Last week, the government and opposition in Pakistan came together to carry out a very impressive achievement. Both houses of parliament, after some back and forth, passed the 20th amendment. Amongst other things, the 20th amendment provides for a fully independent election commission and an institutionalized, orderly transition by setting out the contours of the interim/caretaker government that would take over in the run up to elections. When analysts and opinion-makers talk about “strengthening democratic institutions”, this is exactly the type of thing they mean.
As Ayaz Amir noted in his column,
The 20th Amendment is a bit of a minor miracle – ensuring an independent election commission and neutral caretaker setups, going so far as to stipulate that if agreement fails between government and opposition on caretaker names, the final word will lie with the chief election commissioner. If this doesn’t stop the cry of election-rigging in Pakistan nothing ever will.
To the PML-N goes the principal credit for giving final shape to this amendment. It pushed long and hard and finally had its way. This was a far cry from its earlier stand when dark hints were thrown about resigning from the assemblies and forcing early elections. Different voices are often heard in the PML-N but ultimately, as we keep seeing, pragmatism prevails. The Memogate petition in the Supreme Court was an exception, good sense taking a back seat, but no point in pouring salt over an open wound.
The prime minister and his team, especially Khurshid Shah, also deserve credit for showing patience and not losing their cool, and not losing sight of the larger picture. Failure to agree on the 20th Amendment could have jeopardized much more, including the Senate election.
This goes along with a theme I’ve touched upon repeatedly during the last couple years. Namely, that there is a serious disjuncture in this government’s ability to get things done. The capital-p Politics stuff, they’re excellent at. The 18th amendment, marking the first time a head of state in Pakistan gave up power and privileges, for instance. Allowing political parties in FATA. The Balochistan package. The Gilgit-Baltistan reforms. The anti-women violence bill. And now the 20th amendment. On some major institutional and constitutional issues, they’ve done a good job. What they’re seriously bad at is the stuff that impacts people’s day-to-day lives, like the energy crisis or law and order.
To return to the main point of the post, the 20th amendment is an important achievement. You would think Imran Khan would be behind it, given his rhetoric in the past. After all, he’s said things like
Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf Chairman Imran Khan declared that no general election would be tolerated prior to rectification of bogus electoral lists.
Addressing a joint press conference along with Air Marshal (r) Asghar Khan of Tehreek-e-Istaqlal (TI) on Monday at the latter’s residence, he announced his strong resolve to struggle for an independent Election Commission
He said that he was the man who had introduced neutral umpires in cricket and would also continue his efforts for an independent Election Commission.
So when the cause of independent election commission is served, why is this his reaction?
Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) chairperson Imran Khan said on Tuesday that the 20th Amendment was stacked up against his party in particular because PTI was becoming a real electoral threat to both, the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) and Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N).
“The 20th Amendment was just passed by the PPP and PML-N to strengthen their hold on power and to prevent PTI from sweeping the next general elections,” said Khan.
Strongly rejecting the amendment, Khan said that PML-N continues to support the wrongdoings of the government so that both the PPP and PML-N could have a share in the corrupt power structures prevailing at present.
Calling it a fraud and violation of the Constitution and democratic principles, Imran said the amendment condones elections carried out against the provisions of the Constitution.
“A complete fraud has been committed by the government in collusion with the main opposition party,” Imran stated.
Really? “A complete fraud?” That’s your opinion?
Always ripe for a head-scratching comment, Immy is. Photo: AP
It’s obvious that Imran Khan is being disingenuous here. Even he can’t be that stupid. He obviously believes this is a good step in the right direction, but refuses to say so because he can’t bring himself to say anything remotely nice about the PPP and PML-N. It’s a little churlish and a little immature.
Memo to PTI: sometimes your political opponents do worthy things. A quiet nod of appreciation, even amidst the cacophony of Pakistani politics, would not be remiss.
