Under treatment presently in a UK hospital, PTI’s Chief Counsel, Abdul Hafeez Pirzada tried his best to prove before the Judicial Commission (JC) that elections were selectively rigged by the ruling PML(N) in dozens of seats in the Punjab during the 2013 elections. Having sufficient reason to feel cheated, PPP’s legal counsel Sen Aitzaz Ahsan also weighed in. Unfortunately my friend cannot even begin to imagine the extensive pre-polls rigging, well documented by both ISI and MI, done by his own party in interior Sindh.
On the basis of evidence placed before the JC, individual PML (N) (and PPP) leaders should be held accountable. Fraud did take place but no clear-cut “smoking gun” points to it on an organised basis. However the chaotic conduct post-elections (being charitable can we call it benign neglect?) by the Election Commission (EC) seemed coincidently to mostly benefit PML (N), with considerable bias also in the verification of whatever election material was available. The Constitution preserves the sanctity of the ballot box, the vote being a sacred trust must be cast with freedom, thereafter counted and collated with great integrity. Badly flawed, at best the 2013 electoral process was a mismanaged farcical exercise. A democratic govt coming into existence on this basis is in violation of the Constitution.
To restore the credibility of democratic dispensation a Parliamentary Committee is working to reform the electoral system, they should seriously get on with it. Simple and straightforward principles must prevail, among them viz (1) no indirect elections for the Senate, the National (NA) or Provincial Assemblies (PA) (2) Being basic to democracy Local Bodies elections must precede general elections (3) all candidates aspiring for seats in the Assemblies and the Senate must take part in the LBs elections to clearly define their roots (4) without a clear majority run-off elections obligatory (5) proportional representation to ensure all stakeholders have full participation in governance (6) all candidates must be taxpayers, no representation without taxation and (7) credible biometrics and electronic voting system be introduced. The entire demography of the country has drastically changed, a National Census (the last being held in 1998), must determine re-allocation of seats in the Assemblies before any fresh elections. The 2008 and 2013 electoral exercises were not truly representative mandates of the country’s electorate.
Anything contrary to a Solomonic JC judgment will bode ill for democracy. Are the developments in Sindh where special powers have been given to the military through the Rangers for combatting terrorism a precursor of future events, a full-scale dress rehearsal? The most corrupt Provincial Govt in Pakistan’s history exposed themselves to ridicule by complaining that the Rangers exceeded their mandate by targetting PPP’s corrupt appointees in govt. The military are strait-jacketed in their mission statement by the Constitutional parameters imposed upon them in choking the funds facilitating terrorism. The Federal Govt, albeit on prodding from GHQ, advised the Sindh Govt to extend the Rangers mandate for one year starting July 20, the only alternative was Governor’s rule. The Sindh Govt parked their loyalist corrupt out of the firing line in various sinecures, on pressure from the Apex Committee or out of sincere intent? One hopes a compromise was not agreed to for not indicting the PPP corrupt-in-place, a Faustian bargain targetting only one political party in Karachi will undercut the credibility of the Army’s resolve. Moreover the feeling of persecution will be played up by motivated elements. All criminals must be held accountable, whatever their party affiliation.
Gen Raheel Sharif spent Eid with his troops in the field who are sacrificing their lives combatting militants. That the heads of our major political parties, Mian Nawaz Sharif, Shahbaz Sharif and Asif Ali Zardari, celebrated theirs with family and friends in Jeddah, London and Dubai respectively, says it all. By their physical presence in areas of difficulty and danger, leaders show their care for those whom they are responsible for, not by giving lip-service by well-crafted Eid messages from abroad. Consider Shahbaz Sharif giving instructions for flood relief via video-link from London and Asif Zardari holding court of key Sindh PPP hierarchy in Dubai. Comprising nepotism and blatant corruption, self-delusion and hypocrisy, our democracy is slowly but surely eating away at our vitals as a nation. A reality check must decide what future we envisage for our children, one of deceit and deception, or the one bequeathed to us by divine destiny and the sacrifices of our forefathers, the promise of which we have frittered away over the years living in the farce we call a democracy?
My article, “Achieving National Security through Democratic Dispensation”, states, in the Pakistan Army’s GREEN BOOK 2014, “Make no mistake, national security is presently under serious threat. It is high time we acknowledge this fact and consider the alternatives. The Westminster model of democracy certainly has not performed well. Civil liberties, in the hands of people who are not liberal minded, will be misused by them and this freedom will produce anarchy and corruption instead. Lee Kwan Yew in Singapore consistently rejected liberal democratic values, he said that there should not be a ‘one-size-fits-all’ solution to a democracy. His successors persist with laws restricting the freedom of speech. In a situation where Pakistan’s security is threatened by a weakened state, bad governance, rising militancy and multiple other problems, the idea and practice of ‘democracy’ surely needs to be updated and adjusted to ground realties, amended so that it improves the governance of the country, restores the rule of law and enables the institutions of the state to function effectively, in particular the government and the military, to cooperate more efficiently coalescing the development of an effective working national security concept that both are able to implement jointly.” Unquote.
Without the electoral process being rectified our present democratic dispensation cannot support our social and economic development. The JC must give a pragmatic roadmap for restoring democracy along constitutional lines, failure will have us end up like Libya, Syria, Yemen, Iraq, Afghanistan, etc. Notwithstanding criticism by the vested and motivated, unless the JC does the right thing by ensuring electoral reforms and conduct thereof of a free and fair electoral process, there will be anarchy and the requirement of national security will than over-ride democratic dispensation. The military will be in dereliction of duty if they do not act, howsoever reluctantly, out of the much maligned “doctrine of necessity”.
The caveat is that unless the Army puts in place an effective check and balance mechanism, those who come to right the wrong things usually end up themselves doing the wrong things.
