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An unfathomable pit: Candid corner

Raoof Hasan
Saturday, Jan 25, 2025

Things getting chaotic may not be such a huge problem if it is cleared up over time. But when the intent is to continue piling on the mess, it can create a monumental challenge. Caught up in a host of problems extending from lack of legitimacy to rank incompetence, this seems to be the tactic of the incumbent rulers to prolong their illegitimate stay in the annals of power.

One may pick up any avenue of national life to realise that it has either stopped functioning altogether or is precariously close to it. This degeneration has neither set in overnight nor by itself. There is a method to this madness: sinister planning has combined with malevolent execution to attain a high level of dysfunctionality simply because the survival of the usurpers in power is linked with this.

A system standing on the principle of trichotomy of power is rooted in each of the ingredients to function efficiently and transparently to propel the country forward. But, instead of the progress of the country, it gets stalled.

Add to that the core reality that the functioning of the system is principally dependent on the delivery of its judiciary which is the most important of the three pillars of the state. As long as the judicial organs continue delivering justice, the system will chug along. But if the institution is tampered with beyond the scope of the constitution, it will crumble, bringing the edifice of the state down with it.

Such a catastrophic situation has been laboriously enacted in the country. Instead of one Supreme Court as envisioned in the statute book, a parallel judicial system has been introduced with its own set of judges vide the 26th Amendment. The process has been assiduously tailored to grant the government the advantage of majority numbers to push its own choice of people in. That would, inter alia, mean that the rulers will have their own judges, their own bench, and thus their own judgment. In the process, the judiciary has been effectively reduced to becoming the handmaiden of the executive to do its bidding.

The whole exercise was conducted with blatant disregard for the constitution and rule of law with the sole objective of ensuring the induction and continuation in power of a set of rulers who had stolen the people’s mandate on the night of February 8, 2024. Prior to taking this extreme step, the then- chief justice, Qazi Faez Isa, had used every draconian trick to block all avenues for securing justice by those who sought it, principally the political adversaries of the people in power.

So bizarre were his enactments that they had no defence in the books of law or the annals of justice, yet he stuck to them with brazen and brutal singularity of cunning and connivance. This destroyed the very fabric of justice and facilitated the later enactment of the 26th Amendment which is inherently flawed. In rendering this task, it must be conceded that he left the likes of Justice Munir way behind and is now hailed as the lone torchbearer of everything that nullifies the noble concept of justice.

The role of numerous other institutions has been equally, if not more damning for the cause of the state. Take the case of the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP). It is seldom that an institution entrusted with the singular task of holding free, fair and transparent elections in the country would take a route that would move in the opposite direction. To the ECP and the chief election commissioner (CEC) goes the credit of holding the most rigged and notorious elections ever in the history of the country. If one would add to it his blatant and shameless defence of this farce, it would make for a perfect horror book. But, after having delivered on the orders as received, instead of being unceremoniously sacked from his job, he sits awaiting an extension in his tenure.

Parliament adopting legislations not based on the precepts of justice and fair play or the members of the executive putting the stamp of approval simply to advance their career prospects are other factors which have precipitated the fall of a country rooted in laudatory foundational ideals. Even his enemies would grant the Quaid his unimpeachable character and integrity founded on the highest values of justice.

Going on, one will come across a host of other such institutions and their leaders which have contributed to pushing the country to an abominable low simply by tampering with every rule and every regulation that emanated from the constitution. Instead of treading the straight path as enshrined in the book and taking the country forward with it, they indulged in gruesome tampering, thus distorting the substance and spirit of the book of rules and plunging the country into unfathomable chaos.

It makes for an endless odyssey of pain and sorrow for a country that was born with so much hope and promise. But it cannot be simply left there to moan a past stricken with ceaseless inflictions. Pakistan cannot endure further lacerations. It requires a healing touch which must begin with a change of mindset which has administered it through endless years of agony and torment. It cannot breathe unless freed of the arrogance of power. It needs the subtle touch of compassion and cure which is not found in the psyche of the current set of rulers who are irretrievably engaged in extracting legitimacy from brazenly illegal and immoral conduct. Rooted in violation of any veritable foundations of power, they are doomed to failure if fundamental changes are not brought in. This must begin by holding fresh elections which are free, fair and transparent beyond a shade of doubt.

It may be an arduous process, but it should not take long. Pakistan needs immediate remedies which should be undertaken by well-meaning people of character and integrity. The current rulers are not equipped with the qualities to take on this challenge by keeping out their myopic personal agendas as determining factors.

What is gone belongs to the past and the future cannot be coloured in the same infirmities. It must be cleansed and the starting point for this is the holding of credible and accountable elections by an Election Commission without its incumbent and paraphernalia. Without initiating a credible process for change, it will not be possible to extricate Pakistan from the unfathomable pit it is currently consigned to.

The writer is a political and security strategist and the founder of the Regional Peace Institute. He is a former special assistant to former PM Imran Khan and heads the PTI’s policy think-tank. He tweets @RaoofHasan