The findings: now what?

Love them or loathe them, what you cannot say is that the honourable members of the now dissolved Judicial Commission have spoken from both edges of the mouth. Their findings, narrated in crystal clear terms, leave no room for wild interpretations, nor have any scope for sophistry.
While it reads like a legal document ought to, laced with cross-references, case citations and the lot, it also offers a rare insight into the loopholes of the electoral system. For the first time in Pakistan’s history we have a thoughtful review available of the operational side of how elections are held and results compiled, and how, and why, controversies are born the moment winners and losers are announced.
The judges have done their job well. They deserve praise. But the real show begins now. Since the findings have demolished the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf’s stance on rigging therefore, naturally, the entire debate in the media centres on what lies ahead for the party. And because the findings have endorsed the Pakistan Muslim League-N’s stance that the elections are fair, not manipulated and reflective of the will of the people, the general assumption is that the ruling party is now free of all burdens and can merrily move along on the road to unchallenged power.
The assumption is wrong. While the PTI’s challenges are obvious and are out in the open, the PML-N’s are more complex and tougher. In fact the next couple of months are likely to expose the ruling party more to public odium, giving the PTI, which in spite of its numerous self-inflicted wounds continues to be fighting fit, another occasion to tighten the screws on the opponent.
The foremost challenge for the Sharif government is that with the rigging chapter legally closed the entire attention of the nation is bound to turn towards governance issues. In the first two years in power the government took the plea that because of the PTI’s agitational politics it was distracted from its core duties and, therefore, its performance card on the whole did not truly reflect its real potential. This ruse hid many a dark corner of poor governance that in fact had less to do with the PTI’s conduct and mostly to do with the ruling party’s incompetence. All these months the media, too, has been focused on the subject of polls rigging. It has been low on substantive and more purposeful critique of how the Sharif government has fared in power.
Coverage of, and debate on, some of the more pressing national problems or events of importance like Karachi’s turmoil, Balochistan’s simmering instability, a stagnant economy, deteriorating output of public service institutions and the sad state of local justice and police system has been event-driven. Only when problems boiled into crises that national debate of sorts became visible. Otherwise, most of the time that the Sharif government has spent at the helm of affairs, rigging-related matters have claimed more space than anything else.
This umbrella has now folded up. The Sharif government, potentially, can now face the full gaze of public attention on areas that have been effectively sidelined. It will no longer be able to blame everything on the 126 days and nights of dharna. It will have to account for where the country stands today purely on the basis of its own deeds. Most governments would see this as an opportunity to improve their performance and better their game. Technically, the Sharif government can do so too. However, its political history is replete with examples that prove a limited, almost non-existent, capacity to reform itself and turn compulsions into opportunities.
We all remember how during the PTI’s siege of Islamabad Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif suddenly got energised on reform and good governance. He thought of calling neglected party workers and leaders who had been totally alienated by the kitchen cabinet occupying the PM House. There were special huddles, new goal-posts, and tasks assigned to different ministries to deliver goods quickly.
We also heard that a plan was afoot to complete the federal cabinet and bring in fresh faces. There was new zeal, the nation was told, to run the affairs of the state more methodically and effectively. Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif also recommitted himself to parliament by promising to be present in the sessions. He promised more sharing, more caring and more consultation for the cause of democracy and public welfare.
But what a fairy tale all of that turned out to be. The moment the dharna started to run out of steam, the Sharif government was back to its real self. The only thing that it changed was its dealings with the Pakistan Army. Since then, other than being in a state of permanent salute to Pindi, the Sharif government has altered nothing. It continues as a family enterprise – of the Sharifs, by the Sharifs, for the Sharifs.
This inability to learn from its mistakes and radically transform itself after seismic events is something that shackles the government to mediocrity. Worse, it promotes a bad attitude. The thought that it is ‘lucky’ breeds vanity, arrogance and a near-permanent contempt for commonsense.
There are many illustrations available to prove the point but none is more striking than the prime minister’s penchant for leaving the country at will and returning whenever he feels up to it. His business, his family affairs, his tourism, his wealth, his health all, for large part, rest outside Pakistan and he has done nothing to change it.
His favourite defenders find nothing wrong with him or themselves taking sudden leaves from their jobs and flying off to other countries. During the latest such episode of absence without leave, one cabinet minister became bitter when he was reminded that he was supposed to be in Pakistan and not in Saudi Arabia. His message: “In these fast communications-connectivity times do you really believe that physical presence is a must and [one] can’t do business otherwise? I am sure you don’t. By the way I am performing my duties (approving summaries’ approval through the internet and the phone.” He missed the point completely: no country deserves to be governed in a by-the-way fashion. But he is not to be blamed. The trend is set by the top, by the prime minister himself, who thinks ‘me-time’, at times, is more important than ‘country-time’.
These tendencies have always been there in the Sharif camp – and they won’t go away. They create issues on which public perceptions are built of who is fit to rule the roost and who isn’t. They create circumstances and events that make or break governments and parties.
With the rigging dust settling, the Sharif government is now totally visible to the naked, hungry and desperate eye of the nation. And if it continues to act in its usual way – which it is most likely to do – it would place itself in the dock sooner than later. The PTI may not have to wait for long before it gets the opportunity to hold the government by the throat again. No commission’s findings will save its skin then.
The writer is former executive editor of The News and a senior journalist with Geo TV.
Email: syedtalathussain@gmail.com
Twitter: @TalatHussain12