Rallying for survival

I hate to do this – write on the sorrow state of Nawaz Sharif. The deed is done and the sun has set on his time. Now he can be an elder statesman working from the shadows for his party and for his country, or simply fade in the glory of the knowledge. Instead he just finds one frontier after another to battle against. Reminds me of the Kubler-Ross model of grief and how it settles in but in all this the country suffers because of the pain of one man who wrought it upon himself.

What was it? The Panama Papers. Who leaked these? No establishment, no judiciary, none in or from Pakistan. What did it entail? A dark act in the past that finally got revealed, unfortunately criminal in form and hence triable under current laws. Pakistan may have been buffeted again with political instability with the sacking of a prime minister but it has survived the jolt. That should be pleasing. While others have reeled under external or internal shocks and disintegrated, Pakistan has stood the test of time and come out stronger in the face of these calamities. It has held its structures and integrity. This is no mean achievement.

A prime minister was brought to book on account of his misdeeds. This is a moment of celebration of the supremacy of law, of moving towards maturity in nationhood. The constitution and the law have prevailed over any other consideration stemming from position of influence. This is a significant step forward as we mature as a nation. This is giving meaning to the dream of Pakistan. This truly is a moment to celebrate. There is a lot more to do, as people don’t tire to remind, like bringing Gen (r) Musharraf to trial, and others who seem to be sitting atop positions of untouched power and pelf. And why not? With courts as unfazed as those of today, leaving behind the shadows of a compromised past, one can only expect undeterred fidelity in preservation and application of law.

Even the political order has gained strong enough roots to find its way out from serious reverberations. This can only mean even greater promise. PM Nawaz Sharif may not be anymore, but politics, parliament, the courts, governance and the functioning goes on unstinted. That defines resilience beyond whatever else has tested this nation over the seventy years of its existence. We failed at some and overcame others. We exist – bruised and hurting but more confident and holding onto our immense promise for the future. Nothing took our hope away. From every strand that we were left with we have woven our link to a promised future. That is when nations come out smiling at these tests of time. This is that moment to smile.

As Nawaz Sharif moaned at the steps of Allama Iqbal’s mausoleum on Independence Day, the nation was celebrating the occasion. They say Pakistanis haven’t rejoiced on an Independence Day as they did this time. Yet Mian Sahib seemed the only one that day, forlorn and alone, dejected for having lost power as the prime minister, choosing to recall only the darker moments from our past. As he did so, he was far removed from reality. Fed by a diminishing clique of courtiers with narrations of past glory of which he now stood divested, no one told him that ‘the king (was) dead; long live the King.

Not that he doesn’t have cause to worry. There is the pending reference before NAB emerging from the misdeeds in Panama Papers and unearthed in the JIT, of whose consequences he and the family are rightly wary and would prefer somehow for it to not happen. Because if proven – and a Supreme Court judge is overseeing the process – the consequences can be dangerously injurious. Politics may then recede into remote memory as the family, or those who get convicted, grapple with far more darkening prospects. Hudaibiya can be the unintended spinoff creating all round complexity for a much larger circle of cohorts. The signs are ominous and hence rightly worrisome. On GT Road, Mian Sahib was essentially fighting these demons.

One other thing he hoped to salvage was his own political relevance. His family under shadows, there was a possibility that congregated swallows would take off for greener barks. The party would then be in disarray denying him its succession within the family. The brother, the mercurial Shahbaz Sharif, blazing his own trail may then benefit by default, something that Shahbaz may have secretly wanted. That still seems remote despite the fate befallen to Nawaz and his family. To keep from such a consequence, taking GT Road was as last ditch as it was populist. Successful or not will only be determined by what the courts decree in due course, but what rationality may offer from among the darker choices may mean dispensing politics for preserving freedom. Before such determination by fate one can only prostate in submission. Shahbaz Sharif may still luck out.

The reality of grief will soon settle in. And the daily pronouncements of perpetual witch-hunt that Nawaz Sharif recounts or the disharmony in institutions that he invokes will also die down. The constitution is a living document and the combined national wisdom will continue to evolve it with experience and per dictates of the time. But to target it to control one or the other institution to enable additional comfort to a ruling clique smacks of ill-intent and is an idea that will remain stillborn even with committed constitutionalists such as the PPP. At this moment, it will only amount to self preservation and be perceived as being driven from such motives. It will be better for the system to evolve its own set of needs and then wring the changes in public interest.

And the golden rule for sustaining democracy and civilian supremacy: democratic dispensation lies in the trichotomy of power between the legislative, executive and judiciary; and the inherent balance between them ensured through constitutional checks. If one is weakened to the point of being irrelevant, an imbalance occurs. This is when external agents step in to keep the ship of the state afloat. Translated, if the legislative were to play an effective role it would keep all under check. To demean it through lack of engagement means the balance is no more. Stabilising agents then find an entry. That sets in the dysfunction. Similarly, neutering the military and the judiciary through ill-thought legislation amounts to dislodging the balance, and hence creating the vulnerability to external intervention. This much a political mind should be able to appreciate, anger notwithstanding.

And, like charity, the respect for mandate begins at home. If a prime minister does not attend or engage parliament and his voters are never in his thoughts through policy aimed at improving their lot, the rot of disrespect of the vote has already begun at the top. Any surprise then how odious is our system of governance? There is so much to learn from our recent experience.

Email: shhzdchdhry@yahoo.com