How not to treat the opposition
Most of the PML-N’s woes emerge out of its leadership’s desire to have absolute power with no sharing and no supervision. Nawaz Sharif would like the courts to get out of his hairs as he makes appointments of heads of key federal government bodies. Instead of strengthening institutional control over the army he wants to ensure army chief’s loyalty to his person. While under pressure from powerful quarters, Sharif claims that all institutions are subservient to parliament, yet he does nothing to strengthen parliament. The PM-N leadership is also unhappy with the media when it criticises its erroneous policies. The prime minister would like the opposition to let him work instead of launching protests.
The quest for absolute power is justified on the ground that the party can only fulfil the promises made to its voters if it is given a free hand and no obstructions are put on its way. The government also maintains that the five year mandate given to it by the masses requires that its government is not subjected to criticism till the expiry of its tenure. While the prime minister and cabinet members are intolerant of criticism from the opposition outside parliament, they also do not hold themselves responsible to parliament. The PML-N supporters believe that the leadership of their party alone is honest, sincere and capable to deliver and those opposing it do so out of jealousy or because they are someone else’s tools.
With the mindset the PML-N leadership has acquired, it is bound to come into collision with the courts, army, parliament, media and the opposition. It has developed a strategy to deal with all. The courts and the army are to be browbeaten, parliament ignored, the media bribed and the opposition sorted out.
In the Geo affair when instead of acting as a neutral arbiter the government was seen to be displaying partiality for the media group. The defence minister became so unpopular with the army that he was sidelined at the army passing out parade.
The strategy has multiplied the PML-N’s problems. Within a year of its coming to power questions are being raised whether its government would be able to complete its tenure.
Under former CJ Iftikhar Chaudhry, the courts were generally accommodative of the PML-N as long as it was in the opposition. The situation changed when soon after assuming power Nawaz Sharif began to show disregard for laws, procedures and the courts’ orders. A week before budget 2013-14 was passed the Supreme Court scrapped the GST increase, leaving the finance ministry in a state of quandary. A month later the government was forced to rescind the appointment of Shujaat Azeem as adviser to prime minister on aviation. In September there were four major court decisions against the government. In November the Supreme Court held the government responsible for running the country on ad hoc basis and declared that the appointment of Kh Naeem as acting chairman NEPRA was in violation of the rules. In December the PML-N government suffered humiliation when the courts reversed three major dismissal orders handed down by it.
There seems to be no end to the PMLN’s standoff with the courts. A recent order of the Islamabad High Court has blocked the government’s plan to appoint its blue eyed boys at 23 top organisations having annual budgets of multi-billion rupees. The Supreme Court had made it mandatory to make these appointments through a commission.
Friction with the army surfaced soon after Nawaz Sharif decided to go ahead with Musharraf’s trial. While the trial was proceeding a number of ministers poked fun on the former military ruler in TV programmes. This led to the army chief’s statement regarding the forces resolutely preserving their own dignity and institutional pride.
The government also decided to go ahead with its plan to hold talks with the Pakistani Taliban despite the latter having killed many soldiers and officers. When the TTP called off the ceasefire and threatened to launch deadly attacks, the government released several Taliban prisoners without consulting the army. This was interpreted by the army as an act of appeasement.
In the Geo affair when instead of acting as a neutral arbiter the government was seen to be displaying partiality for the media group. The defence minister became so unpopular with the army that he was sidelined at the army passing out parade. Soon there were pro army rallies organised in the country by JuD, PAT and PML-Q .
When media starts providing prime time coverage to the displays of strength by the opposition, leaving aside major national issues like the IDPs exodus from North Waziristan, it is bound to strengthen the perception that the government may be on its way out.
It causes uncertainty in the country when powerful actors like the Supreme Court and the army are seen to be breathing down the government’s neck. This is quite understandable in a country which has seen military coups and removal of elected prime ministers through judicial fiats.
The PMLN government’s somewhat casual treatment of the parliament has added to the party’s woes. When the prime minister came to attend an NA sitting early this year, a wit quipped, “Nawaz Sharif, the leader of the house, who awaited 14 years to enter in the parliament, had arrived in the NA just seven times in seven months.” The prime minister did not attend a single sitting of the senate for a whole year. This led most senators to boycott the presidential address as a protest.
This has led the opposition to maintain that the PML-N does not take the national assembly seriously. The PTI has concluded that it is futile to try to resolve outstanding issues in the national assembly. The party has therefore resolved to take recourse to public agitation. The issue of four constituencies could have been settled through talks if the PM had been attending the sittings more frequently.
When media starts providing prime time coverage to the displays of strength by the opposition, leaving aside major national issues like the IDPs exodus from North Waziristan, it is bound to strengthen the perception that the government may be on its way out. There are so many TV channels operating in the country that it is no more possible for the government to ensure media support by bribing a few. Government’s support for one or two channels alienates others. ‘Lifafa journalism’ can no more produce the results in did in the 90’s.
The recourse to repressive methods led to the killings of nine PAT workers. Changed times however caused developments altogether unexpected by the government. The subsequent measures to cool down tempers helped. But the Qadri impact had by then made the dollar cross the barrier of Rs 100. Currency dealers said the arrival of Dr Qadri and ensuing political tension depressed the market and nervous traders turned to the money market to cover their future needs.
Normally this should make the government realise how not to treat the opposition if it was serious about improving the economy. Bu would it?
