Beginning of the end?

Will Sindh submerge again? This was the title of a seminar held at the Arts Council in Karachi on Thursday. It was sponsored by a new civil society initiative, Sindh Development Watch. One focus of the proceedings was the still unrepaired devastation caused by the floods last year, a tragedy that did not much attract the nation’s attention because of its obsession with politics.

But I am not writing about that seminar, though the subject demands serious attention. Sitting there, my mind wandered and it seemed to me that it was the entire country that was drowning – in a metaphorical sense. A sinking feeling was hard to suppress.

Partly, my thoughts were distracted by what had been happening during the day at the national level and what it portended in the immediate future. Actually, our downhill journey has continued for some time and every new day brings its own gift of bad tidings. However, this confrontation between parliament and the judiciary is likely to become a tipping point. Is this, then, the beginning of the end? And what happens after that?

What makes this confrontation more dangerous is that it is accompanied by an obvious division within the Supreme Court of Pakistan. One evidence of this – of the kind that could be presented before a judge – is how Chief Justice Umar Ata Bandial formed an eight-member bench on Wednesday to take up petitions that challenged a proposed a law meant to curtail the chief justice’s suo-motu powers.

One did not need to pronounce this bench as controversial because it manifestly excluded judges, including senior ones who had expressed their dissent in a number of cases steered by the chief justice. There was something not only done but was also seen to have been done. Anyhow, this bench barred the government on Thursday to enforce a pending law.

This preemptive strike was met with an expectedly strong response from the government. On Friday, the National Assembly unanimously passed a resolution that the Parliament’s prerogative of legislation cannot be usurped. It ‘rejected’ in categorical terms the aggressive attempt by the Supreme Court to usurp parliament’s authority. Senior ministers, in separate interviews with the media, insisted that no one would be allowed to breach parliament’s jurisdiction.

Still, the Supreme Court made its move to bypass the government in going to the executive. Also on Friday, it directed the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) to release Rs21 billion for elections in Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and send an “appropriate communication” to this effect to the finance ministry by Monday – tomorrow.

Though not directly related to this stand-off between the government and the Supreme Court, one significant development this week was the in-camera session of the National Assembly on Friday in which the top military leaders briefed the legislators on the security situation prevailing in the country. This has come against the backdrop of resurgence of terrorism in the country, which adds another dimension to the overall sense of uncertainty and dark forebodings about the future of Pakistan.

Eventually, however, this in-camera session has bolstered the impression that the army stands behind the government. This should have a bearing on an antagonistic tussle between the ruling coalition and the aggressively assertive forces of the opposition led by Imran Khan. Essentially, the issue is whether elections for the Punjab and KP assemblies, as dictated by the Supreme Court, can be held next month or if the government will prevail in its contention that general elections for the National and the provincial assemblies should be held simultaneously, sometime in October.

There have been some reports, quoting ‘insiders’, that Chief of Army Staff Gen Asim Munir said that the elected representatives of the people should determine the destiny of the country and that the army would fully support them.

How can the conflict between the government and the Supreme Court be resolved in a manner that is constitutionally valid and conducive to political stability and social harmony? And, finally, is there really a possibility for Pakistan to readily step out of its present imbroglio so that all stakeholders are free to devote their attention to, say, the economy and the threat that is posed by terrorism and violent extremism?

Sadly, good sense has rarely prevailed in our history. That’s how we have arrived at this edge of the precipice. Even at this precarious perch, when a slight nudge can throw us into the abyss, we seem unwilling to look at the reality of our existence and restore our sanity to take the measures that are necessary for our survival.

Look at the state of our economy, regardless of how we can deal with the IMF, and it should leave you gasping for breath. What inflation, poverty and unemployment are doing to the society as such is easy to state in statistical terms. But there are human beings involved, in millions and millions. The consequences, in terms of crime and mental health and deviant behaviour of all kinds, are horrifying. How long can Pakistan live with this drift?

I began this column with the mention of a surge of gloom in my heart during that seminar on the travails of Sindh. It was on April 13 and I was trying to mentally escape from the fact that it was the sixth anniversary of the lynching of Mashal Khan on the campus of Abdul Wali Khan University in Mardan.

I see that as one of the greatest tragedies of Pakistan and an emblem of what we have made of this country. Mashal was a sensitive young man with liberal views and he was brutally killed by his fellow students after allegations of blasphemy. If we can live with this, what does it matter whether and when the elections are held and what happens to a divided Supreme Court.

The writer is a senior journalist. He can be reached at: ghazi_salahuddin@hotmail.com