It is heartening that sanity ultimately prevailed among the representatives of the federation and the provinces on the issue of delimitation of constituencies and reallocation of National Assembly seats based on the provisional results of the 2017 census. A constitutional amendment bill is now going to become a reality, to enable the Election Commission to carry out delimitation of constituencies ahead of the elections in August next year. However, the Council of Common Interest has linked its approval to a critical condition, that the data of at least 1 percent population blocks across the country be audited by the Statistics Division through a third party, although Sindh had demanded the audit of at least 3 percent of population blocks. The "compromise formula" envisages, among other things, selection of these blocks through a draw and completion of the whole exercise within three months, and a comparison of the data of selected blocks with other blocks in order to remove misunderstanding or suspicions on the census data. The credit for the consensus on this thorny issue goes to the CCI, but it was Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi who appears to have worked hard to tackle the one-point CCI agenda. This had to come after National Assembly Speaker Ayaz Sadiq failed to muster support from parliamentary leaders of all parties in parliament for passage of the bill seeking reallocation of seats on the basis of the provisional results of the census.
The CCI was able to break the deadlock over the issue of fresh delimitation of constituencies only when Sindh showed flexibility in its tough stance by agreeing to hold elections on the basis of provisional census results, following assurance from the federal government that a third-party audit of certain population blocks would be conducted. Other than the PPP, the MQM-P, which represents the urban parts of Sindh, has also strongly contested the census results. It had put up as lately as November 5 a massive protest show in Karachi where it demanded a fresh head count, accusing the Bureau of Statistics of under-reporting the population figures of the largest city of the country. The proposal mooted by Sindh Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah seems to have enjoyed the consent of the MQM. Its approval by the CCI meeting must ease the MQM's concerns until and unless the third-party audit confirms its fears.
What is worth mentioning on this occasion is the fact that a third-party audit (by the Asian Development Bank) of rental power projects during the last PPP tenure had unmasked numerous instances of massive irregularities, gross financial malfeasance and woeful lack of transparency in deals.
No doubt, the absence of consensus on this issue had jeopardized the holding of upcoming general elections as the entire political landscape was strongly characterized by confusion and doubt. Not only has this CCI decision paved the way for elections on time, it has also demonstrated the firm resolve of the political forces to ward off threats, imaginary or real, to the system under which the second government is going to complete its five-year constitutionally mandated tenure after its predecessor's nearly five years ago. The five-year terms of two different parties also brought in evidence the fact that the higher judiciary, one of the three pillars of state, has undergone massive transformation insofar as its approach to dispensing justice is concerned; it seems to have successfully jettisoned its highly controversial legacy through its verdicts relating to the executive. The armed forces of the country too, it seems, have decided to play their role within their constitutional domain that clearly requires them to stay away from civilian turf.
A democratic culture derives sustenance and growth from an environment of distinctive nature or features of across-the-board accountability and rule of law. The ouster of two prime ministers - Syed Yousuf Raza Gilani of the PPP and Mohammad Nawaz Sharif of PML(N), in a lawful or constitutional manner - demonstrates the legitimacy of the current system in less than a decade. Hence, the need for protecting and preserving the gains of the anticipated decade of uninterrupted civilian rule - despite its weaknesses and shortcomings that would herald a better future for democracy in a country with a history of extra-constitutional interventions.
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