The inevitable question

Portents of a serious aberration

What has been known to most all along but what has been denied vociferously and aggressively by everyone associated with Mr Zardari was finally confirmed on April 18 by none other than the legal wizard of the government: Aitzaz Ahsan. In the SC, he was made to read out from the record provided by the government which confirmed that, number one, there was a conviction handed down by the Swiss magistrate to Mr Zardari and others and, number two, it was set aside by the appellate court not on merit, but remanded on the plea that the punishment given was less and the case needed to be reinvestigated.

In addition to causing extreme embarrassment, it spelled a major setback for the barrister in his strenuous efforts to convince the bench to drop the contempt proceedings against the prime minister. The question that arises, thus, and which this scribe has highlighted on numerous occasions in the past also is whether, in the presence of this case that was remanded to another court for the award of a possible higher sentence which the magistrate was not empowered to give, Mr Zardari was eligible to be the president of the country when he moved his papers for the coveted office? Its moral relevance is irrefutable, but it is the legal aspect that needs to be looked into in greater detail by those more familiar with matters of law.

If, in the end, it transpires that Mr Zardari’s papers contained claims which were not completely true, or they did not include facts which, otherwise, should have been clearly stated, what impact it would have on his ultimate eligibility for election as the head of the state and how would it be reviewed in the realm of history? Also, if a serious aberration is established, how would it be dealt with now that he has been president for a while? The question of writing the letter to the Swiss authorities has really got the nation glued to the news emanating from the SC on a daily basis. The filibustering technique adopted by the defence attorney, fully aided and abetted by the entire state apparatus which is being shuffled ever so frequently to keep adding to the existing mess, is both unnerving and humiliating. It is unnerving because the charade has gone on for too long already and humiliating because, in full public view, statements and claims are being made by the advocates of the government which are erroneous in content and misleading in intent. Whether all this is going to get the accused party off the hook in the end remains debatable, but it has already exhausted a nation.

The ephedrine scandal has been added to the huge stock of cases against the government. The prime minister’s son, Ali Musa Gilani, a recently elected MNA, has been formally nominated as the principal accused in the ANF report submitted to the apex court. Also accused are the principal secretary to the prime minister, the former health secretary and the acting secretary of the ministry of narcotics control. The involvement of this incredible galaxy in a major scam only strengthens the pervading perception that the bureaucracy has been inordinately politicised and they use their positions for personal gains in exchange for demonstrating loyalty for the corrupt ruling mafias.

The effort to give political twists to simple cases of embezzlement, loot and plunder is absolutely bewildering. The manner in which the president went wild finding the non-existing link between the prime minister’s avowed support for a Seraiki province and the contempt proceedings against him in the SC defies logic. Corruption combined with blatant defiance in the face of adverse judicial adjudications make for a venomous mixture with potential to cause a major catastrophe. That is the potion the nation is being served as a matter of routine to cleanse it of its faculties to debate issues in a pragmatic and rational manner.

The question of new provinces is being consciously raised at a time when the next elections are less than a year away (that may actually not be the case as murmurings for postponement of elections are already being heard from the government quarters including its sitting ministers and advisors). There is total disharmony even among the government and its allies in this regard. PPP leadership has come out aggressively in support of a Seraiki province, but refuses to lend support to a similar demand for the Hazara province. The carving out of a new province in the Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa is also being opposed by another government ally, ANP, but supported by MQM which also sits with the government in the centre and in the Sindh province. PML(N)’s stance is generally ambivalent: while it comes out against the creation of a Seraiki province, it doesn’t show the same sentiments for the Hazara province. Let’s also not forget the calls for Bahawalpur province and the wall-chalkings in Karachi and elsewhere in Sindh for the creation of a Mohajir province. Smells of anarchy, doesn’t it?

Creation of new provinces is a major task which, under no circumstances, should be politicised. Decisions taken in this regard will have lasting impact on the future of the country which is already showing signs of disintegration under numerous pressures. Adopting or encouraging a divisive approach is bound to precipitate the fissures that mark the national scene presently. An advisable course would be for all political parties to espouse this as an election manifesto item and then wait for the electorate’s decision. If a political party is able to secure the verdict, it’ll have the moral and constitutional authority to proceed with the initiative. But raking up the issue at the highest political level with an obvious intent to divert public attention from a plethora of corruption and serious misdemeanour cases against an errant government and its functionaries would be an immense tragedy.

The writer is a political analyst and a member of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf. He can be reached at [email protected]