Adil Najam
As our ongoing ATP Poll on what should happen after the NRO decision by by the Supreme Court shows, there are many options but little clarity on what will happen nexts. Ministers are being stopped at airports. Summons are supposedly being sent to Ministers. PPP leaders are coming to the defense of their colleagues. And the PPP is vowing to go back to the courts to clear their name. In short, uncertainty rules Pakistan politics, again.
This is clearly a challenging political moment for Pakistan. But it can also be a precedent-setting moment. A moment where the process of democracy and rule of law reconcile with each other without offending the basic principles of either. Uncertainty must not be allowed to morph into chaos, but the rule of law must also be maintained. If. Mr. Zardari and the PPP show political maturity in this moment, they could come out with more support than they had a week ago. But will they?
This editorial from Dawn seems to sum up many of the issues quite well.
In the immediate aftermath of the Supreme Court’s judgment on the NRO, the ever-churning political waters in the country have been stirred to a frenzy. Uncertainty, if not panic, is detectable in the ranks of the PPP brain trust as the judicial wheels have swiftly started turning with unknown consequences. Meanwhile, sections of the media have gone into overdrive against ‘tainted’ and ‘immoral’ NRO beneficiaries, regardless of whether the cases had resulted in convictions or not.
Panic, glee, consternation, joy — amid the welter of emotions, few have thought to step back from the cacophony and find a way to protect the system and the transition to democracy. The post-NRO political landscape need not degenerate into a zero-sum game where the fate of individuals is elevated in importance above the fate of the system.
First things first, the judicial process unfolding to take the 8,000-odd beneficiaries of the NRO to their pre-Oct 5, 2007 status must be conducted with deliberateness and thoughtfulness. It is a process with no precedent in the country and it should be guided by the experts, unaffected by the political polemicists with barely concealed agendas. At the moment, it seems anyone who may or may not have ever seen a legal textbook or may or may not know the difference between civil and criminal proceedings is expounding on the effects of the NRO judgment. Such ‘expertise,’ whether well-intentioned or not, is certainly undesirable. It is imperative that the judiciary in consultation with the relevant parts of the executive be allowed to develop a road map based on the Supreme Court’s judgment to restore the pre-Oct 5, 2007 position of the NRO beneficiaries — undoing an illegality, however blatant, must be done along legal principles, not political expediencies.
Next, the political forces on both sides must proceed with caution. The PPP-led government at the centre must resist the urge, if any, to ‘respond’ to its detractors. Instead, it must demonstrate a genuine will to implement the Supreme Court’s order and allow the law to run its course. After years, if not a decade, of claiming that ‘political persecution’ was behind the cases registered against its member, now is truly an opportunity for them to clear their names and get a fresh start. The opposition, meanwhile, needs to be mindful that any short-term ‘gains’ to be had by rocking the system can morph into long-term damage if it creates space for extra-constitutional forces to create mischief. The democratic system can emerge stronger from this watershed event, but only if everyone keeps one eye on weeding out corruption and the other on protecting the democratic system.
Meanwhile, our ATP Poll on what should happen next is still open; if you have not voted yet, please do.
The NRO beneficiaries and their shenanigans bring to mind the famous words of Sir Winston Churchill, speaking at the British House of Commons (1946):
“Power will go to the hands of rascals, rogues and freebooters. All Indian leaders will be of low calibre and men of straw. Not a bottle of water or loaf of bread will escape taxation, only air will be free. They will have sweet tongues and silly hearts. They will fight among themselves for power and will be lost in political squabbles.”
A thousand NROs cannot wash away their sins, nor the memory of their misdeeds in the minds of the starving Pakistanis, upon whose heads they frollicked on the gilded road to power. Unfortunately for them, power is like a see-saw with springs under both ends, and does not stay in anyone’s hands for too long, especially in Pakistan. The cronies and the despots will go the same way those before them went, and no tears will be shed for them, except for the small minority whose own livelihood is directly linked with their survival.
And as for Mr Asif Ali Zardari-Bhutto (I wonder why people have stopped calling him from his self-bestowednew surname), it is either the Presidency or the Penitientary, either the Prime Minister House, or the Jail House. ‘He who knows not that he knows not, is a fool- avoid him’.
Unfortunately for the CEC of the perpetually self-praising PPP, rather than avoiding Zardari, they embraced him. And for their lack of judgment, the whole country has paid, and will continue to pay until the dust settles.
This is all topi drama was conceived by those smarts who have been slapped during NRO hearing. Can any body explain that Defence minsiter was not knowing his name on ECL till he arrives at airport. Despite media is blushing with ECL list, our rulers were not knowing that ECL list has been implemented. After creating a show, goats in form of suspending officials were sacrificed. What a show!!!!
They did it intentionally to just portray this is result of decision by SC and now executive part is in trouble. What a mischievous act… just to malign SC. Tomorrow u will find ppl questioning the SC verdict and blaming interfering in function of “damocratic” government. Sindh card is already being showed just to press SC and establishment that we can do this.
This is how they are accepting the SC verdict and leading this country to another crises by using infamous sindh card and collision with judiciary.
May Allah bless this country and all of us.
By the way, why is no one talking about Hussain Haqqani. He is also an NRO benficiary. How can you have an ambassador who cannot even travel back to our leave his own country which is represents…. HOW CRAZY IS THAT.
I think the best and only way out of this is for Zardari and other politicians to go back to courts and say “we want to clear our names…. try us and decide one way or other.”
Frankly, had there been real evidence, Musharraf would have nabbed him already, the fact that he could not probably means that there is not enough real evidence against him.
I think that this government must continue, with our without Zardari. Not because I support PPP but because I think it is good for the country for an elected govt to complete its term.