Dear Readers,
Elections are due in Pakistan in early 2013 provided all goes well. As is the norm in third world countries, politics in Pakistan has started picking up momentum and is sliding into a contentious, almost venomous mode. This is evident in the many Talk Shows being hosted on private television channels. Pakistan has never been under so much pressure as it is today because of many serious problems it is immersed in – a faltering economy, corruption, poverty, terrorism, religious extremism, energy crises, problematic Pak-US relations, a deteriorating law and order situation, etc. Bad governance in political, financial and institutional sectors has never been so massive and persistent as it is today. The most successful democracies in the world are mostly based on honesty and justice, among other factors. A country cannot progress if justice is not its government’s as well as its people’s priority. Many Pakistanis feel that our problems can be solved if a new and honest leadership emerges after the new elections. When we talk about a change through elections, we are assuming a fair election, which is a big assumption at the moment. Whether that eventuality does come to pass remains to be seen but in the meantime Pakistan has a new Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) in the person of Justice (Retd) Fakhruddin G. Ibrahim who was the consensus candidate of all the political parties – a consensus among politicians in itself is a small miracle, a new beginning of sorts seems to have been made. Justice Ibrahim is an excellent choice for this prestigious posting being an eminent jurist, a constitutional expert and former judge of the Supreme Court. He is now 84 years old and becomes the 17th judge to head the EC. One wishes him well because he has a very tough assignment that is bound to take some toll on him, both physically and mentally and one hopes he is able to withstand the rigours that go with the job. For the benefit of readers I am reproducing my article “RECONCILING AGE WITH ABILITY”.
To quote my article, “Electoral Process in Bangladesh” of November 9, 2006, “It is very difficult in the third world to hold free and fair elections, the result is always contested by the loser. This has both political and economic repercussions for the State. Every regime in power uses its incumbency to tilt the elections in its favour, the normal modus operandi pre-elections is to put its own supporters to run the Local Administration and the Election Commission, making it that much easier to try any number of manipulations rigging the elections. For influencing the outcome of the vote there is nothing more potent in third world countries than using police functionaries at the street level. An honest election is only possible if supervised by a genuinely neutral administration looking after governance and affairs of the State for the period leading to elections as well as transition of authority to whoever is the winner”, unquote. Our Police works almost openly during elections for the local influentials at the operational level by getting the “right” people in numbers to the ballot box and denying similar access to the “wrong” ones by using the coercive powers at their disposal, particularly in the rural areas. The icing on this fraud is provided by the officials of the Provincial Civil Service and its various departments presiding over the actual casting vote, and counting thereof, hey are the real game-changers.
Prima facie Justice (Retd) Fakhruddin Ebrahim appointment fulfills the equirement of a credible CEC (1) being a consensus candidate originally pro-Dosed by the Opposition, a requirement under the Constitution and (2) a vast majority trust his reputation with overseeing a free and fair election process. Notwithstanding his known honesty and integrity, there remains a huge question mark about his age, both a physical and mental requirement given the enormous task before the CEC. Being 84 years old and a recent his-tory of not being too well arouses genuine concerns about his ability to stand up to the rigours of this momentous task.
Former Secretary ECP Kanwar Dilshad spells out the duties of the CEC, “before the 18th Amendment, his powers included (1) preparation of Electoral Rolls (2) conducting Senate Elections (3) conducting By-Elections (4) con-ducting Presidential Elections (5) establishing Election Tribunals (6) appointment of Appellate Election Tribunals (7) recommending appointment of members of Election Commission (8) administrative Powers/Appointment of Election Officers (9) Financial Powers and (10) Presidential Referendum or Other Referenda. The 18th Amendment delegated these aforementioned powers from CEC to the ECP. As the head of the ECP exercising these powers, the CEC must also (1) meet with all the political leaders (2) nandle complaints received by him directly and to resolve them and (3) meet with the foreign diplomats”, unquote. Can you see our 84 year old doing all this fulltime?.
Being witness to arbitration proceedings presided by Justice Fakhruddin Ebrahim (2002 and 2003), one found him for the most part alert and firm (as he used to be during his heydays as a Judge) but at times he seemed to go off on a drift because of his age, an unscrupulous shyster cleverly took full advantage of these momentary aberrations. Since this was almost a decade ago, it must make us more apprehensive now, can we as a nation take this “calculated risk” knowing that the motivated with money and influence will exploit this weakness of age to the hilt? Such doubts are not mentioned publicly but within the senior legal fraternity it seems to be widely prevalent. There is no shame to it, age catches up with all of us! The other question mark is about his recurring penchant to resign at the drop of a hat, as Governor Sindh, and then as a Minister of the Federal Caretaker Cabinet, one daresays there have been other occasions. What if he cannot cope with the rigours of his job which would put a much younger man under stress and strain, or he finds himself at variance with the incumbent govt, which as a man of conscience he will certainly be sooner rather than later, will he resign at a crucial moment in our destiny?
One looks forward to Justice Fakhruddin Ebrahim over-come the age handicap and heed former Secretary ECP Kanwar Dilshad’s advice that (1) ECP should develop zero tolerance policy on declaration of assets and expenditure statement submitted by the candidates. The political parties should be held responsible for verifying the declarations. ECP should reject or ban those political parties/candidates who submit false declarations (2) the next general elections should be organized under the supervision of judiciary and with the support of Army, the politicization of district administrative machinery makes free, fair and impartial elections highly unlikely (3) Where margin of victory is less than 3000, recounting of ballet papers must be done in the presence of contesting parties (4) To avoid tampering of polled votes or bribery, political affiliation and biased attitude of the official polling staff, ECP should bring rapid improvement in its cur-rent weak election monitoring structures and (5) Returning officers should take special care about the character of the candidates by invoking articles 62 & 63 of the Constitution of Pakistan. Why not give a test run to the general elections by holding the long delayed Local Bodies elections, what is democracy at the Parliament stage but an absolute farce if there is a deliberately created vacuum at the grassroots level? Notwithstanding the fact that Pakistan enjoys a distinct advantage over Bangladesh in voter recognition because of our NADRA ID Cards, the CEC could take a quick trip to our former East Wing to see for himself how during “the Bangladesh Model” they conducted a general election from a standing start in less than 18 months after cleansing them-selves of an inherently corrupt election machinery.
The election process can be manipulated as it was during 2002. To quote my article “The Election Process” of March 16, 2002, “Maj Gen Rashid Qureshi (than Musharraf’s Presidential Spokesman) denied flatly that the military regime had any preferences among politicians, so what is the trio of political amateurs led by Tariq Aziz, Principal Staff Officer to the President, upto directing political traffic?” I had advised than, “they would be well advised not to enter where angels fear to tread, history has shown that bureaucratic manipulation is a short term solution which invariably boomerangs. While the military cannot be deaf, dumb and blind about those who will guide the nation’s destiny in the years to come, especially when politicians remained deaf, not-so-dumb but blind to the travails of the country and its people in the past, instead of manipulating an “acceptable result” by getting the “like-minded” elected surreptitiously, it would be far better to create a transparent level playing field”, unquote.
Will it not be any comfort to the readers if they can guess who the pointperson entrusted with manipulating Elections 2002 on a grand scale is now the closest aide to? And who that eminent person in turn is the closest friend and associate of? Without a genuinely neutral Caretaker Administration expect more of the 2002 shenanigans, Justice Fakhruddin Ebrahim as CEC notwithstanding!.
