Matters of law

A three-member bench of the Supreme Court of Pakistan has rejected all petitions asking for a full-court hearing into the matter concerning Punjab Assembly Deputy Speaker Dost Mohammad Mazari’s act of rejecting PML-Q votes in the Punjab CM run-off election on July 17. The bench – still comprising three members – will now today take up the deputy speaker’s rejection of votes. Monday night’s SC decision has expectedly been hailed by the PTI. The PDM-PPP combine, however, is another story. The ruling coalition had on Monday decided to spare few words in a hard-hitting, almost surprisingly candid press talk in which nearly every party leader present openly not only demanded a full court bench, with Maryam Nawaz calling the absence of this ‘bench-fixing’, and Bilawal Bhutto saying they would not allow the nation’s fate to be decided by the whims of ‘three people’. While the proceedings were going on, the PML-N had also said that they would boycott judicial proceedings if a full court bench were not formed. Post-verdict, there was news of yet another huddle by the coalition parties on the way forward, with reports saying that the parties are not willing to back off from their full-court demand.

The coalition government’s demand seems to be a result of what is a prevailing sinking feeling among them that the ultimate judgment by the three-member bench will come against Hamza Shehbaz’s ‘victory’ on July 22. At the heart of the matter, though, is the Supreme Court’s interpretation of Article 63A back in May, which per most legal experts has led to this confusion regarding the 10 PML-Q votes that were not counted by Deputy Speaker Punjab Dost Mazari because of Chaudhry Shujaat’s letter. If the SC declares Mazari’s act illegal and Chaudhry Pervaiz Elahi is declared CM Punjab, we will be no closer to resolving the chaotic constitutional dilemma that the court faces: Whose decision reigns supreme? The leader of the parliamentary party or the party head? For this whole fiasco – and any future such theatrics – this question has to be answered and clarified once and for all. What we have right now is a government that has made it openly clear that it does not trust this three-member bench of the highest court of the land. We have an opposition party that has only been gaining ground over the past few months. And we have a judiciary that is in danger of being made needlessly controversial. This does not bode well in a country where everything that happens on the political front is explained away in terms of ‘deals’.

For most legal experts, the past few months have already seen immense judicialization of politics. The only way to undo the damage already inflicted on the sanctity of the court, which is ideally supposed to stand on a far loftier place than any other institution in the country, is for the court itself to clarify the Article 63A interpretation. Justice is to be per law, nothing else – not even conscience – and that is what distinguishes our honourable judiciary from a layperson’s understanding of the constitution and its interpretation. There is a need to ensure that the judiciary is not made controversial at all nor should there be any pressure into taking any specific decisions. But, as they say, justice must not only be done – but also be seen to be done. That is where the judiciary in any country has to be careful: any impression that implies otherwise is worrisome for the sanctity and respect the apex court must command in any society. A word of caution though for all political actors: any attempt to malign the judiciary will not bode well for the institution of justice in the country and must be avoided.

Meanwhile, politics promises to become even murkier and more combative. Whichever way the court decides today, one side will obviously not accept it. With rumours doing the rounds of a ‘governor raj’ or a vote of no-confidence should Elahi take over as CM Punjab, the province and the country are in for yet more uncertainty. How any of this can be handled by a government already battling an ever-dwindling economy is cause for major alarm. Pakistan just cannot afford further turmoil. And Punjab’s politics just refuses to calm down.