EDITORIAL: Punjab hasn’t been able to settle down ever since the fall of the PTI (Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf) government in the centre last year rattled the province’s politics as well.
The latest twist was chief minister Pervez Elahi winning the confidence of the house in a dramatic late night vote that dashed PML-N’s (Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz’s) hopes and plans for its own immediate future.
Still, some stakeholders were quietly hoping that the PTI-PML-Q (Pakistan Muslim League-Quaid) combine would sit easy after the vote of confidence, in the larger interest of political continuity, and not drop the axe on the provincial government at once.
The government machinery and people alike face enough problems as it is, and more uncertainty in the most important province in the federation is the last thing anybody needs right now. But Imran Khan had made it amply clear that he will stop at nothing to try to force an immediate general election and Elahi had repeatedly assured that he would forthwith dissolve the assembly as required by Imran Khan and indeed he did.
No doubt PTI has snatched the initiative at a very crucial time, yet it’s still too soon to tell if it will achieve its ultimate objective of elections all over the country.
The KP (Khyber Pakhtunkhwa) government stands ready to dissolve next, and at least two provinces will have to go to the polls in the next three months or so. There are, however, a number of legal hurdles to be overcome before anything can be said with certainty about the exact timing of the next general election.
Such things usually require delicate negotiations between parties across the political spectrum. But in times of such polarisation where at least one party simply refuses to so much as sit down with the others, there can be no question of the kind of give-and-take that is the very essence of democratic politics. That is why, it would surprise nobody, if this matter, too, like so many others over the last 10-12 months, ends up in the courts.
It would help if some people at the top of Pakistan’s political power chain stop and take a look at how their all-or-nothing slugfest is pushing an already compromised economy over the edge. The debt crisis, the currency crisis, the constant threat of sovereign default, and the post-flood recovery are made worse because of the uncertainty created by their selfish fight for power.
PTI has been pushing for an early election ever since it was stung by its unceremonious departure from government. PDM (Pakistan Democratic Movement) parties, on the other hand, have been bending over backwards to delay the general election as far as possible because of their abysmally low approval ratings. And all of them have been using and abusing the system to suit themselves all this time.
Now two important provincial governments will be effectively paralysed and the fate of the central government will become yet more uncertain as everybody waits to see who ultimately gets the upper hand. And there can be no doubt that governance, investor confidence and economic stability will suffer even more.
For the sake of the country and its suffering people, it is hoped that whatever needs to be done to restore stability is done quickly. For the moment, unfortunately, the only thing assured by PTI’s gambits and PDM’s desperation is yet more uncertainty.
Since the number-one question on everybody’s mind is still about the timing of the next full election, how much have things really changed after the vote of confidence in Punjab? The sooner there is clarity about these things, especially the election, the better for the whole country.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2023
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