Election time
THE wheels are turning. The Election Commission has started its homework to hold elections for the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Punjab assemblies as well as 93 recently vacated National Assembly seats.
As mandated under Article 224 of the Constitution, these elections must be held within 90 days of the dissolution of the two provincial assemblies and the formal vacation of the NA seats.
The ECP has proposed holding elections for the Punjab legislature between April 9 and 13, and for KP between April 15 and 17. Those dates suggest that the ECP wants the elections held at the tail end of the 90-day window, in the latter half of Ramazan. Dates for the NA by-elections have yet to be proposed.
While there is no legal bar on holding elections for some assemblies early and for the remaining later on, it hasn’t been done before. The novelty of the situation has given rise to some interesting speculation and concerns.
The number of seats for which the ECP has to organise elections in the next three months accounts for more than two-thirds of the seats usually contested in a general election.
The watchdog has been forced to seek a supplementary grant to finance this massive exercise, as the funds previously budgeted for the general election are no longer sufficient for its needs.
It is already evident that a significant portion of those funds may end up being wasted: while the elections for the provincial assemblies will at least return lawmakers who can serve for five years, elections for the National Assembly seats will need to be held again when the current assembly is packed up.
There are concerns also regarding whether the electoral body will be sufficiently able to protect the integrity of elections if they are held under partisan governments. The Daska fiasco springs to mind.
The ECP may have successfully thwarted its hijacking by the government of the day, but it should be pointed out that that was a by-election held on a limited scale. While it is the ECP’s responsibility to deliver regardless of whether the elections are held under an elected government or a caretaker set-up, the job won’t be easy with the political climate as bitter as it is and the stakes sky-high.
The decision to hold elections in the month of fasting must also be reconsidered, as it is likely that both preparations and turnout will be adversely affected amidst the overall slowdown in activity during the period.
It would appear that much more time, effort and money will be spent if two large-scale elections are held rather than one, and controversies will still dog them. Is the public good really better served in this manner? That is the only question that must be asked at this point.
Published in Dawn, January 27th, 2023
SCO invite
THOUGH India’s invitation to Pakistan to attend the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation events in Goa later this year has not been extended in the bilateral context, the meeting of the multilateral bloc does present an opportunity for both sides to engage on the side lines. Invitations were sent to FM Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari and CJP Umar Ata Bandial to attend the foreign ministers’ and chief justices’ meetings, respectively, in May. Asked whether Pakistan will attend the moot or not, the Foreign Office spokesperson said on Thursday that “a decision … will be taken after deliberation”. Bilateral relations are in deep freeze, and as Minister of State for Foreign Affairs Hina Rabbani Khar told the Senate, no backchannel diplomacy is currently underway. The meeting in Goa — should the foreign minister choose to attend — could change that and help restart dialogue, even if it is simply talks about talks at this juncture.
However, overcoming the wide gulf of mutual mistrust will be a major challenge. Since 2019, bilateral ties have been decidedly testy, taking a nosedive after India’s controversial change of held Kashmir’s constitutional status. It was also earlier in that year that both sides traded fire after the Pulwama episode and, if former US secretary of state Mike Pompeo’s account is accurate, came close to a nuclear exchange. More recently, there has been a toxic exchange of invective, with Mr Bhutto-Zardari calling the Indian PM the ‘butcher of Gujarat’ in response to his Indian counterpart’s harsh criticism of Pakistan. As mentioned, this is not a bilateral event, but a multilateral meeting of the Eurasian bloc, so no bilateral breakthroughs should be expected. Moreover, both sides will be careful not to take any bold decisions; in Pakistan a new government will likely be in the saddle later this year, while India goes to the polls in 2024. Hence, major announcements regarding the peace process are unlikely. But at least a roadmap for the revival of talks could be put in place if senior diplomats meet on the side lines. The last time a Pakistani foreign minister was on Indian soil was over a decade ago. Pakistan, then, should consider sending a high-level delegation while India should respond positively to any such gesture. The opportunity must not be squandered by Pakistan and India, and the SCO meet can be used to kick-start the moribund peace process.
Published in Dawn, January 27th, 2023
Call to arms
ONE way the state abdicates responsibility in Pakistan is by farming out its functions to the private sector. In this regard, we have witnessed private institutions doing the government’s job in the health and education sectors. But when the state lets private forces take over law and order, something is definitely amiss. In this regard, as reported in this paper recently, under the umbrella of the ‘Peoples Chowkidari System’, ammunition and other equipment were distributed to watchmen in the town of Naudero in Sindh’s Larkana district. The scheme, apparently the brainchild of a powerful PPP lawmaker, has been initiated after people took to the streets against rising street crime in their area. Plans are afoot to spread the scheme to other towns.
While much is written and said about the street crime epidemic plaguing Karachi, it is clear that the law-and-order situation in Sindh’s hinterland is also far from satisfactory. That these crimes are occurring in areas known to be the ‘citadel’ of Sindh’s ruling party should be a matter of reflection for the province’s rulers. The fact is that whether it is Karachi’s mean streets or the province’s interior districts, criminals have been given the freedom to loot and terrorise people with impunity. The solutions being offered, however, will not yield the desired result. For example, it is hardly a good idea to arm private individuals to fight crime, when that is the job of the police. Though giving chowkidars ammunition is being termed a ‘community policing’ initiative, it appears to be more of an effort to lessen the law enforcers’ responsibility of keeping the peace. Whether it is arming watchmen, or encouraging citizens to get arms licences and buy weapons, this is the wrong approach to fighting crime. Only a professional police force that is trained to serve and protect the people and is not beholden to political masters can crack down on criminals in the province.
Published in Dawn, January 27th, 2023