mong the famous dialogues of Socrates compiled by his disciple Plato (428-347 BCE), there is one in which Crito, a close friend and follower of Socrates, reaches the prison cell and tells Socrates that the Athenian ship, on its religious expedition to the island of Delos, has been sighted and on its arrival his death sentence will be executed. He beseeches Socrates to escape and informs him that the necessary arrangements have been made. Crito gives several reasons for the escape but Socrates replies that he will escape only if it would be moral to do so. He then states two moral principles that he and Crito have long agreed are valid: one should never intentionally wrong another, even if wronged; and one should fulfill one’s just agreements. This sets forth the Socratic theory of political obligation: a citizen’s or an institution’s political obligation is abiding by the law of the land, whatever the cost.

Contrarily, the infamous doctrine of necessity has lingered on in Pakistan. To be respected in the comity of nations, the power elite in Pakistan need to learn the lesson. Abiding by the law is necessary to establish trust between the state and the society. This eventually provides legitimacy to the state for exercising its authority.

The recently legislated The Elections (Amendment) Bill, 2023, amending the Elections Act of 2017, giving the caretaker governments new powers is contentious and debatable.

The new law has brought about 54 changes to the election related laws. Section 57(1): “The President shall announce the date or dates of the general elections after consultation with the Commission,” has been amended. The law now says that the ECP will announce the date or dates for the general elections by a notification in the official gazette and will call upon the constituencies to elect their representatives. The amendment to Section 58(1) says that after the issuance of such a notification, the ECP can make alterations in the elections programme or issue a fresh elections programme.

The amended Section 232 (Qualifications and Disqualifications) has reduced the maximum period of disqualification for a lawmaker to five years “where the tenure of the punishment is not specified in the constitution.” Some analysts have pointed out that the likely early beneficiaries of the new law will be Nawaz Sharif and Jahangir Tareen.

An amendment to Section 230 of the Act says, “Provided that Sub-Sections 1 and 2 shall not apply where the caretaker government has to take actions or decisions regarding existing bilateral or multilateral agreements or the projects already initiated under the Public Private Partnership Authority Act 2017, the Inter-Governmental Commercial Transactions Act 2022, and the Privatisation Commission Ordinance 2000.” This allows caretaker governments to take decisions on ongoing projects of vital economic significance, stepping out of their original and earlier mandate of managing only day-to-day matters.

Historically, the idea of a caretaker setup was conceived in the backdrop of agitation following the 1977 elections. A detailed framework was provided in the Charter of Democracy of 2006. Later, it was made a separate law – the Elections Act, 2017. The caretaker mechanism was conceived and systematised as a transitional, neutral, non-partisan setup agreed to through consultation between the leader of the treasury and leader of opposition.

Some analysts argue that giving more powers to caretaker officials is tantamount to compromising the fundamental right of the people to be governed only by their elected representatives. Moreover, they argue that important policy decision should only be taken by elected representatives of the people. The caretakers, being only custodians of day-to-day affairs, should not be allowed to take vital decisions because they cannot be held responsible for their decisions. Pakistan is already suffering from a lack of balance between power and responsibility.

As end of term approaches for the present assemblies, caretaker governments will be installed at the Centre, in Sindh and in Balochistan. The already installed caretaker governments in the Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa might continue although they have already exceeded their legal term.

Some analysts are reading these amendments in the context of a potential postponement of elections beyond the mandated timeframe. Justification for such a delay might be derived from one or more of the following factors: an economic crisis, intense floods, a surge in militancy and the approval of census results. The Council of Common Interest (CCI) will soon be asked to ratify the results. If the census results are adopted by the council, a fresh delimitation of electoral constituencies in accordance with results will be required. This could take three to four months.

The writer has a PhD in history from the Quaid-i-Azam University, Islamabad. He heads the History Department at the University of Sargodha. He has worked as a research fellow at the Royal Holloway College, University of London. He can be reached at abrar.zahoor@hotmail.com. He tweets @AbrarZahoor1