EDITORIAL: If there weren’t already enough confusion about the possible composition and tenure of the caretaker setup, the prime minister’s revelation in an interview with Asma Shirazi on Aaj news television channel, that the general election would be held on the new digital census amounts to lobbing a grenade into the whole thing.
Now, since you already know that PPP (Pakistan People’s Party) won’t have any of it, and MQM (Muttahida Qaumi Movement) won’t have it any other way, and the law minister himself has said that invoking this condition would delay polls beyond the stipulated 90-day deadline, you can be sure that rumours about an extended transition period might have some weight in them after all.
Firstly, there’s too much to do in too little time. The census must first be completed, then ratified by the Council of Common Interests (CCI) – which is where they are going to play hardball – and then go to the parliament for constitutional amendment to reflect the change in the National Assembly seats of each province in the light of the new census.
But that’s not possible because PTI’s (Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf’s) resignations leave the parliament short of the more than two-third votes required to amend the constitution. That’s a problem. And, secondly, it’s going to remain a problem because the present National Assembly would have completed its five years life on 13th of this month.
Interestingly, the PM, when asked about a likely delay in the election because of this condition, said that the timeline was ECP’s (Election Commission of Pakistan’s) responsibility with a very straight face.
That would imply that the chief executive of the country was oblivious to the fact that the Commission said very plainly, not too long ago, that holding the election on the new census would definitely run into time trouble.
The grapevine in the capital had been whispering about a scenario that would force the caretaker setup to overstay its welcome for quite a while. There’s the constitution, of course, but then who’s been able to do anything about temporary administrations in Punjab and KP (Khyber Pakhtunkhwa) lasting this long, including the highest court in the land? Now, putting two and two together, it seems all but certain that things are about to go off-script very quickly.
This puts the recent, urgent toggling with the powers of caretakers into place as well. The country is overrun with existential threats, after all, from the prospect of sovereign default to terrorism raising its ugly head once again to political bitterness not seen since the birth of the nation; all at the same time. And a caretaker administration at this time, even if just for 90 days, will very likely have to issue very serious orders.
Who knows, for example, what the IMF (International Monetary Fund) will say in its first meeting of the Stand-By Arrangement (SBA) with the temporary government? And how do you think Kabul is going to react to the foreign minister’s goodbye gift, that if the Taliban won’t rein in TTP (Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan) then Islamabad is going to do something about it? How can an unelected administration whose only duty – at least it was when the constitution was framed – is holding the election take so many decisions that are so important?
You could, in the rarest case in circumstances like these, hold the status quo for three months. But this situation is simply too fluid for whichever powers that control the destiny of this country to go experimenting like this. And now everybody is left wondering why anybody would want prolonged uncertainty at such a time. There will have to be an election eventually.
So why push it away, if that is indeed the intention? Unless there’s more that’s still hidden from the people. The thing about the census, too, could have come earlier, but the PM chose to drop this bomb now, when it is already too late.
The government is not being fair with the people. With so few days left till its departure, the exit plan and the way forward should have been clear, including everything about the caretaker government that will run this country very shortly. If it does not leave the people with transparency, the present coalition government will hurt their long-term interests as well as its own.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2023
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