elections. “With unrepresentative mandate, caretakers are only supposed to control the steering of government functions instead of going too much left and right” he suggested.
Senator Hasil Bizanjo of the National Party said ideally they should aspire for the political maturity and democratic development to the extent where they did not even need the caretakers and had trust in the existing institutions to conduct free and fair elections. “If the ECP is strong enough and people have trust in it, we don’t even need caretakers but in the given situation we need to improve the system and have a set mandate for caretakers.”
Senator Jahangir Bader of the PPP suggested that there should be clearly defined criteria for the appointment of caretaker ministers and caretakers should not indulge into any major policy decisions and controversial appointments.
Prior to the 2013 general elections, the Democracy Reporting International (DRI) produced a working paper on the scope, mandate and role of the caretaker government in Pakistan. The paper presented guiding principles for the government in election period and outlined recommendations for strengthening the institution of the caretaker government by defining the responsibilities and the authority of caretaker officials. While presenting key features of the DRI recommendations, its Country Director Vladimir Pran said: “there should be a clearly defined legislation outlining the limits of policy/decision-making authority of the caretaker government by establishing concrete criteria for decisions that go beyond ordinary matters of administration.”
Other speakers including former caretaker ministers Maqbool Rahimtoola, Mussarat Qadeem, MNA SA Iqbal Qadri, Sharmila Farooqi, Shafi Muhammad Jamote, Senator Rubina Khalid, Senator Farah Aqil, Deputy Speaker of KP Assembly Imtiaz Shahid, MNA Asia Nasir and a number of MPAs from all four provinces also addressed on the occasion. All of them supported the recommendation that the parliament needs to take charge of legislative responsibility to formalise the framework for the future caretaker governments.
Following up recommendations of the European Union Election Observation Mission 2008 (EUEOM), the DRI paper presented guiding principles for the government in election period and outlined recommendations for strengthening the institution of the caretaker government by defining the responsibilities and the authority of caretaker officials.
In post-elections context, the DRI continues to work on recommendations, building on the recent caretaker experience and initiatives to formalise basic principles of caretaker setup. The DRI’s work is in line with recommendation of the EU Election Observation Mission 2013 “the mandate, functioning and neutrality of future caretaker governments be more clearly defined in the law.” This recommendation is based on International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) to which Pakistan is a signatory.