- While Nero fiddling
So many fronts opened simultaneously it seems that the Pakistani state is at war with itself. The higher judiciary under siege, the ongoing confrontation with the PTM (Pashtun Tahaffuz Mahaz) and the unabated downslide of the economy leaves not much to write home about.
While the media trial of Supreme Court judge Qazi Faez Isa continues unabated, PEMRA (Pakistan electronic media regulatory authority) is breathing down the neck of virtually all the top television news channels to blackout any coverage of the impending references filed in the Supreme Judicial Council (SJC) against the erring judges, namely Qazi Faez Isa and justice Gul Agha from the Sindh high court.
The Supreme Court Bar Association (SCBA) president Amanullah Kanrani supporting Isa has declared observing a black day on June 14 the day the reference is to be heard by the SJC. All this does not auger well at all for growth of an independent and fearless judiciary.
The leaked contents of the reference allege that the wife of Qazi Isa failed to declare her foreign assets. However, the SCBA president claims that the accused judge has not violated a single clause of the 11-point code of conduct for the judges. Nonetheless it is up to the SJC how it proceeds with the case.
Ironically the Prime Minister seems quite oblivious to the existential problems being faced by the country
Belonging to the famous Isa family of Balochistan that made tremendous contributions for the creation of Pakistan, Qazi Faez Isa is the scion of Qazi Isa who was a close associate of the Father of the Nation Mohammad Ali Jinnah. He has been out of favour since he wrote the judgment in a suo motu case pertaining to the Faizabad sit-in by the Tehreek-e-Labbaik Pakistan (TLP) announced last February.
He castigated the ubiquitous establishment for its role in the Faizabad Dharna in November 2017 that paralyzed Islamabad for more than two weeks. He said: “the government of Pakistan through the Ministry of Defence and respective Chiefs of the Army Navy and the Air Force are directed to initiate action against the personnel under their command who are found to have violated their oath.”
The federal cabinet has endorsed the filing of reference against superior court justices declaring that no one is above the law. Qazi in a second letter within a week to president Alvi on the other hand, has reemphasized that although he has not been officially informed about the charges against him; his name is being tarnished through a deliberate media campaign.
Clarifying that his wife and children were independent and working, he was not obliged to declare their assets. Perhaps tongue in cheek he has questioned why the prime minister has not declared assets of his wives and children?
Ironically post lawyer’s movement that succeeded in reinstatement of CJP Iftikhar Chaudhry who was sacked by Musharraf, newfound independence of an assertive judiciary (admittedly over the top in some cases) was being taken for granted. Another hallmark of the post Musharraf era was a free media epitomised with proliferation of news channels.
But it is becoming increasingly clear that there is a concerted effort to roll back independence of pillars of democracy namely, the press and the judiciary. Even the parliament the repository of democracy seems under siege.
The other day Prime Minister’s advisor on tourism Zulfi Bukhari made the ludicrous statement that the PM was answerable neither to the cabinet nor the parliament. The British Born Desi (BBD) who is a personal friend of PM Khan perhaps needs a few lessons on the travails the nation has gone through for restoration of a modicum of democracy in the country. But perhaps the PTI feels that as long as it keeps its bosses happy there is no need even to pay lip service to supremacy of the parliament.
So far as the PTM is concerned according to the security forces its two MNAs Mohsin Dawar and Ali Wazir led supporters on May 26, and assaulted a military check post to forcibly secure release of terrorist facilitators. The only catch here is that being members of the parliament the opposition wants the two PTM leaders to be allowed to attend the National Assembly to hear their version of events.
Interestingly the PPP chairperson Bilawal Bhutto wrote a letter to the Speaker of the National Assembly demanding the production of the lawmakers. Although Bilawal claims he has the receipt of the delivery of the said letter, the assembly secretariat perhaps in order to buy time has asserted that the letter was not received.
If the PTM MNAs are guilty as charged of treason and being on the payroll of Indian and Afghan intelligence agencies the government should proceed against them in the proper forum, i.e. the court of law. In the meanwhile, their peers should be allowed to hear the other side of the story.
Unfortunately, those who matter have refused to learn any lessons post the East Pakistan debacle in 1971. Only less than two years later, in February 1973 the elected government was dismissed in Balochistan ironically on Prime Minister Bhutto’s watch. General Musharraf much later was responsible for Baloch leader Akbar Bugti’s assassination.
Since then there is an active insurgency in Balochistan aided and abetted by our enemies. Now the erstwhile sensitive tribal areas of KPK (Khyber Pakhtunkhwa) are being handled in the same crass and insensitive manner, alienating the Pushtoons in the process.
Ironically the Prime Minister seems quite oblivious to the existential problems being faced by the country. He has hardly uttered a word on the treatment being meted out to the PTM.
Himself a Pathan of sorts, in the past he has said that although he agrees with most of the demands of the PTM he did not endorse their methods. While in the opposition he has insisted multiple times that instead of using guns and drones talking to the people of the tribal areas including the Taliban was the only workable solution.
Someone likened him- albeit unfairly- to the fabled Roman emperor Nero who was playing the fiddle while Rome burned. But admittedly he does not seem overtly worried about multi-pronged fronts that have been unnecessarily opened.
In the meanwhile the economy and governance, which according to Khan and his teams’ own claims are being dealt with hands-on, remain in disarray. In the first nine months of the PTI government it is lagging behind in virtually every department.
There is a record revenue shortfall; exports have refused to pick up despite devaluation. The stock exchange continues to be depressed. And to top it all inflation has doubled and is almost in double digits. It is expected to rise further in the next few years.
To put it bluntly, there is nothing much to cheer about during the long hot summer of discontent.
