Anything which could be done to undermine the federal character of our constitution was done as the directly elected assemblies exercised their right to elect new Senators to fill slots vacated as half of the upper house retired. With so much of pontification doled out from various podiums for the need to strengthen democracy and devolve power to the federating units - a dream so dearly cherished by the proponents of the 18th constitutional amendment - Senate elections were expected to be very different, just the opposite of the previous. But this was not to be; in fact these were characterised by a strong or unpleasant smell, and of all the places more so at Peshawar where the so-called custodians of true democracy hold sway. The polling had to be stopped for most of the day and the media shunted out as wild and noisy disorder prevailed on the floor of the provincial assembly. In Punjab, blank ballots turned up. In Balochistan it was the repeat of the traditional give-and-take bargaining and the Capital had to import its Senators. If everything remained under control in Sindh it was expected, given the deft handling by the country's two most shrewd politicians.
Pakistan is a federal parliamentary democracy, not by choice but by compulsion. Ours is a rich mosaic of ethnic, parochial and tribal affiliations, which could be accommodated only under the umbrella of federalism and by conceding socio-political equality under the constitution to the federating units. The Senate of Pakistan is therefore much more than a mere parliamentary appendage, like the House of Lords in the United Kingdom and even Rajya Sabha in India. Here in the Senate, the province of Balochistan, even when in terms of demographic proportions it may be less than one-tenth of Punjab, has equal representation. By fielding and electing other than local provincial candidates, the party heads seemed to have betrayed their mindset to capture and consolidate power whatever it costs. In the process they tend to undermine federalism and weaken federation. The Senate membership is expected to reflect the diversity so much characteristic of federation than the scheme of political heads to have everything under their thumb. One would doubt if all the hullaballoo for open vote as an anti-dote to 'briefcase voting' was aimed at cleansing the electoral process; the sad coda is that this was an attempt aimed at robbing the members of their right to make their conscientious choices. As Senate election fiasco plays out it would be worth the effort to think of finding a legal provision to stop political parties from fielding their candidates. By expelling Javed Nasim from the party the PTI leadership has set a bad precedent. Does it mean a party member cannot open the door of the Senate on someone who doesn't belong to any political party? That only a political party will field candidates and from within its own party is an undemocratic stipulation. People want to see new faces in the elected houses of Pakistan. One must not lose sight of the fact that familiarity breeds contempt.
As if what was already on show was not enough to invite public disdain and disgust about the machinations of parties to grab more seats in the Senate, a Presidential Ordinance issued hours before the event only aptly added gloss to the unbridled appetite for more power. There may be a debate as to whether the issued version was the intended one. But more than it is a sardonic comment on the style of the governance we have now. That a man who is the constitutional head of the country, should not give an odd thought as to what he is going to do is something that looks so weird. But all said, the fact cannot be denied that the villain of the piece in the whole affair seems to have lost its spine, and cannot stand up in defence of its role as the linchpin of a functional, vibrant democratic system in Pakistan. How come the people of Fata, who joined Pakistan of their own free will at the invitation of the Quaid-i-Azam, should be singled out for a discriminatory treatment by all and sundry? This should not have happened.
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