Daily Times

Pakistanis are still experimenting with democracy. How many prime ministers will be sacrificed to prove a point is the latest experiment. A new type of judicio-democratic history is in the making.

One school of thought advises the higher judiciary to restrain itself from falling hard on the incumbent government while the second school of thought suggests the government to comply with the verdict of the judiciary. In this judicio-executive standoff, more people think that the higher judiciary is on top. One may call it judicial activism but another one may call it an executive failure. That is, the judiciary is filling in the void of performance left by the executive.

The incumbent government has spent its four years in hedging against its dissolution because of the NRO while the higher judiciary took these four years to expand its perimeter of influence in the public. In the length and breadth of the country, not the writ of the government but the say of the higher judiciary is palpable. In fact, the writ of the state is executed less through the executive and more through the higher judiciary. The ground of credit was lost by the political government and gained by the higher judiciary. A few instances can be cited in this regard.

First, democracy functioning in Pakistan has failed to ward off recurring ethnic clashes in Karachi. Papering over ethnic cracks is one policy but addressing problems permanently is a different proposition. Karachi is a victim of the policy of ‘ad hocism’ adopted by the Centre, especially after 2008. Politics in Karachi is increasingly becoming both fractious and fractured. Apparently, the ongoing ethnic conflict is an expression of the aspirations of various ethnic groups vying with each other for grabbing more politico-economic space. One side intends to outclass the other. It is a perpetual struggle for survival. The population explosion is one of the causes; mismanagement in distribution of resources is another. Karachi’s status of the economic hub of Pakistan is becoming both its triumph and undoing. Karachi has now become a mini-Pakistan, where representation of all ethno-linguistic communities is a reality. That is why ethnic conflict does not suit it. Target killing is again rampant and civil liberties are at stake. Recently, it has transpired that a religious group has been playing its role in target killings. The incumbent government is still failing to address the problems of Karachi. The failure has left the space open for the higher judiciary to step in. In the recent past, the suo motu notice taken by the higher judiciary was more to do justice to Karachiites than to grant politico-economic space to any aggrieved political or ethnic party. Karachiites felt obliged to the higher judiciary.

Secondly, democracy has not yet yielded its fruits in Balochistan. Election time is approaching fast and there is no sign of initiation of a dialogue with the Baloch nationalist leadership available in the country and with those who are in exile. The Balochistan package and the seventh NFC Awards have failed to satisfy the Baloch. The higher judiciary has not only been paying attention to the law and order situation and the missing persons issue of Balochistan but has also been making the FC and the intelligence agencies answerable. The central government should have undertaken these acts. Nevertheless, two new developments have plunged Balochistan further into a law and order abyss: (a) the demand for a separate Pashtun province (uttered by Mehmood Khan Achakzai, Chiarperson Milli Awami Party) comprising Pashtun majority areas carved out of Balochistan, and (b) the surfacing of a sectarian face of Balochistan. Both issues individually and collectively hold the potential to disrupt life in Balochistan and embolden the centrifugal forces. Balochistan is heading for a new crisis. In fact, a new type of bloodshed is feared in Balochistan. The volatile situation of Balochistan cannot withstand strife between ethnic Baloch and ethnic Pashtuns. Similarly, Balochistan cannot afford a Shia-Sunni conflict. The central government is again failing to look into the matter and address the issues. The more the delay in initiating a political dialogue to solve the issues, the more are the chances of Balochistan being bathed in blood.

Thirdly, democracy is fast losing its inspirational colour. Principles are losing ground in the political realm. Actually, principles are becoming irrelevant as politics has been reduced to a business venture. Politicians are subverting democracy by jettisoning principles from politics and making politics a game of buy-and-sell. Malevolence has donned the attire of ‘political reconciliation’. The marriage and divorce cycle making the ruling Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) and the Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) converge on one issue and diverge on another is the best example in this regard. The next example is the newly found bonhomie between the PPP and the Pakistan Muslim League-Quaid (PML-Q). In the PPP-MQM detente, the adverse prospects of violence in Karachi were overlooked, while in the liaison between the PPP and the PML-Q, the undesirable implications of corruption were disregarded. Pervaiz Elahi’s becoming deputy prime minister portends that something ‘spectacular’ is in store. A political make-or-break attempt to pass a constitutional amendment to clip the wings of the higher judiciary may be in the offing. That attempt may backfire politically. Nevertheless, the efforts of the higher judiciary to bring a semblance of propriety to the dealings of the executive, ranging from the rental power agreement to ephedrine quota, have been appreciated by the public.

One point is obvious: the government run by the PPP is not becoming engaged in Karachi and Balochistan because it does not have significant stakes there. In Karachi, the PPP has selective political stakes and in Balochistan, the PPP has less to lose politically. It means that peace will be a commodity available scarcely in selective parts of Karachi and the whole of Balochistan.

The writer is a freelance columnist and can be reached at qaisarrashid@yahoo.com