“The agreement materialised through the special effort of chief of army staff and his team”. Four-star democracy is once again in the streets of Islamabad and Rawalpindi. Pakistan army dominated, and the democratic government surrendered its supremacy again. The sit in of Tehreek-E-Labbaik was over on 27th November after the Pakistan army, as usual, brokered a deal between protesters and government and the army played the role of arbitration and guarantor. Welcome to the four-star democracy of Pakistan where offices of the four-star army chief is more important, relevant and functional than the office of the elected Prime Minster.
This sit in of Tehreek-e-Labbaik began at Faizabad Interchange on 6th November and continued for almost 22 days. In the meantime, the democratic government in Pakistan failed to address the demands of protesters, disperse the crowd or negotiate with them. On the 25th of November the federal government did a failed operation against the sit in participants, following this the government of Pakistan resorted to the GHQ for help or assistance. Ultimately, the signature of the Major General Faiz Hameed concluded this crisis peacefully.
In this way, elected bloody civilians proved once again in Pakistan that they are incompetent to handle the state affairs politically and peacefully and the GHQ is the ultimate solution of any kind of crisis in the country. Again, Pakistani elected politicians sacrificed the doctrine of civil supremacy at the altar of the GHQ and Pakistani elected parliamentarians proved that they deserve to be called ‘bloody civilians’. In effect, the Pakistani army generals proved to be the real political gladiators who have the capacity and maturity to handle the state affairs.
This entire situation put question marks on the doctrine of civil supremacy in Pakistan, as well as the competency and credibility of the elected government in Pakistan and the constitutional status of the Pakistan army.
Firstly, the doctrine of civil supremacy has been compromised and underscored in case of the Faizabad sit-in, and both the Prime Minister and Interior minister of Pakistan have voluntarily put their constitutional powers and authority into the basket of the army. The Pakistan army again got a golden chance to prove its dominance in the statecraft and win the hearts of the innocent Pakistani nation. No doubt, according to article 245 of the constitution of Pakistan, the Prime Minister can call the army for assistance or to fight an interior national security threat. But this article does not provide for the army’s role as broker, arbitrator or guarantor.
This entire situation puts question marks on the doctrine of civil supremacy in Pakistan, as well as the competency and credibility of the elected government and the constitutional role of the Pakistan army
Justice Shoukat Aziz Siddique of Islamabad High Court (IHC) asked a question from interior minister Ahsan Iqbal last week saying, “You have put a question mark over civilian supremacy. What you have done?”
Secondly, the Faizabad sit in resolution strategy has exposed the poor statesmanship of civil elected leadership of Pakistan from the bottom to the top. The Prime Minister and Interior minister of Pakistan failed completely to handle the Faizabad sit in crisis and finally the army was invited to intervene.
There are some major issues of competency and credibility associated with the civil leadership in Pakistan. They demonstrated again that they cannot run statecraft successfully and they are not credible. Most of the Pakistani elected leadership is a bunch of opportunistic greedy and corrupt thieves who love their chair and portfolios only and they will even sell Pakistan if good price is offered.
The National Assembly and Senate passed the Elections Bill 2017 in October and this Bill. This was engineered by Federal law minster Zahid Hamid. This Bill contained a controversial amendment in the Khatm-e-Nabuwat related clause and it sparked sentiments of displeasure among Muslims in Pakistan. It also gave rise to uproar and an emergency-like situation all over the country. Faizabad sit in was just the first episode of the backlash of this disputed legislation. Former law minister Zahid Hamid had to resign due to this law.
Another relevant fact is that the civilian elected leadership in Pakistan is no more credible and trust worthy. That’s why Khadim Hussain Rizvi signed an agreement with government on 27th November after the involvement and guarantee of Pakistan army.
Thirdly, article 245 of the constitution of 1973 of Pakistan has some provisions regarding the role of armed forces in the country. This article classifies armed forces as a subservient institution and an aide of the federal government.
This article does not assign the role of arbitrator or guarantor to the armed forces at all. But Pakistan army played the role of arbitrator and successfully materialised an agreement between the government of Pakistan and Khadim Hussain Rizvi who was leading a sit in at Faizabad interchange.
Justice Shoukat Aziz Siddique of Islamabad High Court (IHC) called it an unconstitutional move by the federal government and the Pakistan army. Justice Shoukat Aziz expressed his displeasure during the proceedings of a Faizabad sit in case on 27th November 2017.
Quaid-e-Azam Mohammed Ali Jinnah envisioned a democratic Pakistan with a parliamentary type of government. No doubt Pakistan has been achieved but real democratic Pakistan has yet to materialise. Pakistani civil elected leadership will have to prove its statesmanship, integrity and perspicacity otherwise the dance of four-star democracy will continue in Pakistan as it has it previous decades.
(This article is a continuation of the article “Pakistan’s four-star democracy” published in Daily Times 2-11-17)
The writer has an MPhil in Sociology and it a lecturer at the Department of Sociology at GC University Faisalabad
Published in Daily Times, December 5th 2017.