Elections, or else
THE nation would have greatly benefited had the judiciary presented a united front in these divisive times. Instead, the chief justice went with a smaller, three-member bench of the Supreme Court to rule that the ECP’s March 22 order postponing the Punjab Assembly elections to Oct 8 was “unconstitutional, without lawful authority or jurisdiction, void ab-initio, [and] of no legal effect”.
The court has now brought forward the election date to May 14, issued a revised schedule and set hard deadlines for the release of funds and finalisation of security plans. It has also opened the door for appeals against the similar postponement of the KP polls.
While there is nothing in the court’s ruling that can be considered ‘sensational’ per se — the Constitution was always rather clear about the 90-day deadline — the chief justice’s decision to issue the elections delay case verdict through a diminished bench may worsen both the divisions within his institution, as well as the ongoing stand-off with the incumbent government.
The government and the ECP had adopted very similar lines of argument to repeatedly press the chief justice to convene a full court to hear the elections delay case. They had objected to the chief justice taking suo motu notice of the original delay caused by the Punjab and KP governors’ unwillingness to issue election dates and argued that it would be better for the full court to speak as one voice on the matter.
Their demand became especially pertinent after multiple Supreme Court justices made observations or issued opinions challenging the chief justice’s “one-man show” in appointing benches and taking suo motu notice.
Forming a full court may have nipped in the bud most of the controversies that are now expected to follow. Tuesday’s developments also indicate that the differences between the top judges may have hardened and may be far from being resolved.
Be that as it may, it ought to be pointed out that none of the Supreme Court judges, at any point, ever questioned the Constitution’s 90-day deadline. Their objections were related mainly to the chief justice’s sole discretion over suo motu powers and the way the benches have been formed.
The verdict issued by the three-member bench is, therefore, what any verdict issued by a larger or full court bench would have been if it was asked whether or not the Constitution allows the ECP to delay elections on its own. There is, therefore, little logic in resisting or, worse, ‘rejecting’ the verdict.
The chief justice, meanwhile, still has a chance to salvage the situation. He should not continue to ignore the concerns being raised from within his court and without. It is important that the full court be convened post haste to settle all remaining questions.
Published in Dawn, April 5th, 2023
KP police killings
AWAY from the spotlight, police officers in KP are paying a high price in the fight against terrorism. As reported in this paper on Tuesday, around 125 policemen were martyred in the province in the first quarter of the year, as per police data. Over 200 law enforcers have suffered injuries in militant attacks. January was the deadliest month for policemen, as 116 police officers were martyred in 15 terrorist attacks; the bloodiest of these, of course, was the devastating Jan 30 bombing of the Peshawar Police Lines mosque, in which over 80 personnel lost their lives. However, while the figure for deaths came down in February and March, the number of policemen who lost their lives in attacks during these two months was still considerable. The fact is that while the frequency of high-profile, high-casualty attacks may indeed have come down since the beginning of the year, terrorists continue to target teams of law enforcers with alarming frequency, resulting in deaths and injuries every few days. Police officials are of the view that intelligence-based operations, and active pursuit of militants, resulted in few casualties in the last two months.
However, even though the number of major attacks has come down, it does not mean that the banned TTP and other malign actors no longer pose a threat to national security. For example, as some think tanks have observed, the number of casualties, including among civilians, remains high in KP and Balochistan. As intel operations seem to be working, they need to be continued so that terrorists are unable to target civilians or security personnel. Moreover, the police, particularly in KP’s tribal districts and bordering regions, need to be given the equipment and funds required to vanquish the terrorist threat, and prevent militants from reorganising and regrouping. In order to keep the country safe and the militant threat at bay, police personnel and military jawans have been paying a heavy price. They must be provided with gear and training that can minimise the threat of deadly injuries. Also, the families of fallen policemen and other security personnel must be looked after by the state, while those who have suffered grave injuries, including crippling ones in many cases, should be provided adequate medical care and receive support if they have been incapacitated in the line of duty.
Published in Dawn, April 5th, 2023
Cotton output decline
THE report that domestic cotton production has declined to a four-decade low of 4.9m bales this year has added to the deepening economic gloom in the country. Ginning data shows that the cotton harvest declined by a hefty 34pc this year from 7.44m bales the previous year, mainly because of the catastrophic summer floods in Sindh and southern Punjab where this industrial crop is mostly grown. Sindh has suffered a 46pc loss in cotton output, with Punjab posting a 32pc decline, forcing the textile industry to import significantly large quantities. Though most of the crop losses this season were caused by the floods, Pakistan’s cotton economy has been facing numerous challenges due to consistently falling production over the last couple of decades, after touching a high of 11.1m bales in 2004-05. The most recent production spike of 10.6m bales was seen almost 10 years ago in 2014. Meanwhile, in comparison, global production elsewhere in the world, especially in India, has been increasing rapidly to record levels.
There are several factors responsible for the poor cotton harvest, year after year, ranging from pests and disease, erratic weather patterns and water shortages to poor seed quality, lower per acre yield and a large reduction in the area under cultivation because of government policies encouraging sugarcane and other major crops in traditional cotton-sowing regions. With average annual production dropping to almost half the actual requirement of the textile industry, textile and clothing exports have suffered a great deal in the last one decade. Additionally, cotton imports, a major driver of the economy, are adding to our balance-of-payments woes. Textile exports during the first eight months of the present fiscal year plunged by almost a third because of slowing global demand as well as shortages of the local fibre. With the industry having invested billions of dollars in technology replacement by spinners, its future competitiveness depends largely on the increased availability of domestic cotton.
Published in Dawn, April 5th, 2023