Wearing a democratic disguise, unbridled dictatorship on the rampage
The unceremonious sacking of the NADRA chief is a minuscule reflection of the government’s desperation in its bid to hide the multifarious skeletons in its closet. His later reinstatement by the Islamabad High Court (IHC) would be particularly dismaying for the ruling hierarchy as it not only thwarted its attempt to bury the massive controversy surrounding its victory in the last general elections, it also provided an advance indication of the apex judiciary’s role and conduct post Iftikhar Chaudhry’s tenure.
So panicked was the government that the orders of the sacking of the NADRA chief were issued at 0130 hours which came in the wake of his reported refusal to surrender before the mounting government pressure and threats regarding verifying results of the May 11 elections particularly in the ruling PML-N stronghold, Lahore. This related to constituencies from where some leading stalwarts of the party had won including, among others, the incumbent prime minister, speaker of the national assembly and the railways minister.
That brings us to the core issue that plagues the conduct of the May 11 elections and the lack of legitimacy accorded to its results. Understandably, the thumb-impression-verification component was introduced with the noble intention to sanctifying the process of the national elections and eliminating the prospect of tampering and bogus voting. It is, therefore, extremely strange that practically all political parties which are perched in the saddle of power and which should have heartily supported the idea of thumb-impression-verification to prove the legitimacy of their electoral victory have doggedly opposed it. This particularly concerns the ruling PML-N and the MQM who are believed to have tampered with the election process by resorting to dishonourable means and methods to ensure the victory of their nominated candidates. That does not mean that the other political parties may not have been equally guilty of having indulged in non-transparent practices. It only means that since their existent stakes are not being threatened, they have tactically opted to stay clear of the controversy line.
The electoral history in Pakistan makes for a humiliating reading. It is generally assumed that the only fair election ever held in Pakistan led to its dismemberment. Should it, therefore, follow that the election process in Pakistan should forever remain flawed? There have also been instances of the establishment’s interference in the process to push for the results of their liking and the apex court’s adjudication in one such matter awaits the government’s attention.
In the post-election scenario, the conduct of the provincial election commissioners had also been questioned particularly that of the Punjab Election Commissioner. There were serious questions raised with regard to his partiality towards one political party that ultimately won the elections. There were even demands for his resignation which remained unheeded and the man stuck it out with his ignominious conduct casting seething doubts over the entire electoral process.
The abject lack of capacity and empowerment of the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) were the principal ingredients that led to a flawed election process. The exercise was further aggravated by the ECP’s preponderant dependence on the existing administrative structures which had been inducted into power by the previous governments and which owed their allegiance to them and not to the state of Pakistan or a hazy concept of holding a free, fair and transparent election in the country. Merely posting some of them 10 kilometres north or twenty kilometres south did not deter them from interfering in the election process in every conceivable manner to the advantage of their masters.
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“While the government and its religious and neo-religious partners remain engrossed in pursuing a policy of appeasement of the perpetrators of terror and violence, the latter are gaining in power, spread and confidence. They now believe that the whole country is within their grasp and all they need is one major push.”
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The ECP itself remained a divided house with a weak leadership at the time of conducting the election process as well as failing to swiftly respond to many questions and complaints that were raised with regard to the lack of transparency in the election process and its own role therein. It constituted election tribunals which were slow to take off and remained dysfunctional because of the gross pressure and interference of the newly-installed governments at the centre and in the provinces. So, the pre-election non-transparent environment was replicated by the post-election conduct of those who had the highest stakes in the election process: the leaders of the political parties which won and their patrons and supporters. Consequently, it may be correct to conclude that the entire election process was effectively hijacked by interested parties and groups and pre-meditated results were ensured by using all means at their disposal.
The abysmal performance of the incumbent governments is a sad reflection of the same flawed election process that manoeuvred to throw up leaderships not deserving to be elected. It was a viciously contrived process which hit hard at the prospect of Pakistan taking charge of its destiny by envisioning and formulating policies to take it out of the existent quagmire. As a result, Pakistan today is irretrievably ensconced in a deadly embrace with militancy and terrorism and there does not appear even a hint of hope on the horizon that things are going to be any different in the future. Confronted with the prospect of shrinking space and time, Pakistan is fast losing out on its existential battle with a scourge that is not only of its own making, it also refuses to address it in any meaningful manner.
Most of the leading government institutions are at a standstill because their heads have not been appointed for fear of judicial intervention. The government hopes that all this will change in the post-Iftikhar Chaudhry era. But, will it? Even more important, should it? If the judiciary’s approach were to change as is hoped by the incumbent political leadership, it will proceed unchecked with appointing its cronies, its Mamnoon Hussains to all key positions to accrue results of its liking. Will that serve the national interest? Nawaz Sharif has his man in the presidency. He believes that he also has his man in the GHQ. Even if one were to concede his wish to give him a level of comfort, it is the judiciary that has been a thorn in his back and, by all indications, will continue to be so in the foreseeable future because, thankfully, the induction of the new Chief Justice is beyond the realm of any dominant administrative control. Already, there are murmurings emanating from the ruling echelons to establish the supremacy of the parliament with regard to the procedure adopted for appointments in the apex judiciary by making the parliamentary commission more powerful. If accomplished, it would reduce the judiciary to the level of a servile division of the prime minister’s secretariat to be manipulated and used as per his whims and fancies. What an awful prospect! But given his temperament, it is not beyond reckoning that soon a battle would be unleashed to dismantle the institution of the judiciary to bring it on a par with any other subservient government department. This is so because the fraudulently-elected and dictatorially-inclined leadership is completely out of sync with the contemporary demands and expectations of the judiciary in the onerous task of establishing and maintaining sustainable checks on the performance of the government and the state institutions and not allowing these to be overly influenced by the illegal and unconstitutional directives of the executive as is vouched for by the sacking of the NADRA chief and the non-appointment of the heads of innumerable institutions it controls.
In addition to all this, there are problems of a different kind that stalk the prime minister. Rather than getting down to addressing these, he is doing the bit of the ostrich with his head deeply immersed in sand wishing these to go away. But, go away these will not. By all appearances and indications, the severity and implications of the existential challenges confronting the state are bound to multiply. The appearance of consensus that the All Parties Conference (APC) had thrown up has already been blown away with the PPP, ANP and the MQM disagreeing vehemently with the government’s moves and those of the religious right and the neo-religious parties in dealing with the spectre of militancy and terrorism. Elevating the militants to the status of ‘stakeholders’ has already dented the government’s legitimacy and strategy, unveiling its true intentions: continue patronising the spectre of terrorism and violence that it has bred and nurtured in its backyard and which it feels threatened to confront. Its neo-religious partners appear even more eager and willing in partnering the scourge of militancy and its perpetrators for their electoral interests. This is what disasters are made of. We have one which is staring us in our faces, but we prefer to look the other way.
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“It was a viciously contrived process which hit hard at the prospect of Pakistan taking charge of its destiny by envisioning and formulating policies to take it out of the existent quagmire. As a result, Pakistan today is irretrievably ensconced in a deadly embrace with militancy and terrorism and there does not appear even a hint of hope on the horizon that things are going to be any different in the future.”
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In a recent survey in ten districts of Punjab conducted by Pattan Development Organisation, as many as “ninety-three percent respondents were unable to mention even a single act or policy of the PML-N government that has benefited them while more than half of them said that they could not state any policy of the government that has benefited the country”. This has happened in less than six months of the coming into power of the incumbent corrupt coterie of rulers.
There is massive problem brewing. While the government and its religious and neo-religious partners remain engrossed in pursuing a policy of appeasement of the perpetrators of terror and violence, the latter are gaining in power, spread and confidence. They now believe that the whole country is within their grasp and all they need is one major push. Convening another facile APC or blocking the NATO routes cannot salvage for the absence of pragmatic planning and firm action in the face of the myriad challenges that Pakistan faces, each one more grave than the others. The flawed narrative pursued for so long is showing increasing signs of paralysis as a corrupt leadership remains engrossed in securing and advancing its personal paradigm by trying to make irrelevant all institutions that may pose a threat.
Wearing the democratic disguise, unbridled dictatorship is on a rampage. Beware my worst fears: the prime minister is gradually rising to the full stature of his (lack of) capability, capacity and courage.
Raoof Hasan is a political analyst and the Executive Director of the Regional Peace Institute. He can be reached at [email protected].
