Former Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan, other senior leaders of his Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf party (PTI) and the holders of the country’s highest constitutional offices have reduced their nation’s politics to a farce.
It is scarcely believable that a President, a former Speaker and a former Deputy Speaker of the National Assembly and the current Governor of Punjab could ever conduct themselves as they did at a time of a grave political crisis that engulfed Pakistan last month. Strangely, even now, there is no let-up in the shenanigans of the President and the Punjab Governor; they continue to act with complete disdain towards democratic conventions. They obviously want to show greater loyalty to Imran Khan than remain true to the high oaths they swore to uphold Pakistan’s constitution.
The high-voltage drama of the past six weeks focused attention on the political leaders in the fray – Khan, the Sharifs, the Zardaris, Maulana Fazlur Rehman, the Baluchi politicians, among others. In this process, President Arif Alvi’s role has escaped attention.
It should not have, for, instead of conducting himself impartially and bringing calm through wise advice, he behaved as Khan’s minion. Even today, he is more a loyal supporter of Khan than the President envisaged by Pakistan’s constitution.
How Alvi Repeatedly Undermined Constitution
The political crisis began with a number of PTI members of the National Assembly (MNAs) announcing that they had no confidence in Khan. The Pakistan Constitution envisages a process to disqualify an MNA for disobeying a party whip in some matters that come up for a vote in the National Assembly, including in cases of votes of no-confidence against a government. In order to dissuade these rebel PTI MNAs, Khan got the President to make a reference to the Supreme Court to examine whether defiance of a party whip would disqualify such MNAs for life and also whether their votes could be counted to judge the result.
It can be argued that Alvi had no choice but to go along with such a reference if desired by the Prime Minister. However, once PTI’s supporting parties withdrew support, it became clear that such a reference was meaningless, for Khan would be defeated in the no-confidence vote even if the rebel MNAs voted for him. At this stage, it was Alvi’s constitutional duty to advise Khan to either go in for a straight contest on the Assembly floor or resign. He did not do so.
On 27 March, Khan raised the bogey of the US conspiring with opposition politicians to oust him. He convened a meeting of the National Security Council (NSC) that included the army and other service chiefs. The NSC held that a senior US official had interfered in Pakistan’s internal affairs and a diplomatic demarche should be made against such interference. The NSC was careful, however, not to allege that there was a conspiracy to remove Khan. But Khan publicly and repeatedly asserted that there was, and continues to do so till now.
Alvi again failed to caution Khan not to proceed on this path. He could have sought a briefing from the non-political participants of the NSC, but chose not to do so.
Why the President Made an Exception for Bilawal Bhutto
Finally, when the political drama became a complete farce in the National Assembly and the Pakistan Supreme Court was compelled to intervene to instruct that the vote of no-confidence should be held, it was incumbent on Alvi, as President, to use his moral authority to ensure that the Speaker and Deputy Speaker should not have turned the entire proceeding into a farce. Instead, Alvi accepted Khan’s plea that the Assembly be dissolved, fresh elections be ordered and a caretaker government be installed. All this was set aside by the Supreme Court.
Once Shehbaz Sharif was elected by the National Assembly as Prime Minister, Alvi did not give him the oath of office. He claimed illness. More than a week later, too, when the ministers took oath, he remained absent. In both cases, the Senate Chairman gave the oath. Alvi made an exception and gave the oath to Bilawal Bhutto. Obviously, he did so because his family runs a dentistry hospital in Karachi – he himself is a dentist too – and he knows full well that as Sindh is controlled by the Bhutto-Zardaris, they would not forgive him for not giving oath to the head of the Pakistan People’s Party.
Alvi’s obstructionism continues, for he has not accepted, as yet, Shehbaz Sharif’s recommendation to throw Punjab Governor Omar Sarfaraz Cheema out of office. Cheema was appointed by Khan in early April at the height of the political crisis, when it had also become clear that the PTI government in Pakistan’s most important province, Punjab, was on its way out.
The previous Governor, Mohammad Sarwar, had refused to engage in patently unconstitutional acts. He was shown the door and Cheema was brought in.
He colluded with the Punjab Assembly Speaker to ensure that a contest did not take place on the floor, which would result in the victory of Hamza Sharif, Shehbaz’s son, in the chief ministerial election. Again, like Alvi, Cheema refused to give the oath to Hamza, and the Lahore High Court had to authorise the new Speaker of the National Assembly to swear in Hamza as Chief Minister.
The Constitutional Acrobatics Continues
Now, as Alvi dithers on Cheema’s ouster, the latter has appealed to the Pakistan Army Chief to intervene and settle the chaotic situation in the country. More interestingly, he has said that if the Army chief gave him only a subedar and four jawans, he would get the ‘fake Chief Minister’ (meaning Hamza) arrested and thrown in jail.
So much for Pakistani democracy. Can anyone take the civilian leadership of such a country seriously? Alvi may be a good dentist but he has certainly left many Pakistanis with their mouths wide open and the country’s cavities in full view.
On a more serious note, amid such a state of affairs, can the Pakistan army really keep itself out of politics, whatever it may publicly profess?
(The writer is a former Secretary [West], Ministry of External Affairs. He can be reached @VivekKatju. This is an opinion piece and the views expressed above are the author’s own. The Quint neither endorses nor is responsible for them.)
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