Election Bill 2107
The concept of Divine Right is a really old political doctrine, in fact it is so old that it is hard to pin point when some one came up with it. Back in the old days countries and provinces were ruled as principalities. Now these princes had no real justification to hold any form of control over mass territories and impose laws on a sizeable population, so they come up with the concept of Divine Right.
The concept is that the monarch has been appointed because God willed it so and from there, their political legitimacy is derived. Therefore the monarch is not subject to the people, the aristocracy or the realm. It implies that only God can judge an unjust king and that any attempt to depose, dethrone or restrict their powers runs contrary to the will of God and may constitute a sacrilegious act.
This doctrine served the monarchs and the state well. The monarch was happy because his rule became unchallengeable and the masses accepted this form of governance, since any form of challenge to the status quo would amount to sacrilege, this in turn made the management of state affairs relatively easier.
With the passage of time other groups and other institutions within the state structure started gaining more influence and the old system of Divine Right didn’t seem acceptable anymore, as the influence of the monarch reduced, the Divine Right doctrine increasingly edged itself to the trash can of history. As newer forms of governance were derived the doctrine became completely redundant.
However, in the 21st Century when one would assume that there is no room for such a doctrine we still find it being followed. The Middle East serves as a good example; Iraq, which was ruled by Saddam Hussein from 1979 till he was ousted in 2003 by the US invasion, remains unstable even after fourteen years of his removal from power. Hosni Mubarak ruled Egypt from 1981 till his ouster by the Arab Spring in 2011 and six years later Egypt is still suffering from political instability. Similarly another victim of the Arab Spring governed Libya from 1969 till 2011 and since his removal Libya has remained in a state of chaos.
One could argue that the doctrine of Divine Right held true in these cases and perhaps the geo political situation of the Arab states is such that an unopposed strong man is best suited for them. Or perhaps we could argue that the doctrine is a self-serving doctrine; created by the rulers for their own benefit.
Perhaps these rulers failed to develop institutions within their state structure through which future leadership could be developed and the business of the state would not be centered around one person solely. And perhaps they did this deliberately so that they remained in power.
We in Pakistan are faced with a similar situation, although our rulers lack staying power and usually find it hard to last beyond four years they do have a strong sense of entitlement and they too feel, along with their followers, that they are the sole hope for the country and as of right they should remain in power for all times to come.
The former prime minister was disqualified from holding political office in the final decision of the Panama Case and by inference he could not head a political party either. However staying true to the doctrine the ruling party refused to accept such sacrilege and on Monday the amended Election Bill 2017, was approved by the National Assembly; which effectively removed all impediments for the former prime minister to be the head of his political party.
Now one would naturally argue that the former prime minister was democratically elected with a clear cut majority and we should accept that and it is not the business of the judiciary to send him home.
However there is a counter argument to this, the problem with democracy is that the will of the people is based on what is popular and what is popular may not necessarily be good, for the state or the public and therefore it is necessary that certain parameters and minimal standards must be met before any one can stand for political office.
Pakistan is a country of over 200 million people and if we discard the doctrine of Divine Right, which most developed nations did a few hundred years ago we will find that there are plenty of people out there who could do a good job running the country and we do not need to change the law to ensure that one particular person retains political authority.
