EDITORIAL: ECP (Election Commission of Pakistan) has finally announced, after two good days of deliberations, its decision to implement the Supreme Court’s verdict in the reserved seats case. Normally, that would have sufficed to end all speculation of a confrontation of institutions, and even an impending emergency.
Yet the election commission laced its response with enough ifs and buts to keep the pot boiling for those still itching to stir it.
Clearly, the government is extremely upset about its two-thirds majority being cut down to a simple one; hence the review petition. But since its hearing has been put off till after the annual court holidays, by which time the reserved seats would have been allotted, there’s every chance of a fresh controversy erupting not long down the road.
Either way, it’s encouraging that a head-on confrontation between two premier institutions has been avoided, even though the Commission has made it abundantly clear that it does not wholeheartedly agree with the apex court’s ruling. So the implementation may or may not be as smooth as some are expecting, especially since an ECP official has already hinted that it is in “no hurry”.
Seen in the wider context, especially the government’s kneejerk half-decision to ban PTI in the wake of the verdict, it seems that while we may have just pulled back from the edge, we’re still not completely in the clear. Remember, this deadlock, amid warnings of meltdowns and emergency, etc., came when the country was really struggling for its economic survival – not that it is out of the woods now by any measure.
Talks with the IMF were at a critical stage – we’re still waiting for the green light from its executive committee – and all our usual creditors and friendly countries were warning openly about withholding further lending if the political confrontation got any worse.
Yet the political elite, especially the government, didn’t seem bothered. Even now, it’s only just toned down, somewhat, the plan to ban PTI because its own coalition partners, who were not even consulted, expressed grave doubts about it.
It’s also worrying that while the apex court’s verdict has settled the reserved seats issue, it’s also made the bigger picture only more blurred, raising yet more questions. For example, has the pendulum swung once again and PML-N replaced PTI as the party that questions and attempts to delegitimise the higher judiciary?
Or will they both take turns as and when different decisions and verdicts come? These last few months and years have been a big burden on the courts as well, something not always noted in the press. They’ve been forced to turn their undivided attention to the most pressing political cases, leaving very little room for their real job – which is to deliver justice to the people – and constantly adding to the millions of cases in backlog.
Also, for those that are keeping track, this spectacle adds to the long list of completely unnecessary confrontations that stem entirely from political differences of the elite, particularly their lust for power, and only serve to consume the judiciary, poison the political and social environment, set the system back even more, and, as always, eventually hurt the common man.
One would expect the legal proceedings of the last few days to teach institutions like ECP a valuable lesson about sticking to their constitutional mandates, yet a lot remains to be seen.
It would do the government and all institutions a world of good to remember that Pakistan is on its knees as a country at this time.
And it simply does not have the kind of shock absorbers that are needed to handle constitutional subversion that is politically motivated. The circus that started before the election and lasted all the way till the reserved seats verdict should come to an end now. Yet there’s a lingering feeling that we might not have seen the last of its ripples.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2024
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