Daily Times

New game, new rules. Saturday night proved to be especially problematic for Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf and millions of its supporters who sat glued to their mobile screens, counting seconds (even, milliseconds) in hopes for relief before the upcoming general elections. What has happened instead could be well anticipated by many after extension after extension attempted to prolong suspense and perhaps, stitch together an unstable split verdict.

The short order announced by the Chief Justice of Pakistan has set aside the reinstation of the “bat” as an electoral symbol by the Peshawar High Court and pronounced the death of PTI as a political party. That there are no winners here and by choosing a side for the neutral institution of the judiciary, the honourable Supreme Court has hurt itself the most does not need to be spelled out loud. If the judgement hinges on precedents, political victimisation committed at the behest of Chief Justice Saqib Nisar in 2018 was not worthy of being replicated, that too by a maverick judge. If the higher judiciary wishes to encourage the election commission to take its role as the watchdog of democracy seriously, a measly fine of Rs 20,000 slammed on the ANP despite the fact that it had not even attempted to organise the intra-party elections at all stares the constitution in the face. However, the verdict was not the only thing that went wrong with the proceedings.

An unprecedented account of personal travails by a leading member of the PTI on the rostrum right before he excused himself to tend to his family would go down in history as a part of extraordinary proceedings. Whatever Plans C, D and E are hidden in the closet need to be dusted off and taken out now if Barrister Gohar wishes to stand firm. CJP Isa had hit the bull’s eye when he observed in a previous hearing that democracy was a fundamental right, which should be present in both a country and a political party. But while everyone in the state appeared tremendously concerned about the “transparency” and “justness” of how the PTI had elected its office-bearers, the same cannot be said about the preparations to ensure the accountability and credibility of a public exercise that sits at the very foundation of our beloved democracy. It would be extremely hard to rise above the sight of justice not being delivered. *