THE dust raised by the Senate elections
will take time to settle. The election of a member from Balochistan as the Senate
chairmanwould have been considered a step towards democratic
development if the manoeuvring that preceded it had been above board. But as
the sun went down last Monday, Pakistan’s efforts to develop into a democratic
state suffered reverses on five counts.
First, the threat that the Senate could
play a vanguard role in the consolidation of democratic norms was warded off.
The sequence of events that began with the change of government in Balochistan
concluded with the passage of the Senate into the establishment’s ward.
The country was denied the possibility of
having a Senate chairman who enjoyed the trust of both the treasury benches and
the principal opposition group, an opportunity any democratic country should
have welcomed. The reasons Mr Zardari offered for ditching Mian Raza Rabbani,
as an afterthought deceived no one. The beans had been spilled earlier by
Shaikh Rashid when he said that Raza Rabbani’s election again as the Senate
chairman would cause a clash between important institutions. What he had
indicated was his or somebody else’s desire to strengthen a particular
institution’s hegemony over all organs of the state.
Things might not turn out the way they
appear to have been ordered and the members of the Senate may accept the
challenge of strengthening democratic values, but at the moment the Senate
seems to have been neutralised in favour of the establishment.
All hopes that the Senate could
strengthen the democratic project are dissipating.
Second, Mr Zardari has dealt the PPP a
grievous blow. What persuaded him to throw away the chance of having his party
member in the Senate chairman’s seat may not be impossible to fathom. If he
thinks he has saved his skin forever, he could be disillusioned sooner rather
than later. The last JIT has not yet been formed. It is perhaps time for him,
in deference to the memory of Zulfikar Ali Bhutto and Benazir Bhutto, to hand
over the reins of the party to his children and workers with cleaner hands.
They may still be able to save the party from passing into history over the
next few years.
That the decline of the PPP is a matter
of national concern can easily be pointed out. The political landscape is
dominated by the right and extreme right. The disappearance of the PPP even as
a nominally left-of-centre party and the elimination of any difference between it
and right-of-centre parties will make the state even more vulnerable to
pressure from the extreme right than it already is. This will reduce the
state’s ability to meet the challenge of religious extremism and undermine its
capacity to evolve a rational policy towards the nations of the world,
especially Iran, India, the US and Afghanistan.
Thirdly, the PML-N was again found
wanting in strategic planning required to meet the call of the moment. It
should have known from the very beginning of the process to elect new senators
that its nominee for the chairmanship of the upper house had no chance of
winning. The steps taken to queer the pitch for the Senate elections were not
going to be wasted by allowing a PML-N party member to fill the chairman’s
slot.
It was perhaps not a good idea to choose Raja Zafarul Haq for the
sacrifice. The days when he could be the opening batsman for his side are over.
To contest an election against the Asif
Zardari-Imran Khan axis, somebody from Balochistan might have made a little
more sense. Even better would have been withdrawal from the electoral contest.
The speech Mir Hasil Bizenjo made after the election process was over would
have served as an explanation for the boycott. The PML-N’s disregard for real
political work will darken democracy’s prospects.
Fourthly, the possibility of using the
Senate elections to educate the people in the role of the upper house in the
country’s affairs, especially in promoting a democratic dispensation, was
ignored by all the parties concerned as if they had a compact not to let the
people know how important the Senate’s democratic role is. Everyone who
mattered was counting the horses that needed to be protected against the
horse-traders’ designs. There was no discussion on the pros and cons of the
proposal to have direct elections to the Senate, nor on any means to improve
its role in maintaining discipline in the state’s financial affairs. It seems
engaging the people in a discourse on the part the Senate can and should play
in strengthening the federal system was not on any party’s agenda.
Fifthly, what impact will Mr Sadiq
Sanjrani’s election as Senate chairman have on Balochistan’s politics?
The state has a long history of co-opting
into the power structure notable figures from Balochistan — from Jam Ghulam
Qadir and Nawab Akbar Bugti to the federal ministers and chief ministers in
recent times — but these persons have almost invariably been used to serve the
centre’s interest and not Balochistan’s cause. One should like to hope Mr
Sanjrani is an exception, but as matters stand, Balochistan is likely to be
more closely controlled by the federal agencies than has been the case
hitherto.
No elected government of Balochistan has
been allowed to exercise its constitutional authority in the key areas of
governance such as the need to settle matters with the nationalist elements or
putting an end to enforced disappearances or allowing the province the right to
manage its resources. If this situation does not change soon Balochistan’s
crisis may become more insoluble than ever.
The shadows of authoritarianism are
becoming longer and longer and it may be necessary to use the coming general
election to mobilise the people for yet another movement for the restoration of
democracy.
Published in Dawn, March 15th, 2018
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