Daily Times

It’s unfortunate that the supreme court could not complete proceedings about the legality, or lack thereof, of Hamza Shahbaz being appointed chief minister of Punjab once again on Monday. Because the impasse only served to raise the political temperature by several notches; to the point that a whole new can of worms has opened with the government boycotting the court’s proceedings because its demand for a full bench was turned down. This brings us into unchartered territory and now this special case is going to set more than one precedent, it seems.

Not to interfere with official legal proceedings, but it’s one thing, however unfortunate, if the single bench was out of the question because of the absence of a number of judges, which seems to be the case. Yet, on the face of it, it does seem that if the whole court’s acumen went into what is after all a monumental case, it would have been good for everybody because it would have put the final, indisputable seal on its interpretation of the constitution. Let’s not forget that taking Article 63 to the court so far has caused numerous breakdowns in the country’s politics, and this matter will keep troubling the system till it is properly, and conclusively, put to rest.

Things will, or at least should, become a lot clearer today because the three-judge bench will now respond to the ruling coalition’s boycott; in all likelihood by simply getting on with its proceedings and delivering its verdict on the CM’s election. But it’s what is going to come after it that has people already holding their breath. The economy has suffered to no end because of this paralysis, to the point that the country is now well and truly on the brink of collapse. The equity market crashes every other day and there seems no end to the rupee’s fall, which is costing the country dearly, only because the political elite has poisoned the whole atmosphere. And, it must be said that in this every leading political party is equally guilty, since all of them put their own interests ahead of the country’s and the people’s. *