What the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) needed, if not the major political parties that have bickered over the selection of caretaker prime minister endlessly, was a compromise candidate. Former Justice Mir Hazar Khan Khoso, who has achieved unexpected ECP support and success, finally emerged to prominence; being previously little known. In other words, a dark horse has rushed past the grand stand in sweeping triumph. But he wasn't a real dark horse because the fight had narrowed down to two - between him and another former Judge Nasir Aslam Zahid - after Parliamentary Committee dropped the matter in the lap of ECP.
The 8-member Parliamentary Committee performed a seemingly painful act with a burden of consciousness that its failure to reach consensus over one name was tantamount to committal of a profound political folly if not an outright crime. It also greatly disappointed the chief architect of the 18th Constitutional Amendment Senator Raza Rabbani, who failed to articulate and advance any convincing argument in defence of the role of Parliamentary Committee members facing increasingly hostile politician-bashing for creating a "political impasse" and contributing to doubts over elections. It, however, vindicated the "farsightedness" of a shrewd JUI-F's Maulana Fazlur Rahman who had initially opposed this constitutional stipulation in relation to the appointment of the interim set-up for he had strongly and rightly doubted the maturity of fellow politicians and their ability to resolve such issues amicably.
That the two parties, PPP and PML-N, particularly the former, sought to exert pressure on the ECP in relation to the choice of the "winner" is a strong reality that has found its best expression in the defeat of the strongest candidate, Justice Zahid. This former Supreme Court justice and now dean of a reputed private sector law school would not have been acceptable to PPP even if the circumstances had ultimately required it to make a choice between him and noted Sindhi nationalist and highly respected left-leaning intellectual Rasool Bux Palejo. The reasons behind such dogged resistance to his nomination were already quite well known much before six names nominated by the then government and Opposition sides were shortlisted to four and finally this number was unofficially reduced to two (Justice Khoso and Justice Zahid): the two decades of unfriendly and inimical relationship between him and President Asif Ali Zardari over the murders of Justice Nizam and his son in Karachi. Justice Nizam was Justice Zahid's brother-in-law. Zardari was nominated in the murder case. But Zardari, who later became President of Pakistan, successfully proved his innocence to get acquittal. It may also be recalled - without any reference to the history of Zardari-Justice Zahid relationship - that the then judge of Supreme Court, Justice Nasir Aslam Zahid, was the Chairman of a high-powered Mir Murtuza Bhutto murder Commission.
Justice Zahid's loss brings to one's mind the fate of another judge of higher judiciary: Justice Saeeduz Zaman Siddiqui. The former Chief Justice of Pakistan was clearly humbled by Asif Ali Zardari in the election of President of Pakistan soon after 2008 general election. Interestingly, both the judges have suffered ignominious defeats at the hands of same person: Asif Ali Zardari. Moreover, both the former judges were the candidates of PML-N in two different contests. Although the outcome of the Presidential contest was obvious before it began, the battle over nominations for the caretaker set-up was a very close contest even till yesterday. The PML-N was quite confident about the chances of Justice Zahid once the issue entered the ECP camp. But little did its leadership know that a highly charged and acrimonious situation that the Parliamentary Committee had bequeathed to the ECP would only hurt Justice Zahid's prospects. The reason was simple: four out of five judges at the ECP were hardly left with any choice but to go for a less controversial `brother judge', Justice Khoso, if indeed they had to choose only a judge for this job. In a lighter vein, the appointment of 84-year-old former Justice Mir Hazar Khan Khoso as caretaker prime minister has provided the nation with a unique opportunity to benefit from 169 years of wisdom and experience as the other key person entrusted with a responsibility to help ensure this historic and unprecedented civilian transition, Election Commissioner former Justice Fakhruddin G Ebrahim, is one year older to him.
Last but not least. The recent policy discourse of PML-N has clearly shown that it treats judges as best as it can, respects them, and also has great affection for them. But how ironic it is that efforts, however honest, that it made to honour certain judges only turned out to be gifts of undeserved humiliation for these members of highly important section of society. The party miserably failed to add to the profile and stature of former judges mainly because of considerable concomitant controversies and consequent unsavoury political outcomes. It is said that "morality is sacrificed at the altar of success"; in the case of Pakistan, however, judges have been sacrificed at the altar of power.
(The writer is newspaper's News Editor. Email: news.editor@br-mail.com)