EDITORIAL: This circus in Punjab has gone on far too long and needs to be called out for what it is; for the sheer damage it is doing to the province, the country and the people. It is a shameless, naked power grab in which all principal political parties are equally guilty of putting their own interests ahead of the country’s, especially the economy’s, and not even thinking twice about indulging in downright illegality if that is what it takes.
That’s why one or the other is knocking at the court’s door every other day, forcing judges to do what legislators themselves ought to, and also squeezing the judiciary when it is already under the pressure of one of the largest backlogs of cases in the world.
This process not only undermines one of the most sacred tenets of representative government, it also inevitably creates situations where the court delivers very contentious verdicts and gets accused, not always without reason, of rewriting the constitution instead of just interpreting it. Besides, since this is all about politics, whichever side loses a particular decision complains of bias and does its standing little good at the end of the day.
More than a quarter into this crisis — which means the most important province in the federation has been pretty much paralysed for more than three months, even though there have now been two elections for chief minister — the unprecedented toxicity of the politics is now spilling over into the streets as well. The economy has been struggling for a long time, but his standoff has brought it within sight of total collapse, beginning with sovereign default, very quickly.
Things would never have been this bad if the (not so) sudden no-confidence motion against former prime minister Imran Khan’s government in early April hadn’t triggered a bitter battle between PTI (Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf) and almost all other parties; one in which everything, even the state of the economy and the fate of the people, was fair game. Hence the gimmicks with petrol and energy prices, and the subsequent freeze of the IMF (International Monetary Fund) bailout programme and new “prior conditions” and endless sacrifices, including the plunge of the rupee, to restore it. And please don’t forget that it was the people of Pakistan that paid for it, not the self-serving lot that is prepared to go to any length to rule over them.
The situation in Punjab is, of course, but an extension of this fight. And even though the apex court is expected to decide on it shortly, there’s no telling what will happen after it because PML-N (Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz) has, for all intents and purposes, taken a leaf out of PTI’s book and threatened an anti-institutional agitation of its own if this matter is not given to the full bench.
Surely, nobody needs to be told what such situations do to markets and investments and the economy; especially one so close to the edge. The people of this country are caught in a truly miserable position. After already having paid through their nose for the excesses of their rulers over long decades, they are waiting to see what politicians that don’t care about them and courts that are getting used to punching above their weight will decide about their future.
There are no easy options. Elections now, as PTI demands, would imperil the Extended Fund Facility (EFF) and leave us nowhere. Continuing with the present arrangement, on the other hand, would further infuriate, and therefore embolden, the opposition and lead to more, uglier confrontations. But if the system cannot figure out how to bring the curtain down on the theatre of the absurd in Punjab, how will it take the whole country out of this crisis when the clock is ticking on nothing less than default and complete breakdown of the economy?
Copyright Business Recorder, 2022