PTI is undermining its position
In the face of threats by Imran Khan to stage a sit-in in front of the Election Commission on 4th October in case the four members of the Commission did not resign till then and claims by a certain section of the media that three ECP members had agreed to step down, the Commission through a press release has announced that the members would not resign and continue performing their duties till the decision of the Supreme Judicial Council on the reference filed against the members by the PTI, which was the legal and the only way for their removal from their positions. The decision by the members of the ECP not to succumb to the bullying by the PTI, also supported by PPP, is a commendable response to the unconstitutional demand by these political entities who have no moral and legal basis to make such demands after the decision of the Judicial Commission. The members have indeed upheld the prestige of the constitutional body like the ECP.
Before venturing to comment on the motives behind the demand by PTI and PPP and its repercussions, I would like to say that our media which seems over-enthusiastic to defend its freedom — and rightly so — has shown utter lack of responsibility in this case by resorting to speculative reporting. The story has been reported in a number of newspapers which suggests that some of the media outlets are practising syndicated journalism. This kind of behaviour and conduct is not permitted even in the most developed democratic dispensations where freedom of expression is a matter of pride for them. Freedom of expression is contingent upon sense of responsibility; a universally accepted ingredient of almost all the ethical codes drawn up by international media representative bodies and the self-regulatory mechanism operating in the free world.
Now coming to the demand of PTI and PPP, it is really a shame that our political parties refuse to practice constitutionalism when it comes to their partisan political interests and even lose sense of direction and purpose while pursuing their objectives, notwithstanding the fact that constitutional and legal remedies are available to address those issues. PTI has already filed a reference in the Supreme Judicial Council; therefore, it has now no constitutional, legal and moral basis to stage a sit-in before the Election Commission to coerce the members to resign. Even if it had not filed a reference in the Supreme Judicial Council it had no right to stage a sit-in in front of the ECP or seek an explanation from it in regards the procedural and administrative irregularities pointed out by the Judicial Commission, which it thought had not materially affected the overall election results. Those observations were actually meant to guide the ECP in improving the electoral machinery and reforming the laws where necessary to plug the loopholes. The ECP reportedly is already working on proposals to improve the system in the light of the observations of the JC. These observations can also help the Parliamentary Reforms Committee in effecting systemic reforms.
Ostensibly, the purpose behind this move by PTI is to make the ECP dysfunctional by pressurising the members to resign, delaying the already announced by-elections in NA-122 and NA-154 and consequently creating a constitutional crisis in the country. Had the ECP members succumbed to the pressure of PTI, it would have been very difficult to arrive at a consensus among the government and PPP which is striving to salvage its sinking ship amidst the trail of corruption unmasked by the Rangers and the arrest of Dr Asim Hussain. It is angry with the government and would have liked to take advantage of the prevailing situation to sabotage the ongoing operation in Karachi like the MQM has been doing. It would have scuttled the chances of holding by-elections within the stipulated constitutional time span, leading to the violation of the constitution. Thank God the members have had the spine and wisdom to withstand the pressure.
In view of the foregoing developments I find no reason to take an issue with the statement of the Information Minister Pervez Rasheed that it was a move by the PTI to run away from the by-elections. The PML-N by deciding to go for the by-election has actually called Imran’s bluff who probably by now has realised that his party cannot defeat the PML-N at the ballot despite its tall claims, as has been established by the results of the recent by-elections for NA seats in Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhawa. That impression gains currency from the fact that Imran Khan instead of contesting himself from NA-122 has nominated Aleem Khan to contest against Ayaz Sadiq to avoid the embarrassment of getting defeated by him for the third time from the same constituency.
Even in NA-154 where Jahangir Tareen would again be the PTI candidate, the ground realities are not in favour of PTI. During the 2013 General Elections the winning candidate in NA-154 Siddiq Baloch, who contested as an independent candidate and later joined the PML-N, obtained 86,177 votes out of the total of 235,938 polled votes as against 75,955 by Jahangir Tareen and 45,635 secured by the PML-N contestant. This means that 131,812 votes were polled against Jahangir Tareen. The PML-N is fielding the son of Siddiq Baloch in the by-elections. The voters of PML-N and supporters of Siddiq Baloch will definitely be voting for him and it would not be possible for Jahangir Tareen to close the gap of nearly 56,000 votes in the ensuing by-election.
The PTI probably also fears that it would fail to win local bodies elections in Punjab and Sindh as suggested by the results of the cantonment board elections in the recent past. The inference which can safely be drawn from this move by PTI is that it was out to sabotage the democratic process by creating political and constitutional crisis in the country. The ECP has already announced the date and schedule for by-elections and it should make sure that no party is allowed to sabotage them. The government should also fully back the ECP in carrying out this exercise irrespective of the threat by PPP and PTI to boycott the elections.
What the PTI and PPP are doing is politics without sanity. At a time when the nation is faced with grave internal and external dangers, the attempts by them to create a political crisis and undermine the national unity are really regrettable to say the least. They need to revisit their positions, especially Imran Khan who has shown scant respect for the constitution and the judiciary. If he continues in the same vein he would not only harm the democratic process but would also undermine his own position as a political leader.