A welcome development

EDITORIAL: Imran Khan’s interview to a private television channel has generated much chatter on the airwaves as well as within the general public.

As against his oft-repeated mantra of immediate elections to rid the country of the present lot that he refers to as ‘imported government’ and accusing the establishment of having foisted the incumbent government on the people, he sounded much more realistic and accommodating because of the devastating floods that the country is beset with.

This indeed would be music to peoples’ ears and calm the nerves of the investors that have put all investment decisions on hold because of the environment of uncertainty that prevails.

There can be no denying that Pakistan’s economy, at present, is faced with daunting challenges that are being made worse by political instability.

IK’s previous demands for immediate elections and that too under a revamped election commission with a new chairman and rejecting the right of the present government of appointing a successor to the present army chief when he retires in November, may have represented his wish list but its implementation is certainly not possible under the present laws.

The position of chairman of election commission is a tenured appointment that cannot be altered by the government at will and the appointment of the army chief too, under the law, is to be done by the executive and to put fetters on an elected government with regard to exercise of such powers may set a precedence for the future that may not augur well for the country.

While the largest party in the incumbent government has only 85 seats in parliament as pointed out by Imran Khan during the interview yet it is an eleven-party coalition and currently enjoys not only a majority in parliament but a majority that is not constantly challenged by the 155 seats held by the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) because of the party leader’s decision to resign en masse.

The PTI, too, despite its 155 members in the National Assembly, had to coalesce with 5 different entities to muster a majority to be able to form a government.

What is also the subject of much debate is Imran Khan’s reported comment suggesting that legal experts can come up with a legal way to ensure that the successor to the current chief of army staff is appointed by the incoming government as a result of the general elections.

This implies, to many, that he is not averse to an extension being accorded to the incumbent who is due for retirement in November, given an extension to allow the next head of government, subsequent to general elections, to appoint his successor.

And his willingness to talk with the government to agree on the elections date and its modalities is not a U-turn but an offer that he has made previously but laden with pre-conditions. This time though his willingness to interact with the government for deciding the election date is not conditional.

This softening of the stance by IK resulting in the flexibility exhibited in the interview, has been received with a sigh of relief by the trade and industry and the civil society, kindling hopes that a ‘modus vivendi’ would be worked out by all the stakeholders to steer the ship of state out of the choppy waters in which it is trapped with virtually little light on the horizon.

It is, therefore, incumbent upon all stakeholders that they put their differences aside in the supreme national interest and work together in harmony to steer the country out of the present predicament.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2022