Pakistan: ‘Yes Prime Minister’

Editorial:Daily Times

Like an unexpected ‘jolt’ to the nation, Pakistan’s former minister for energy and power, Raja Pervez Ashraf, is now its 25th prime minister (PM). He has been sworn in and has brought a new cabinet with him: 27 ministers and 11 ministers of state have taken their oaths. It may be a new cabinet and it may have a new head but most of these ministers are the same old faces carrying forward the same old agendas and tasks. The first thing that really strikes one about this transition of power from one PM and his cabinet to the other is how smoothly the whole process went. We in Pakistan are not used to such a rare occurrence whereby all major political players set their differences and petty squabbles aside to allow progress and democratic norms to prevail. While the new PM is not without his detractors — opposition leader Nawaz Sharif thinks Raja Pervez is a “tragedy” for the country and extra-parliamentary force Imran Khan rallied his supporters in Hyderabad by calling the new PM’s election a “shame” for the country — the fact of the matter remains that the unprecedented disqualification of Yousaf Raza Gilani did not become cause for our political and military forces to set the democratic course adrift nor did it make way for violence one feared might erupt due to the PPP’s angry supporters. For democracy to continue half embattled and half bruised in Pakistan, it is of the utmost importance that the exalted institution of the judiciary be a major player in seeing the political process through. For this it must be seen as practicing some restraint. If democracy is not allowed to go through its initial highs and lows everyone suffers, including the judiciary. Under the military rule of General Musharraf it was the courts that saw upheaval and turmoil, with its restoration being unthinkable under the general’s dictatorship. For the judiciary to assume the mantle of activism, as is being viewed by many quarters, it risks turning itself into an autocrat of sorts. The precedent set by the highest court of the land in the dismissal of PM Gilani was a first in this country and probably a first anywhere else in the world, with the courts taking on the role of the legislature. The courts have set June 27 as the next date for the resumption of the NRO case, a mere five days after Ashraf’s appointment, showing that Gilani’s dismissal has not satiated the courts just yet. The PPP is not one to go down without a fight. It is a party that has seen two of its leaders killed in the game of politics. If the Supreme Court keeps summoning and disqualifying PMs, the only institution to lose its credibility will be the courts. There is only so much intervention a public that is so far divided on the issue will stomach before it changes its opinion about the objectives of the court. This will lend the PPP a sympathetic light in time for the upcoming elections, which many predict may come before March 2013. There are too many flip sides to this coin so every player must tread carefully. The PM’s first public announcement has been to assure the people that the energy crisis is at the top of his list of priorities along with rectifying the law and order situation and fixing the economy. This is rhetoric and the Pakistani people are not going to believe it so willingly this time considering that it is coming from the man who promised that load shedding would end once and for all in December 2009, the same man who has been smeared by the courts as receiving kickbacks in the rental power project. Only if this PM delivers, no matter how long he remains in office, will the government be able to gain the favour of the people in any perceived confrontation of the judiciary and executive.