Barrister Aitzaz Ahsan, a potential winner in the election to the National Assembly from a Lahore constituency, has decided to withdraw his candidature "to stand with the lawyers who had launched a heroic struggle for the restoration of judiciary and supremacy of the Constitution".
He has accordingly informed his party, Pakistan People's Party, of his decision he took in line with the stand of the Pakistan Bar Council that lawyers would stay away from the January 8 polls. Barrister Ahsan is presently incarcerated at his Lahore residence which was declared a sub-jail following his detention on the night of November 3 when emergency rule was imposed under the Provisional Constitution Order (PCO).
His decision not to join the electoral race, as it must have calmed down his inner conflict over being both a votary of boycott and a candidate, essentially lends the much-needed vigour and vitality to the sagging morale of the pro-boycott parties. It also vindicates the visibly-shocked civil society's stand that democracy is not merely a tool to grab power but a means to obtain conditions of social justice and rule of law.
The last minute decision of Nawaz Sharif and his fellow travellers in the All Parties Democratic Movement (APDM) to jump on to the election bandwagon had spelt great despondency among various segments of civil society. But that seems to get reversed, to some extent, with Aitzaz Ahsan taking this bold step. Of course, it is a small victory in the ongoing Armageddon between the forces fighting for political power and the defenders of principles of just polity and clean politics.
But, this indeed is no mean achievement of the legal fraternity. It symbolises its strong rejection of the upcoming electoral exercise and thus symptomatic of ensuing political uncertainty. Those who had thought that with the Pakistan Muslim League (Nawaz) opting for elections the final battle lines had been drawn, must rethink their perspectives and recast their perceptions.
Ever since President Pervez Musharraf suspended former Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry in March the lawyers' community had been waging a relentless struggle to seek reinstatement of the top judge. His reinstatement by the Supreme Court and then his sacking under the PCO added to the volatility of the situation that obtained as the lawyers-government conflict sharpened.
Now as Aitzaz Ahsan, who won the Supreme Court Bar Association election held recently with a thumping majority establishing his leadership role in his community, joins the race by opting to boycott, it acquires a crucial third dimension.
Given the possibility of street-strong Jamaat-i-Islami marching hand-in-hand with the lawyers, the chances of normality returning after the January 8 polls would appear to be declining. Left to them, the Jamaat and its allies on the boycott battlefront may not make to the front-page of international media but under the banner held high by Aitzaz Ahsan the boycotters would create waves all over the place.
His popularity with international media and public opinion leaders is enormous, if we recall various moves made from abroad for his release. In one case, 33 US senators sent a signed letter to President Musharraf asking him to lift the curbs on his movement.
There is no denying of the fact that he has acquired an iconic stature on the world stage. So if Barrister Ahsan returns his sure-success ticket to join fellow lawyers in a do-or-die struggle for the restoration of judiciary and the Constitution, one must put his ears to the ground and hear. Aren't there signs clear enough for the second round - the first stymied in advance as rigged by the participating mainstream opponents and admitted as potentially imperfect by the organisers?