The ‘coalition of the unwilling’ having bestowed with power, sans legitimacy, has defaced the 1973 Constitution. The 26th and 27th amendments have rendered a lethal blow to the independence of judiciary, undermined the supremacy of the parliament and jeopardised the working of the organs of the state. The economy is plummeting to new lows every day, and a sense of parochialism is on the rise. Law and order is at its worst, especially in the restive provinces of Balochistan and K-P, as a mix of kinetic and political maneuvering have proved wanting. So is the eroding trust of the people in governance, as the psychological gulf between the state and its sovereigns continues to widen.
The 90-odd PTI legislators who, somehow, made it to the National Assembly have proved to be a disaster for the party. They were nowhere to be seen as a lively-opposition. Mere compromised skeletons, they could neither help the leadership on the floor of the house, nor did they lead from the front in upholding the trust of their electorate. Unfortunately, PTI is a flock of migratory birds, opportunists and traditional floor-crossers and, thus, has no political nursing as such to stand fast in adversity. They are a liability of sorts with the audacity to stay put in their representative offices as good-for-nothing. An instant outcome of this in-house PTI failure is that the opposition leaders in the bicameral had to be nominated from outside the party.
This political diatribe stirs a debate as to the future of democracy and genuine representative rule in Pakistan. Do we really need continuity of the so-called democratic process, which has strings to pull or resurrect a true political culture that is responsive and accountable? Subscribing to Hamza Alvi’s synopsis, Pakistan since its inception has been preoccupied with elite segments in the form of civil and military bureaucracies who by virtue of their superiority struck a semblance in governance. Politicians were either a spent force or doctored to the core by this ‘overdeveloped’ postcolonial state. That aspect had undermined Pakistan’s soft power tangibles and paved the way for hardcore muscles in governance, making many believe that a hard state is indispensable.
Pakistan today is in need of a movement that goes back to its roots, and amalgamates synergies from its length and breath. With the Constitution having lost its credence, a new social contract is desired. The fundamentals of this new order should be rule of law, accountability and a genuine representative system. The Charter of Democracy signed by Nawaz Sharif and Benazir Bhutto necessitates some cardinal tweaking, and governance on the veracity of a bona-fide ballot. It is a pity that the era of ‘continuity’ from 2008 to 2017, wherein two parliaments completed their tenures, was dictated from behind the scenes as the political stakeholders played foul.
So is the case later on, as the skipper was ushered in as a phoenix on the ashes of a judicial bias, and was then made to exit as he started believing in civil assertiveness. This ‘game of thrones’ must come to an end. To put the house in order, the first imperative is to release all political prisoners and get talking sans conditionalities. The political ingenuity will itself find a way out of the mess. Let stability set in on the premise of legitimacy. That is the minimum required auto-correction for the 2024 ballot that went astray.