Daily Times

The political stability for the progress of a country needs no emphasis. With frequent changes in the government policies relating to finance, foreign affairs, security, interior, education etc. are reformed. These seriously affect the business community, foreign investors, farmers, industrialists, importers and exporters, education pursuers and even those running the small industries. The political history of Pakistan has remained in turmoil since independence. In a short span of 71 years, It has been ruled 4 times by the military rulers and 4 times the elected governments who were sacked under article 58-2b of the constitution by incumbent Presidents. In a diminutive period of about 11 years (1988-99) leaders of each of the two parties, PPP and PML (N) have ruled this country twice. Benazir Bhutto’s first rule was from December 2, 1988 to August 6, 1990 and second from October 19, 1993 to November 5, 1996. Nawaz Sharif’s first government was from November 6 1990 to April 18 1993 and second from February 17 1997 to October 12, 1999. Not a single time did either of them complete their tenure of five years.

The party in opposition used to create circumstances for the ruling party to make the governance problematic. Even extra-constitutional powers have been requested to sort out political issues. Arbitration by General Abdul WaheedKakar, the COAS from January 12 1993 to January 12 1996 between President Ghulam Ishaque Khan and PM Nawaz Sharif with the tacit consensus of PPP leader Benazir Bhutto in April 1993 that both should step down and fresh elections are to be held is a relevant event. The coup of General Musharraf was initially welcomed by PPP, considering that he promised to hold elections in a short time and hand over power to elected representatives. However, military rule was prolonged, obviously with the support of some political leaders. Benazir Bhutto opted for self-exile in the late nineties to avoid facing the courts. Nawaz Sharif was sent to exile to Saudi Arabia by Musharraf in December 2000. The leaders of PPP and PML-N, probably realising their mistake of not respecting the mandate of each other, met in London in May 2006 to sign the Charter of Democracy (CoD).

The Charter of Democracy which was signed in 2006 between the two major parties of that time has played a positive role in providing political stability thereafter

This document has 36 articles.The agreement merits consideration because it has been prepared by the leaders of the two parties who have experience of ruling the country twice. The most significant aspect is “We will respect the electoral mandate of representative governments that accepts the due role of the opposition and declares neither shall undermine each other through extra-constitutional ways. We shall not join a military regime or any military-sponsored government. No party shall solicit the support of the military to come into power or to dislodge a democratic government”. Important contents of this agreement have been incorporated in the constitution as eighteenth amendment.

Some of these are removal of article 58-2b, the main source of political de-stability, appointments of governors, and Chairman Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee (CJCSC) and services chiefs by the President at the advice of the PM. No judge shall take oath under any Provisional Constitutional Order or any other oath that is contradictory to the exact language of the original oath prescribed in the Constitution of 1973. Northern Areas shall be developed by giving it a special status and further empowering the Northern Areas Legislative Council to provide people of this area access to justice and human rights.

There shall be a neutral caretaker government to hold free, fair, and transparent elections. The members of the said government and their immediate relatives shall not contest elections. FATA shall be included in the NWFP province in consultation with the people of the area. There are few other articles of this charter which have not yet been deliberated like, the efficacy of the higher defence and security structure, created two decades ago, will be reviewed. The Joint Services Command structure will be strengthened and made more effective and headed in rotation among the three services by law. The political wings of all intelligence agencies will be disbanded. A commission shall be formed to examine and identify the causes of and fix responsibility and make recommendations in the light thereof for incidences such as Kargil. Regarding the remaining points, it is proposed that office of the CJCSC needs to be strengthened and the appointment needs to be rotated amongst the other two sister services. Presently there is hardly any significant role being played by this office.

Over a period it has become a coordinating workplace. Regarding political wing in the intelligence set ups, it is observed that these are concentrating on these aspects at the cost other prime tasks. The recent judgment of the Supreme Court about Faiza Abad Dharna is relevant. Formation of commission to find facts about Kargil episode is also important. We may learn lessons from the mistakes committed by various authorities and take remedial measures for future. It is relevant to mention that the government has not released the Hamoodur Rehman commission report even after 47 years. Usually the documents are de classified by the government after 25-30 years so that citizens know where concerned authorities went wrong and not to commit same mistakes again.

The Charter of democracy which was signed in 2006 between the two major parties of that time has played a positive role in providing political stability thereafter. After elections of 2008 both the parties( PPP and PMLN) have completed their prescribed tenure of 5 years by respecting the mandate of the other and following the code of conduct that opposition party will not approach extra-constitutional bodies for political matters like before. It is pertinent to mention that perception prevails that PTI had the support of the establishment to win the recent elections held in July 2018. To dispel this impression and for future, it is suggested that PTI take initiative to convince all major parties to sign an agreement stipulating the code of conduct similar to the Charter of democracy. It will certainly improve the image of the party and augment the political stability in the country.

The writer is a Senior Research Fellow at the Strategic Vision Institute

Published in Daily Times, March 21^st 2019.