Daily Times

The sad but bitter truth is that Sadiq (truthful) and Ameen (honest) do not apply to us mere mortals. Yet it appears that our politicians didn’t get that memo. Which is rather bothersome, to say the least. For a person who has been disqualified by one branch of the state — in this case, the judiciary — ought to be no longer eligible to head a political party.

Meaning that he, quite simply, is duty bound to accept the verdict of the courts. For among the state’s three organs — the Parliament, the Executive and the Judiciary —  the latter can absolutely not be defied.

Yet Pakistan hardly has an exemplary record when it comes to honouring due process. From dictators to so-called democracy bearers — each side has sought to manipulate the courts to its own advantage. Nawaz Sharif, for example, played a central role in the restoration of the judiciary during the last PPP government.

Once this was done, Iftikhar Chaudhry remained in the PMLN’s good books and vice versa. Possibly because he, along with the other judges who had refused to take oath under the Provisional Constitutional Order (PCO) promulgated by Gen Musharraf during the 2007 state of emergency rule, were restored primarily through the efforts of the PMLN.

Fast-forward a decade and we have a National Assembly that effectively challenged the authority of the courts. Meaning that when it came to passing the Elections (Amendment) Bill 2017 — introducing a clause allowing politicians disqualified from holding public office to heads political parties — the government managed to bulldoze it through the Lower house, despite opposition protests. A later amendment that aimed at doing away with this controversial provision was rejected by 163 to 98. Thus did the ruling elite make its intentions more than clear in terms of dishonouring the Supreme Court verdict against Nawaz Sharif.

Pakistan is right back where it started. Nawaz is as powerful as he was during his premiership. And that is because as far as the top leadership is concerned — he is still the boss

Nevertheless, certain pundits have been claiming that some 50-70 PMLN MNAs are unhappy with the way their government is handling particular issues. Namely, the role of the top party leadership in the Khatam-e-Nabuwat fiasco. Indeed, former Prime Minister Zafarullah Khan Jamali openly rebuked the ruling party, calling for the heads to roll of those responsible.

This sense of intra-party dissatisfaction would, by all accounts, have led to the government being unable to even secure the quorum needed to initiate Assembly proceedings — had it not been for the turnout to reject the PPP-proposed amendment that had aimed to bar Nawaz from assuming party presidency once and for all. Imran Khan and some news analysts went as far as to suggest that the PMLN squandered billions of rupees to coerce its MNAs into attending the House sitting.

It is important to note that no individual is disqualified from the premiership without reason. And if after that he is, legislatively speaking, able to return to lead his party, if not government, once more — then we have a problem: that being, the wilful dishonouring of the judiciary.

Yet if this is how it is going to be then the courts should give up the game and pack up shop. Nevertheless, the best outcome for the country would have been if the same government that had resisted the courts on the grounds that the latter was ‘unqualified’ to determine the moral character of a politician in accordance with Articles 62 and 63 of the Constitution — recognised that it had simply reinforced the original ruling with all its subsequent National Assembly shenanigans.

What is absolutely needed at this time is for Parliament to respect the authority of the judiciary; if nothing else, this will stop the national exchequer wasting money on determining the moral characters of elected politicians.

And after all this, Pakistan is right back where it started. Nawaz is as powerful as he was during his premiership. Meaning that it has mattered not one iota that the courts disqualified him on the grounds of his not coming clean about his money trail. And that is because as far as the top leadership is concerned — he is still the boss, at least legislatively.

The writer is a political commentator and can be reached at junaidalimalik3@gmail.com. He tweets @junaidalimalik1

Published in Daily Times, December 1^st 2017.