Pakistan’s parliament on Wednesday approved legislation that empowered the next caretaker government to take important decisions and engage with international institutions ahead of the upcoming general elections. The development takes place after Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif’s government introduced multiple amendments to the Election Act-2017, days before the National Assembly completes its five-year constitutional term next month. Section 230 of the Elections Act empowers caretaker setups to make important decisions like elected administrations of the country. According to the Law Minister, the country has gone through a serious economic crisis, meanwhile, some investment and other agreements worth hundreds of millions of dollars are expected to be signed in September. These crucial agreements about existing bilateral, multilateral, and ongoing projects with international institutions like the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) should be handled by the interim government, as those important events lay during the period of caretaker setup.
Currently, the long-awaited election season has commenced and political activities had taken birth in a country that was seriously hit by choas and political violence over the past year. The consultation regarding the next caretaker setup is underway and various candidates for the slot of caretaker Prime Minister started lobbying at the Prime Minister’s House, the GHQ, and other centers of power in the National Capital. The law demands and the position merits as well, a nonpolitical, impartial, and honest individual from former bureaucrats, technocrats, and notable from civil society that enjoys the trust of all contesting political groups in the country. However, Pakistani leaders have translated this sensitive constitutional process into a source of the bargain, and interplay to adjust each other interests, while the state institutions including the ECP and the Judiciary are salient over such a grave transgression of the constitution. The coalition government has nominated the current Finance Minister, and PML-N leader Senator Ishaq Dar as a candidate for the position of caretaker Prime Minister and actively lobbying to install its henchman in the most powerful position in the next setup, which is not only lamentable but disgusting.
The state of Pakistan fell prey to unrestricted greed and lust for power of the so-called pro-nation leaders who blatantly pursue their political agendas in the name of service to the nation. Every leader claims to be the foremost rescuer of the country but intends to accomplish his mission using self-service, nepotism, and mockery. Ironically, the warring political groups and incumbent rulers in the center and the provinces had abused their authority and violated the law by using the constitutional provisions to their advantage. The incumbent caretaker setup in Punjab is purely the choice of the Federal government, whereas KP’s interim administration is the sole product of political collusion between the past PTI government and the opposition. Meanwhile, the coalition government is endeavoring hard to orchestrate a dubious arrangement under the leadership of the current Finance Minister Senator Ishaq Dar, who will surely pursue his party agenda to the full extent.
Days before the lower house of the parliament matures its five-year constitutional term, the Shehbaz government has introduced multiple amendments to the Election Act-2017 including section 230 which empowers the caretaker setup to take crucial decisions like democratically elected government in the country. There are wide-ranging disagreements within the coalition government regarding the recent amendments to Election Act, as the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) objected to the proposed amendments which authorize a non-elected setup to decide the most important affairs related to the country’s economy, bilateral and multilateral arrangements that would have long-lasting effects on the country in the future. Inter alia, if so essential, it should be specific and only limited to Pakistan dealing with the IMF and the world bank, etc instead of granting permission to handle all bilateral and multilateral arrangements at the global level that might have serious economic and security repercussions in the future.
Seemingly, the coalition government has failed in delivering the nation, whereas thoughtless Dar’s dogma has cast a heavy price on the Country. The PML-N-led coalition government currently actively working to install its team B as the next caretaker setup to effectively steer the upcoming general election, while the recent legislation was aimed at furtherance of the government agenda. Such efforts will not only reverse the political gains made by the coalition government over the past year but also validate the stance of their opponents ahead in this regard. The coalition government should resist unilateral actions that undermine the credibility of the electoral process, empowers the ECP, and engage with the opposition to pave the war for a transparent headcount that is the only way forward to transition power with respect and dignity.
