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Friday March 29, 2024

Wages of confusion

By Ghazi Salahuddin
February 25, 2018

If there is a way of measuring the magnitude of confusion that resides in the minds of the people, here is another domain in which Pakistan can distinguish itself in a global survey. This particularly is the time when we seem unable to make sense of what is happening on the political, economic or social fronts. We are totally confused.

Every new development tends to leave us in a state of bewilderment. So much so that judgments made in the sacred precincts of the Supreme Court do not generally provide clarity or any kind of closure in cases that are meant to define the national sense of direction. The answers provided leave questions unanswered. Where do we go from here is what we constantly wonder about.

Obviously, one point of reference this week is the judgment announced on Wednesday. In its short order, the Supreme Court declared the controversial amendment to the Elections Act, 2017 null and avoid. The amendment had allowed former prime minister Nawaz Sharif to become the leader of his party after being disqualified. Also declared null and void were all steps, decisions and orders passed by him since his disqualification in July, 2017.

Seen against the backdrop of the conflict that had developed between Nawaz Sharif and the higher judiciary – as well as the elusive establishment – this verdict would be seen as Nawaz Sharif specific, just as the amendment to the Elections Act had been. The combative leader of the largest political party of the country was able to claim that the entire game was to banish him from the political arena.

There is, of course, this paradox that while Nawaz Sharif himself is in a state of defiance against the powers that be, his party is in power at the centre and in the dominant province of Punjab. Take this as another sign of the confusion that pervades the Pakistani society. So far as the partisans are concerned, they have to be exempted from thinking objectively. Hence, Nawaz Sharif’s adversaries were ready with their spirited endorsement of the verdict and PML-N loyalists immediately termed it as a travesty of the basic principles of justice.

Meanwhile, legitimate questions were raised about the fate of the numerous important decisions that had recently been taken by Nawaz Sharif. As for doubts about the timely holding of Senate elections once tickets awarded to PML-N candidates became invalid, the Election Commission on Thursday decided to treat the PML-N nominees as independent candidates. This means that the Senate elections will be held as scheduled on March 3.

Irrespective of how the emerging complications would be resolved, observers were expressing their concerns about the impact of the verdict on the democratic process that is forever in dire straits. Will this become another Pandora’s box? Ah, but we already have an impressive collection of such boxes and do not know what to do with the ones that had to be set aside with the advent of new crises.

Apart from the impression that Wednesday’s verdict had specific implications for just one individual, a number of critical appraisals have added to the bafflement of the concerned citizens as to what does it really mean. The main focus was on the retrospective effect of the Supreme Court’s decision. One editorial comment pointedly said that “the responsibility of the judiciary, however, is to interpret the law, not invent it.”

Does this mean that there is an open confrontation between the ruling party and the judiciary? Senate Chairman Raza Rabbani was one of those who expressed their concern on the rising political temperature. Reacting to the dismay expressed over the judgment by a number of senators from different parties, he called for initiating a dialogue among state institutions. Senator Farhatullah Babar of the PPP was among those who expressed their reservations over the verdict, though his party was among the petitioners who challenged the Elections Act, 2017, amendment.

It is interesting – and instructive – that a day after he pronounced a judgment that barred Nawaz Sharif from heading his party, Chief Justice of Pakistan Mian Saqib Nisar made a surprise visit to the cafeteria of the Islamabad High Court Bar Association – two days before the scheduled elections of the association.

According to published reports, Justice Nisar, without naming any name, said someone had objected to his remarks and clarified that he was fighting against social menace. “I want to ensure supply of clean drinking water, clear environment, pure milk, hygienic meat etc, and I wish that the farmers get reasonable price for their crops,” the chief justice was quoted as telling the lawyers who were gathered in the cafeteria. Isn’t this very interesting as well as very confusing?

This was a sudden and unexpected visit and it provided an opportunity to the lawyers to present a number of demands. Chief Justice Nisar conceded that the superior judiciary had detracted from its direction but it was never too late to set the direction right.

This, to be sure, is the fundamental task of all those who preside over our institutions: to set the direction right. But how is it being done? What is the direction of this country at a time when it confronts such diverse challenges? For instance, I believe that perhaps the most disturbing headline of this week was about Pakistan being the riskiest country for newborns in the entire world.

Because we remain so engrossed in politics, though not without some justification, our social realities do not attract sufficient attention. If the mortality rate of newborns within the first month of their existence is judged to be highest in Pakistan, we should be very worried about it. That we are behind even Afghanistan and Somalia is bound to have some implications for all our national institutions. Something is very seriously wrong with our national sense of direction. But we are not able to exactly identify the source of this derangement.

Let me return to the thought that the prevailing confusion about the state of the nation is affecting the collective mind in a negative sense. Confusion, according to the Advanced Learner’s Dictionary I use, is “a state of not being certain about what is happening, what you should do, what something means, etc”. There are other meanings too, but the point is that we seem to be wandering in some kind of an intellectual and emotional wilderness. We have no idea about who is actually in-charge and where we are headed as a nation.

Would it be any consolation if we earned the distinction of being the most confused nation in the world?

The writer is a senior journalist.

Email: ghazi_salahuddin@hotmail.com