By: Maha Raja Tareen
Simmering emotions! constitutional crisis! Fledging governance!
Pakistan’s political labyrinth, the “deal makers” surely gives several Lollywood master pieces a run for their money, however surely standing stunted, that too on the wrong side of history.
Today’s Pakiatan surely has all the indicators of a country careening towards constitutional crisis, The PMLN led government marred byelectoral legitimacy, is playing with the constitution of the country on a daily basis to suit personal whims & wishes.
Several amendments at the behest of the government, have been cut through the constitutional framework carving out space for the one party one man undermining the transparency of the 12th general election!
On several occasions the PMLN led government, dislodged the electorate’s opinion, dunking and dodging, representative of the elite who postulates to run with the hare yet enjoys hunting with the hound!
Since these power brokers are accustomed to being the sole players of power politics, whose lost its two third’s majority, whose wings have been clipped by the SC in the reserve seats case of the 12th of July, has embarked on a charade of controversial amendments to neutralise the judiciary after brazenly amending the section 140 of the Election Act.
The PML led government Bulldozed ahead with the a controversial amendment in the section 140 of the Election Act 2017 which would facilitate the appointment of “retired judges” to decide electoral dispute cases across the country.
slithering under the silhouette of “Adhoc judges” in the highest court of the land, where on average each judge will cost the national coffers 2.6 million rupees per month.
Flaunting the constitution, as Adjudication through retired judges the government is viciously violating article 10 A of the constitution of Pakistan which guarantees “due process” & “fair trial”
Glancing at the harrowing history, The PMLN has an inherent penchant for a pliant judiciary since day one, manoeuvres are heavily reflective of Dunning-Kruger syndrome from suffocating political dissent heading a system that’s always fell short of electoral legitimacy.
In 1997 the PMLN government tried to manage the judiciary through numerical manipulation reflective of their fondness for ad hoc measures and special tribunals that had only been witnessed during Gen Zia’s martial law, the then government embarked upon a catastrophic collision course against the highest court of the land by reducing the number of Supreme Court judges from 17 to 12.
The same political party today is pushing for doing away with the contempt law of the land, was involved in similar tactics of a gross gunslinger exercise against the Supreme Court in its very premises in1997 when their supremo was tried for contempt.
However these moves were halted due to timely action of the Supreme Court Bar Association (SCBA).
History is repeating as now at the behest of the same PMLN moves are rife to amend “Supreme Court (Number of Judges) Act, to increase the strength under the poor pretext of backlog of cases.
If the government is sincere to resolve the more than 53,000 cases backlog, the only plausible policy initiative would have been to increase the judicial capacity of the lower courts in the country rather than “court packing” in the highest court of the land.
Pakistan and its populous have witnessed several
political parties rendezvousing with the all mighty establishment, failing to fathom the stark fact that real power rests with the electorate.
Ironically the Power players of pakistan it seems to give tough time to Lollywood villains, always striking deals to slither their way into the power corridors as was witnessed in May 2006 when Charter of Democracy (CoD) was approved and signed by both former prime ministers, Benazir Bhutto and NawazSharif in London, amidst protests by Pakistani students demonstrating outside the venue alleging that the two former prime ministers had failed to deliver in the past and they could not be expected to do any better in the future.
This nexus of negations culminated in the form of sweepstake, the NRO in 2007, whitewashing the country’s corrupt and their corruption.
However this “white wash” had a fairytale finaley!
A 17-judge bench of the Supreme Court in December 2009, threw out the NRO protecting the ploys of the powerful political elite/ crimes done in the period between January 1, 1986, and October 12, 1999.
The way the master of manoeuvres always skipped accountability in Pakistan on several occasions, is nothing short of a “RomCom”.
scot free from “Ehstisaab” to Avenfield, as the world witnessed jetting straight out of Attock Fort Jail after serving a short stint of 14 months accompanied by 18 members of the family in December 2000,.
However the dealer behind the democratic veil returned to Pakistan after getting the “Presidential pardon” as was seen in the documents submitted by the Sindh government that on Dec 1, 2000, the state “remitted” the sentences of imprisonment in response to a request from the former prime minister the then president Rafiq Tarar granted him the remission under Article 45 of the Constitution.
but lost elections in 2008, giving way to the other collaborators of the “Charter of Democracy”.
As the Marry go round of managing the mandate continued
Thanks to the the catastrophic demise of the Result Management System (RMS) in the general Election of 201, Nawaz punctured the political landscape of Pakistan once more.
Who can forget the meeting with the Indian steel tycoon Sajjan Jindal in the mountains of Murree just a few days before the army-government patch up in Dawn leaks controversy in 2017.
Nawaz was loathed out of power in July 2017 after being disqualified from office for violating the constitutional requirement for parliamentarians to be “honest and righteous”.
The damsel of deals, deviating and dodging accountability,
serving seven-year imprisonment in the Kot Lakhpat Jail in Lahore in the Al-Azizia corruption case left again for London on account of low platelet count in November 2019 when the Lahore High Court intervened and allowed him to leave for London just four-week reprieve on a 50 rupees worth of a stamp paper signed by his guarantor his younger brother.
Landed yet again in the lap of London’s luxury, lounging upon the “London plan” lurched back in lahore in October 2023.
It’s a lamentable reality that The habitual pranksters ploying with the powerful establishment Flaunting the constitution and the judicial pivot of Pakistan, unabated!
The PMLN started to weight in through the PDM government in May 2023, when it enacted the law to provide the right of appeal against conviction by the Supreme Court under its original jurisdiction
However Pakistan’s Supreme Court led by Bindiyal in a unanimous verdict on August 11 2023 struck down this law modifying the review process of its judgements, dampening the hopes of former premier Nawaz Sharif who was seeking to challenge his lifetime disqualification from holding any public office.
The apex court ruled that the Supreme Court (Review of Judgments and Orders) Act 2023 was “unconstitutional”.
The house of Sharif’s who were “Sulking”by The Supreme Court ruling of April 2018 that lawmakers disqualified under Article 62(1)(f) would be barred from contesting elections for life, started to sore after his brother led PDM government moved the tailor made amendments to the Elections (Amendment) Act, 2023, enacted in June 2023 year, limited such disqualifications to five years.
Done and dusted by the Supreme Court as , null, void and of no legal effect”.
Nawaz reigning on the royal “Takht-e-Raiwind” had always had a Rocky relationship with the judiciary, didn’t rest, he patiently waited for the new “Judicial Chief” to help him ride the constitutional “chariot” to playing havoc with country’s constitutional and legal system yet again.
When Nawaz Sharif’s returned after a politically engineered ploy in September 2023, fortunes started to favour, since Justice Qazi Faez Isa took oath as the 29th chief justice of Pakistan (CJP).
Relief was served on the judicial sizzler in January 2024 for PMLN on one end as Pakistan’s Supreme Court scrapped lifetime bans on contesting elections for people with criminal convictions, which was slapped in April 2018, by a five-member bench of the Supreme Court led by then-Chief Justice Saqib Nisar ruled in a separate case that disqualifications like the one imposed on Sharif stand for life.
Wrenching through the constitutional frame work, the PDM government in June 2023, came up with yet another tailor made constitutional gimmick seeking an amendment to the Elections Act 2017, aimed at limiting the disqualification of lawmakers to five years with retrospective effect.
amendment to Section 232 (Disqualification on account of offences) of the Election Act, 2017.
immediate beneficiary was the non other than the three-time former prime minister and Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) Quaid Nawaz Sharif disqualified for life.
The Supreme Court in January 2024 hardly a month before the general elections, rolled out the electoral red carpet for Nawaz byoverturning the lifetime disqualification.
paving the way for Nawaz Sharif to run for prime minister for a fourth time yet reprimanded pti the apex court in a late-night decision after holding a marathon hearing, the Supreme Court on Saturday upheld the December 22nd decision of the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) depriving the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) of its iconic poll symbol — ‘bat’.
Managing mandates to muzzling dissent and missing fiscal targets the government reekingwith electoral engineering, mocks the marginalised masses.
Rulers relying on the referee rather than those who are being ruled, Pakiatan resembles of a rangeland where populous is not the pivot of governance.
The musical chairs, the constitutional chorus continues oblivious of the “fait accompli” “Ask not for whom the bell tolls, it tolls for thee”
The only formidable force is the future generation of the country, colossal crisis might engulf the country where cronies cherish and constitutional collapse is imminent.
A cat has nine lives!
In this chorus it remains to be seen who will outperform? The classless citizens? or the clueless chorus?
Maha Raja Tareen
Advocate & Legal Consultant, (L.L.M U.K).
She has been member of Pakistan’s Parliament 2002-2008.
Email: rajamaha@hotmail.com
