New cabinet and old mistakes

The election of Nawaz Sharif as prime minister by the National Assembly last Wednesday, followed by his oath-taking at the presidency, marked the culmination of the process of democratic political transition that began three months earlier with the end of the term of the previous assemblies and governments. The largely smooth transfer of power at the centre has been paralleled by the assumption of office by freshly elected governments in the four provinces, two of which are completely new. The only step that remains to be taken to complete the transition is the impending presidential election three months from now.

The orderly change of governments at the federal and provincial levels – the first under civilian auspices – has been widely acclaimed within the country and abroad and marks an important milestone in Pakistan’s rocky democratic evolution. Nevertheless, it is also necessary not to ignore several shortcomings in the electoral process, at least some of which could have been avoided if the caretaker governments and the Election Commission had been more vigilant and effective.

There were five main flaws that marred the elections: the failure of the Election Commission to screen out tax cheats, loan defaulters and other looters of public money; widespread vote rigging by individual candidates all over the country, but especially in Karachi and rural Sindh; lack of security for candidates belonging to some political parties facing a heightened terrorist threat; low voter turnout in many parts of Balochistan; and the exclusion of women voters in some parts of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Fata.

In his speech in the National Assembly, PPP stalwart Amin Fahim suggested that the intelligence agencies that had created the IJI in 1990 also had a hand in the formation of the 10-party alliance that was set up in Sindh in last month’s election to defeat the PPP. Fahim’s allegation is very serious because if it is true it means that the ‘agencies’ have been guilty of subverting the constitution. He made this accusation before the whole world and he did it on the floor of the house. He should be asked to substantiate it and if he fails to do so, he should face the consequences. It would be a case for suo motu action by the Supreme Court.

Instead of looking for scapegoats, the PPP would do well to do some much needed self-criticism. But the party leadership is hardly in that mood. Zardari was the unhappiest man at last week’s oath-taking ceremony. Before the election, he had a hand-picked prime minister at the centre and his party was a member of the ruling coalition in three of the four provinces. Now, the PPP rules only in one province. At the federal level, he has already been reduced to the figurehead role that the constitution visualises for the president.

Far more worrying for Zardari is that he stands little, if any, chance of being re-elected. Besides losing the pomp and perks of the head of state and a secure base in the capital for his political games, he will also forfeit the immunity from criminal process that he currently enjoys in the country and abroad. The appointment of his hand-picked NAB chairman has already been annulled by the Supreme Court. It is likely that, like Altaf Hussain and Musharraf, he too will shift his residence abroad – probably Dubai. But that will not stop the reopening of corruption cases against him. The Supreme Court has already asked NAB for the trail of the $60 million which were allegedly deposited as kickbacks in a Swiss bank account.

Also, the dossier before a Swiss court in the graft case against Zardari could be reopened. In reply to the government’s letter sent in November 2012 to the Swiss authorities on orders of the Supreme Court, the Swiss attorney general reportedly told our law ministry last February that the case could not be reopened. It was asserted at the time by Zardari’s lawyers that because of the limitation period for concluding a criminal trial it would not be possible under Swiss law to reopen it even after he loses immunity as head of state.

However, the Swiss foreign affairs department had declined at the time to confirm this claim. It cannot, therefore, be ruled out that the Swiss authorities might resume the prosecution if the Nawaz government requests a reopening of the case after Zardari quits the presidency.

Another person who is deeply worried at Nawaz’s return to power is Musharraf. There has been much speculation that the former military dictator might be allowed to proceed to Dubai to look after his mother and thus evade justice. During the election campaign, Nawaz demanded that Musharraf should be treated as any other person who breaks the law. But since his election victory, Nawaz has been quite reticent.

He clearly wants to avoid the impression that he is engaged in a vendetta with Musharraf. That may be a laudable sentiment but this is not a personal matter between two individuals. As the Roman historian and orator Tacitus said two thousand years ago, the best way of ensuring that laws are effective is to apply them to highly-placed persons. That is why it is essential that Article 6 must be implemented not only against Musharraf but also against his accomplices who were in high positions.

The Supreme Court is already hearing a petition on this matter. The decision is ultimately for Nawaz and Nawaz alone to make. He must stand up to any pressure, internal or external, that might be exerted on him. And the sooner he takes this decision, the better it will be for the country.

This is only one of the many immediate challenges that Nawaz faces. He has been speaking a lot about tackling the energy crisis, putting the economy on the rails and countering terrorism and extremism. But there is also another, not so obvious, challenge that he will be confronted with – that of giving the smaller provinces a full share of power at the federal level.

Nawaz did well by not trying to form a coalition government in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and by giving up his party’s claim to the chief ministership of Balochistan in favour of the National Party. But it is surprising that the smaller provinces are so poorly represented in the federal cabinet he appointed last week after much deliberation. His appointments also show that he is once again surrounding himself with cronies who will only tell him what he wants to hear. These are mistakes he made during his last stint as prime minister and it is disturbing that he should be repeating them so early in his third term in office.

The members of the cabinet are overwhelmingly from Punjab and most of the key ministries go to those belonging to his close personal circle from Lahore and around that city. There is only one minister from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and none from Fata. His party has a huge majority in the National Assembly but since it comes almost entirely from Punjab, he will have to win over coalition partners from the smaller provinces to give them a fair representation in the cabinet.

Pakistan was founded as the homeland of the Muslims of South Asia. It is also a country inhabited by people from different ethnicities and speaking multiple languages. It must therefore become a true federation in which all the component units get their full rights. Balochistan demands immediate attention. So does Fata, a territory that still does not have any representative government of its own.

In its manifesto, the PML-N pledged to evolve a consensus on the creation of new provinces and give the status of national language to all major languages of the country. Now that the party has won the election with a thumping majority, it must take early steps to fulfil these promises.

The writer is a former member of the Pakistan Foreign Service. Email: asifezdi@yahoo.com