A larger section of the sovereignty lobby tries to evade the real issue of institutional sovereignty facing Pakistan; rather it appears that their crying over the spilt milk of external sovereignty is a ploy to that effect. This larger section includes so-called nationalists mostly from the Right and the Center. They all glorify a militarised Pakistan.
The constitution distributes the sovereignty to various institutions to accomplish the same task. May it be noted that the all supreme entity is the constitution! Then comes the judiciary, and after it the legislature. The executive being an implementation entity requires no sovereignty. Although they are sovereign in their domains, their sovereignty is limited and defined by the constitution.
All the other institutions created by the constitution cannot claim any sovereignty. Only those institutions are sovereign which the constitution invests with power to legislate (the legislature) and the power to check the legislation (the judiciary). Other institutions make rules and procedures for their own functioning only. The constitution does not take into account political or any other interference in the working of sovereign as well as implementation entities. As may be envisaged, this is a matter to be taken care of by the rule of law. So, the election commission, auditor general, the armed forces, etc, are just subordinate entities, not sovereign but independent in their functioning to the limit of their mandate.
In addition, the constitutionally elected citizens must be distinguished from the nominated/appointed citizens as the later are in the employment of the government of Pakistan, and are required to obey the orders of the constitutional authorities. They have nothing to do with running the affairs of the government internally or externally.
In view of this, assigning any sovereignty to these and other such institutions is un-constitutional. Be it auditor general, or the election commission, or the armed forces, they are all there to act according to their legal and constitutional mandates. Thus, when any of these institutions trespasses on and interferes with the functions of the sovereign entities, the judiciary and the legislature (and the executive as their implementation entity), they are guilty of committing un-constitutional acts.
The sovereignty lobby is alive to this issue is not borne out by any available evidence. As said above, they camouflage this issue under the guise of external sovereignty which in turn strengthens their notion of conquering the world by using this or that army. Their support to Taliban derives from this source. They also argue the civilian incompetence and corruption as its disqualification to rule in a sovereign manner. Indeed they move in a circle. This circular movement has dampened the spirit of the constitution and the sovereign individuals also.
DR KHALIL AHMAD
Lahore
