It was clear from the first few minutes of the Supreme Court’s proceedings that the pendulum was going to swing back to Pervaiz Elahi, effectively PTI, basically Imran Khan, in the matter of the Punjab CM. Yet their honourable lordships, who saw no need to invoke the full bench in a contentious and controversial interpretation of the constitution, took their sweet time in delivering the verdict.
Even after sealing it, they delayed the announcement twice; both time by a couple of hours. And, even though the spotlight has (temporarily) turned away from Article 63, they do have themselves to blame for the bigger part of this mess. More on that later.
Since we Pakistanis stand out for our short political memory, the only thing that matters right now is that, when the irresistible force met the immovable object in Punjab, Imran Khan carried his bat with convincing authority. But the skipper’s also been saying that the only way forward is a snap general election, and now he has the power to fold the Punjab and KP assembles; putting unbearable pressure on the government in the centre. Or so it seems.
Sure, Pervaiz Elahi has said that he “won’t take a minute to dissolve the Punjab assembly if Imran Khan orders it”, and the majority of analysts doubting his claim may well have some egg on their faces soon enough, but take one more look at the summersaults he’s had to do and the sacred ties he’s had to break just to become CM again and you’ll also bet against him wanting to pack up and go home anytime soon.
And what if Imran calls for another march on the capital and Punjab doesn’t quite respond with the muscle and spirit he expects because Elahi does not want to look, but don’t touch, touch but don’t taste, and all that? Count on the internet to revisit the time when Imran called Pervaiz “Punjab’s biggest daku” at that time and see if you notice the irony.
None of that changes the fact that PTI just bearded the PML-N lion in his den, of course, but winning the legal battle does not guarantee an end to conspiracy theories; far from it, actually.
There’s already plenty of chatter that what happened in Punjab with the by-elections and the CM’s election was but one part of the bigger plan to bring Imran back with two-thirds majority. That’s where we must revisit Article 63, and our revered untouchables — the judges.
The 5-3 decision when the president asked for a review counted three calling floor-crossing “cancer” and “evil” and two upholding it as a democratic right, more or less. They were interpreting one line of one article of the constitution, remember, and they not only took forever to do it but the senior-most judges in the top-most court also differed radically in their understanding of it.
What, somebody should’ve asked, if it were a three-judge bench with two with the latter view and one with the former? Would Imran still be holding his bat aloft, basking in the public’s applause right now? Wasn’t it, effectively, a coin-toss?
That’s why there might be some life left in this issue after all; because, in part, it says a lot about the demand for the full bench.
But this circus has already reached the point when it is fun, even for those that throng to political rallies, only till the next morning’s headlines; when everybody wakes up to more of the same about the rupee collapsing, the market hemorrhaging, and the economy dying.
And as putting food on the table becomes more expensive every few days for a lot of them, it’s only so long before they realize that this particular reality does not change no matter what happens to the irresistible force or the immovable object, or whom their votes or public pressure bless with sugar mills and development funds, or even whether Hamza or Pervaiz sits upon the throne of Punjab.
PML-N will surely think about the lesson it’s learned as it licks its wounds. But perhaps there’s one here for PTI, which means Imran Khan, as well.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2022
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