An alternative agenda for the opposition?

Various disparate sections of the wider opposition are weighing their options to launch an offensive against what they dub as a “selected prime minister”. Even though the PPP and the PML-N lack mutual trust, they may still agree on an agenda that can reset the direction of the democratic process on the lines once agreed in the Charter of Democracy (CoD).

It is quite normal in a democracy that various segments of the opposition join hands to pursue their common goals in order to keep the treasury benches in check and expose the weaknesses of the government in power. What would, however, appear abnormal is if the broader opposition were to for an early kill – before the government is yet to settle in the saddles. Even if all the opposition parties agree to bring a vote of no-confidence against the Imran Khan government now, it is not going to succeed, given an otherwise razor-thin majority of a fragile coalition. Despite its confusion, the PTI-led coalition is on the same page with non-elected institutions, which traditionally hold the balance in a hybrid power-equation.

What makes the sudden initiative by former president Asif Ali Zardari to form a grand opposition alliance quite intriguing is that he was quite adamant until recently to shake hands with the Sharifs. His joining hands with Maulana Fazlur Rehman, however, didn’t surprise anybody, despite the fact that this was the same old buddy Maulana that Zardari refused to support as a presidential candidate since he was nominated by the PML-N and its allies. Although Maulana Fazlur Rehman, who has been quite vocal against interventions into the political sphere, is quite sanguine about the emergence of a unified opposition front, the PML-N is yet to come out resolutely in favour of it, and seems to be still contemplating whether or not to come out of its current hibernation. Perhaps, both the leading parties are weighing their options about how to cope with the accountability noose being tightened around their top leadership. This provides a good excuse to a battery of government spokespersons to lambast the opposition’s move as a measure to protect leaders from the accountability process – however selective and capricious it might be.

Attempts to dislodge a government so early in its honeymoon period will not be seen as a legitimate move by public opinion at large. Quite a large segment of the electorate still has high hopes in the leadership of Prime Minister Imran Khan and a no-trust move against him would be seen by them as a conspiracy by those facing criminal charges before the courts or those who are under investigation. Even if the combined opposition moves a no-confidence vote, it not only lacks the required numbers at the moment but also has no viable alternative to replace the incumbents.

What is also true is that the Khan government has lost some of its glitter. The real test is how it takes the country out of its current financial and economic predicaments and how early it turns its loud promises into concrete and visible actions on the ground. Simply announcing task forces won’t save the government from public retribution. Not being able to start actualising its promises, the PTI is trying to compensate its lack of delivery with heightened animosity towards its critics whom it terms as “thieves and plunderers”. This in fact ends up pushing a defeated opposition into a fighting-back mould.

There are investigations into high-profile cases of corruption by those in power during the last two governments. All the four elected prime ministers during the last decade of a lame-duck democratic transition are in the dock and a former president is expected to be entangled in a huge money-laundering case. Not only that, NAB is also expanding its net to nab corrupt politicians and their bureaucratic surrogates, and the honourable chief justice of Pakistan is leaving no stone unturned to hold the big fish accountable for their money-laundering.

Pakistan has never before seen such an accountability drive in which the government, NAB, the superior judiciary and investigative and intelligence arms of the state are complementing each other’s efforts. Followed by the ongoing accountability of the Sharifs and their cohorts, it is again the PPP’s turn in Sindh; the party is being investigated for omissions and commissions of the last decade. This brings both the PML-N and the PPP in the same boat. Despite the flaws of such selective accountability, there is still enthusiasm among some for such inquisitional pursuits.

It will be good for the opposition parties to come clean about the charges of corruption against their prominent leaders, even if they consider them an instrument of a witch-hunt to subdue the political civil society. They could ask their respective leaders to first clear their names of corruption charges, even if they feel they are trumped up. Instead of going for a regime change, the opposition should give time to the PTI government to deliver on its promises and let it lose its stream.

The best course for the opposition is a mid- and long-term strategy on a qualitatively different agenda. The opposition must not be carried by the mundane politics of regime change. It will have to change a neo-colonial order which is inherently inimical to the sovereignty of the people as represented by their elected representatives through free and fair elections.

This should bring all the opposition parties – and later maybe the PTI at some stage – to what was conceived by the Charter of Democracy signed between Benazir Bhutto and Nawaz Sharif. A new social-contract is warranted as the mutilated constitution has failed to stop autocratic subversions and their validation under the infamous Doctrine of Necessity. What all the mainstream democratic parties must realise is that they have not been sincere to their electorates and have been used as tools that are pitted against each other. This heinous tradition of suffocating each other must come to an end.

All civilian and democratic forces must agree on a new Charter of Democracy that ensures the rights of the people and their empowerment above all partisan interests. They must commit to a new social contract that may form the bases for a truly participatory and pluralist democracy, genuine federalism under the 18th Amendment, devolution of power to the grassroots, supremacy of parliament, separation of powers, strictly confining all institutions of the state to their domains, bringing an end to all forms of discrimination on the basis of gender, faith and ethnicity and enforcement of all human and civil rights, including freedom of expression and a free press.

It is time all parties agreed on constitutional reforms to dispense with a dual system of de jure and de facto power structures, and strengthen monolithic constitutional rule. Without making the toiling millions the backbone of democracy, the dream of an inclusive and a pluralist republic as conceived by Jinnah will remain a far-fetched dream. The democratisation of Pakistan cannot move forward without the promotion of a democratic culture and a tolerant society.

The writer is a senior journalist. Email: imtiaz.safma@gmail.com

Twitter: @ImtiazAlamSAFMA