EDITORIAL: So, the next roadblock in the national journey back to a proper, functioning democracy has been placed by democrats and democratic institutions as well as the President’s refusal to sign the summary to convene the National Assembly session no later than 21 days after the election, as per the constitution, has led to each side blaming the other for attacking that very constitution, etc., all over again.
But is this particular issue really so difficult to disentangle that the Speaker now feels obliged to overrule the President and trigger another constitutional crisis that could well force the entire system to be put on hold and drag yet more parliamentary business into courts already struggling with unmanageable backlogs of cases?
Granted, the President is ordinarily just required to put his signature on summaries forwarded to him. But he’s not supposed to do it without applying his mind. And, regardless of his previous political affiliations, it’s pretty clear that applying his mind to this matter made him wonder, like a lot of other observers, about the fate of SIC (Sunni Ittehad Council) when it comes to allocation of reserved seats.
Why on earth is ECP (Election Commission of Pakistan) dragging its feet on this matter when there are set precedents to deal with it? In fact, this would not even be a problem if the Commission did not want it to become one.
Therefore, instead of the coalition getting ready to rule blaming the President for violating the constitution, and PTI accusing the National Assembly Speaker of the same when he called for the session on the 29th, ECP should nip this evil in the bud so the business of the house can finally get going.
It’s as if the political elite, as well as prominent institutions like ECP, are going out of their way to complicate matters and pick completely unnecessary fights. This reflects very poorly on all parties concerned. Without exception, they seem to thrive on confusion and chaos, which is why there is never any calm even when matters of serious national importance are put before them.
This also bodes ill for the future. Because finally, after all, the bitterness of the last year or so, a weak coalition government is going to take hold after a badly disputed election, and there’s little chance of cooperation even as the country faces perhaps the most turbulent political and economic period of its history.
If parties and institutions continue to fall all over themselves and each other, there is very little chance of the type of consensus and compromise that will be needed to keep the country safe and the economy solvent. All principal actors in this drama need to ask themselves once again if they are looking to serve the country and its people or their own narrow, selfish interests.
Let’s not forget that the country is crying to be saved from the many political, security and financial crises facing it. It does not need people whose naked pursuit of their own agendas will bring more harm to the people a lot sooner than outside forces can.
Hopefully, matters will not be allowed to escalate any further and ECP will put an end to this circus without any further loss of time. This objective can only be achieved through a creative solution. Making connections between creativity and procedural matters in order to successfully communicate a message to a beleaguered nation, including political parties, could constitute a creative solution, so to speak.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2024
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