Einstein’s intelligent fools

The two in Islamabad

Albert Einstein was not only a scientist (physicist) but an intellectual and philosopher of considerable merit. One of his famous quotes is: “Any intelligent fool can make things bigger, more complex, and more violent. It takes a touch of genius — and a lot of courage — to move in the opposite direction.” To the chagrin of the majority of people of Pakistan, the country presently has become hostage to the antics of two intelligent fools, one a graduate from Oxford and the other a lawyer and religious scholar of considerable merit, hell bent to turn the things topsy turvy and introduce a culture of lawlessness and violence in the political landscape of the country, far removed from the ethical values of the society and universally acknowledged democratic norms, to achieve their personal political ambitions.

Constitutionally speaking, the cleric from Canada does not even have a right to challenge the legitimacy of the Parliament, which he does on daily basis while speaking to his ‘dharna’ audience or even indulge in politics in Pakistan, being a Canadian citizen. If my memory serves me right, when he came to Pakistan last year before the elections, he apart from his march on Islamabad had also filed a petition in the Supreme Court under Article 184(3) of the Constitution praying the court to declare the appointment of the Chief Election Commissioner and the members of the Elections Commission as void ab initio as they were not made in accordance with articles 213 and 218. The three-member bench of the SC headed by former Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry questioned his locus standi to file the petition being a Canadian citizen and dismissed it on that basis. The CJ during the hearing also observed that a person having citizenship of another country could not express his no confidence in the Parliament of Pakistan.

From the verdict of the SC delivered on 14^th February, 2013, it could be safely inferred that Qadri was legally not entitled to run political campaigns in Pakistan and whatever he was doing and saying was a brazen violation of the constitution. Even before he and Imran launched their Inqilab and Azadi marches on 14^th August, 2014, a full bench of the Lahore High Court in its verdict delivered on 13^th August had declared their demands as unconstitutional and debarred them from holding their marches in an unconstitutional manner. Both these parties ignoring the decision went ahead with their marches contending that the court only barred unconstitutional marches and that their marches were within the constitutional parameters. The provincial and federal governments also misinterpreted the second part of the verdict as a permission by the court to allow the marches. That was an entirely wrong interpretation of the decision.

A three-member bench of the Lahore High Court hearing a petition on 12^th September, 2014, against Azadi and Inqilab marches, filed by a private citizen, remarked that contempt proceedings should be initiated against the government because it did not stop the marches despite orders of the full bench of the Lahore Court. The court has issued notices to Imran Khan, Tahirul Qadri, Sheikh Rashid, Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain, Chaudhry Pervaiz Elahi and provincial and federal governments to file their replies on 22^nd September. It is abundantly clear from the foregoing that the LHC full bench had declared the demands of PTI and PAT as unconstitutional and also barred them from holding their marches and the provincial and federal governments were under legal obligation to stop them. Qadri and Imran knew the implications of the decision very well but they deliberately violated the court’s verdict, exhibiting their foolishness characterised by unremitting arrogance.

The SC is also currently hearing identical petitions seeking its direction to restrain PTI and PAT from taking out illegal marches and trespassing into prohibited zones. My hunch is that in view of the SC decision of 14^th February, 2013, and LHC’s verdict of 13^th August, the Supreme Court is likely to snub Qadri for the second time and also declare the Inqilab and Azadi marches as unconstitutional.

As far as the objectives of the marches are concerned, the developments and revelations coming to the fore since they were launched have made it abundantly clear that both these gentlemen have only one-point agenda i.e., to have Nawaz Sharif removed through unconstitutional means and the demands made by them were only a smokescreen to hid their real intentions. The government has already conceded five out of six demands of PTI and has also expressed its willingness to accommodate all the constitutional demands of the PAT during the process of dialogue but instead of showing flexibility and acting in the spirit of give and take, they remain adamant on the resignation of the Prime Minister, an unconstitutional demand. Their insistence on this issue and resort to illegal and violent methods such as attack on PTV headquarters, attempts to march on the Parliament House and other symbols of state power, provocative and inflammatory speeches on daily basis, open defiance of the writ of the state and persistent attacks on the media, particularly stoning of Geo’s building on regular basis by their supporters, are all incriminating pointers to their ill-intentions.

But whoever wrote the script for their unconstitutional adventure, conveniently forgot the fact that it was not the Pakistan of 1990s where such conspiracies invariably unfolded according to scripted plots without any resistance. It is a different Pakistan altogether where all the political forces, the civil society, lawyers’ community, media representative bodies, the Parliament and judiciary are on the same page in regards to defending democracy and constitutional rule in the country. On top of that the Army has also categorically expressed its support for democracy and constitution.

Imran and Qadri through their foolishness for having believed in the authors of the script in regards to the umpire intervening on their behalf, have actually harmed the interests of the state besides writing their own political obituaries. In the words of Einstein, they simply lacked the touch of genius and the courage to move in the opposite direction. Yes, the country needs change in the system of governance and the way we elect our legislators — there is now almost a consensus on this issue — but that must happen through constitutional means.

However in view of the persistent impasse, in my view, the judiciary has a role to play. It should not only confine itself to giving verdicts but must also act to have those verdicts implemented by using its powers under Article 190 of the Constitution.