Tension on Independence Day

Sixty-eight years since the creation of Pakistan, the country will face its umpteenth political crisis today. Like most crises, if not all before it, this crisis was neither necessary nor desirable — but the democratic system can still emerge strengthened in the long run, if the chief protagonists do not let ego override good sense. For the government, the announcement by Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif on Tuesday that a judicial commission consisting of Supreme Court justices will be formed to investigate allegations of fraud in last year’s general election is another late gamble to try and find some middle ground with the PTI. There are rightful fears of renewed politicisation of the superior judiciary by drawing it into power politics again and also questions of whether a Supreme Court judges-led commission would nullify the necessary power of review of electoral disputes the court has. But it is also true that given the intransigence of the PTI and the stubbornness, at least until recently, of the PML-N, only the highest forums in the land can act as final and binding arbiters. Better that arbiter be a commission of Supreme Court judges than some anti-democratic force in the country. Immediately, Imran Khan swatted away the suggestion of a judicial commission, although the PTI has long held that the judiciary is the right forum to decide electoral disputes — notwithstanding the simultaneous allegation by the PTI that elements in the superior judiciary last year were responsible for some of the alleged rigging against the party. Rejecting the idea of a high-powered judicial commission could either be posturing by the PTI supremo determined to deliver on his promise of a grand Aug 14 rally in the federal capital. Or it could be that Mr Khan has decided that he will do whatever he can to bring down the government, electoral reforms only being a ruse to achieve the real goal. Either way, there is a very real responsibility on the shoulders of Mr Khan to ensure that his rally remains within the bounds of the law and that the PTI does not incite its supporters to violence, directly or tacitly. The PML-N government, while still trying to disrupt the PTI rally, has not used the kind of tactics it has against Tahirul Qadri and his supporters against the PTI. Furthermore, the PML-N has consistently talked of the need for a peaceful solution to the PTI’s demands and remained open to compromise. Mr Khan and the PTI therefore should press their demands in a way that they abide by their pledge to stay within the bounds of the Constitution and the law. The real X-factor today though may be Tahirul Qadri: neither he nor the PML-N seem inclined to compromise in any way with each other. Unhappily, the country has the tensest of Independence Days ahead of it today. Published in Dawn, August 14th, 2014