There is a system for everything
Holding elections, free and fair, is one of the many ways you can see the beauty of democracy in action. It signifies the importance of self-accountability and is a manifestation of people’s power, which is the true essence of democracy. Taking criticism in its stride is another way democracy outshines from other forms of government. However, what has been happening in Pakistan, especially in the past few months, leads one to doubt if we are willing to give democracy a chance.
PTI, the party known for its dharna politics, is demanding that the members of the Election Commission should resign, or there will be another dharna. The party feels pumped up due to three consecutive decisions by Election Tribunals being in its favour, but the members of the Election Commission refused to resign which they were in their due right to do. PTI then filed a reference with the Supreme Judicial Council to get them fired from their jobs. The EC members, on their part, have decided to see how proceedings in SJC turn out to be. The PTI, meanwhile, continues to escalate pressure on them to resign though there is a flaw in this strategy: EC being a constitutional body, there is a process in which its members are appointed, changed or removed from service and if PTI is allowed its wish, it may set in a dangerous precedent of removing top constitutional posts through street pressure instead of following proper procedure.
What Imran Khan and his party have so conveniently elected to ignore is the fact that the same EC held recent by-polls in many constituencies, some in KP as well, but the party did not object to their ability to hold these elections in any way. If it can accept that, there is no bar it shouldn’t accept the EC, or at least let the law take its course and stop mounting political pressure on the EC members. The party’s demand for their resignations may be valid, but to achieve its objective the use of street power is not at all. It should allow SJC to resolve the issue through legal means.
