Mixed opinions surfaced in the metropolitan after the Supreme Court’s verdict in the Rental Power Projects (RPPs) Case that ordered arrest of Prime Minister Raja Pervaiz Ashraf on Tuesday morning, Pakistan Today learnt. Immediately after the verdict became public, it became the talk of the town with rumours spreading as a natural consequence and eliciting varied responses from the people at large.
On the top of it all, the bureaucracy was the first one to get the news and absorbed the shock quite well. The chief secretary and the additional chief secretary were holding important meetings when they were informed by the participants that they should expect “political turmoil” in the days to come, but they should be focused on their routine work. A senior official on condition of anonymity said the bureaucracy is never in the race for political power and will continue at snail’s pace focusing on routine business. “We are committed to the state and don’t care who comes and goes. A civil servant is not supposed to have emotions, otherwise he is not a good bureaucrat,” the official added. Another official said the turmoil was obvious from the start of the new year, as “our secretary was constantly intimating us that something was about to happen, but we never knew what it will be”.
People from other walks of life came up with divergent views ranging between “an attempt to derail democracy” and “couldn’t have been better to cleanse the system of corrupt politicians”. Rizwan Gondal, a senior lawyer, said the court could have reserved its judgment or given its verdict a few days earlier instead of issuing it on a day when it could dent the democratic dispensation. “All political parties inside and outside the parliament should in a single voice foil any unconstitutional move because this is a time of transition of power and if the process is derailed now, it will be derailed forever,” he added.
However, the lawyer community remained divided with the other side lauding the verdict saying the date of hearing was already decided and the Supreme Court has only addressed a question of law, as NAB rules demanded arrest of the accused for further investigations. “The business of the Supreme Court cannot be stopped because of some political development. It is good for the country that even the PM is responsible for his acts,” a lawyer said.
A banker, Ahsan Ali, however discussed the economic implications saying the economy could not sustain such shocks. “Whatever the merit of the case, the timing of the SC decision is not right because the country is already passing through turmoil and with such decisions, no one will be interested to invest in our country,” he added.
However many rumours kept making the rounds in the metropolitan, while at one point the army taking over the governor’s house became so powerful that even media representatives reached the spot and kept waiting for long hours.
Ibrahim Dil, an architect at the Railway Station, said people were talking about martial law and said even the trains stopped for a while, with many people excited about the change.
“The mob excitement is a phenomenon and people want to enjoy the feeling of the prime minister being indicted and a regime shift. People here are not happy with the regime, which has given them problems of gas and electricity load shedding and inflation, just to mention a few. The corrupt politicians should be flushed out of the system, be it the PM or anyone else,” Dil added.
I think they should let prime minister resign and let him clear his name.
Bring in interim set up and announce the date for election.Deport Mr Qadri back to Toronto via Saudi Arabia for Umra.
Mr Zardari and Mr Nawaz Sharif should pay for his Umra expense.
When he reaches back in Toronto, our British national Mr Altaf should pay for his taxi fare.
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