‘Politicians’ inability to solve political disputes creates vacuum’

A session titled ‘the Current Crisis: Constitutional or Political’ on the second day of the 14th Karachi Literature Festival on Saturday afternoon had legal wizards weigh in on the reasons why the country finds itself mired in constitutional and political crises every now and then.

Opening the discussion, moderated by senior journalist Mujahid Barelvi, Senator Raza Rabbani said the 1973 constitution had been relegated to a mere green book without soul.

He said that in the current constitutional context, it would be appropriate to amend Rais Amrohvi’s famous line ‘Urdu ka janaaza hai, zara dhoom se nikle’ into ‘Aaeen ka janaaza hai, zara dhoom se nikle’.

The civil and military bureaucracy has never abided by the constitution, be it the 1973 constitution, 1956 one or the Government of India Act 1935, because it wants to maintain its hold on power, he lamented, adding that it uses various stakeholders and bends the constitution whichever direction it wants in the furtherance of its political agenda.

Senator Rabbani maintained that every political party and government has interpreted the constitution in its own way in the past four to five years, especially the last ten months.

Referring to President Dr Arif Alvi’s recent letter to Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Sikandar Sultan Raja, he said the president doesn’t have power to call the CEC and give a date for holding elections in Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) where the provincial assemblies have been dissolved.

The senator said that on the one hand, the Pakistani state was moving ahead with its political agenda, and on the other the political leadership suffered from political bankruptcy, due to which all the political parties looked towards the security establishment for support to come to power. In the past too, political parties had the establishment’s backing but these days they openly and unabashedly sought it, he lamented.

“Political class like political parties is divided. The political workers having an ideology and principles are on one side while the opportunist political class that wants power at any cost is on the other side,” he said, admitting that it had become difficult for an ideological and principled supporter to defend his party in the present situation.

Rabbani said there used to be a culture of resistance that nurtured in coffee houses but it had been done away with over a period of time.

Former attorney general Makhdoom Ali Khan was of the view that the constitution is not supposed to have remedy to every political dispute, which should be resolved by politicians themselves through consultations with one another. Due to their inability to resolve their issues, he added, politicians created a vacuum which is then filled by either the military or the judiciary.

Senior lawyer Hamid Khan said what the country had been witnessing for the past four to five years was not new in Pakistan’s history. He said the constitution clearly calls for holding elections within 90 days of the dissolution of an assembly and though there is no precedent of holding general elections in provinces and the National Assembly on different dates, but it won’t be a big deal if the elections are held in Punjab and KP before and in the National Assembly and the two remaining provinces after a gap of six months.

Khan said there was no sacred cow in the country now as people openly talked about the judiciary and the military.