Daily Times

Last month, Supreme Court had swiftly dealt a death blow to Pakistan’s vilest constitutional crisis. Swayed by the determination to set some boundaries on democratic institutions, Monday saw it jump to the limelight again as it presented a new interpretation of Article 63-A. The opposition cheerleaders finally have their hands on something to kick the boats out because the votes of defecting lawmakers have been slammed as pariahs. What this would spell for the short stint of much-sought-after chief ministership of PML(N) scion, Hamza Shahbaz, depends (for the millionth time) on the numbers game. Because a hasty deduction from a cursory glance at the balance might mean Shahbaz Junior needs to give a final bow but the jury is still out on how the law mandates the assembly proceedings from now onwards. Minus PTI’s 26 controversial hat tips, the ruling party has lost the absolute majority needed to cross the 186-seats threshold. No qualms about that. But given the other candidate, Chaudhry Pervaiz Elahi is in a similar quagmire, would the house choose whoever comes ahead with a simple majority or go for the infamous dissolution and announce the election bonanza? Here, the Election Commission of Pakistan urgently needs to rise to the occasion and shed some light on the solutions already present in the constitution (two rounds of elections) or chaos is bound to build up amid the toing and froing over law.

That the country’s top court was split down the middle over its judgement says a lot about the complexities involved. Yes, the robust short order has bolted the door shut on the menace of horse-trading, something many parliamentarians have been hammering away for quite some time now. One serious bone of contention, however, remains the future of no-confidence votes. Does this mean anyone elected by the masses would enjoy dyed-in-the-wool power sans any regard for performance pressures? Have the courts practically declared such democratic checks and balances redundant? Even legislation that is not relevant to party politics, but holds paramount importance to national affairs (like money bills) can be easily bundled off by the whims of those in power. The political crises, in the meantime, linger on with increasing tenacity. *