Thank you Mr Justice Saqib Nisar for stating this in Court. This should now make it official that as of yesterday, plunderers of state assets have been banned from taking part in elections by the highest court of the land. By making this statement the CJ has yet again [verbally at least] chosen to stand with the people of Pakistan who, no matter how they violate the sanctity of their vote themselves, would nevertheless like criminal elements to be subtracted from the political process. But they would like someone else to do this for them!
This is the central anomaly of our “return on investment democracy” which is nurtured on theft and sustained by immunity from accountability of those elected to commit theft.
On the day of the hearing in Court a “flag bearer” of this “democracy”, Mr Ayaz Sadiq, was present. He was most resentful of LHC Justice Ayesha ‘s order which reinstated nomination forms annulled by Parliament which required potential candidates for election to give information about themselves–information which allowed voters to size them up. He directly attacked the petitioners who had taken recourse to the LHC and accused them of malafide intent to delay the elections through their petition to the court. And he had attacked Justice Ayesh through innuendo.
He did not state, of course, that despite repeated notices of the court to the Federation to file its reply on the issue of these forms, {spread over six months} it was the Federation that failed to show up i.e the six month delay in the Judgement was caused directly by Ayaz Sadiq’s party and the intent of the petitioners had nothing to do with it.
But during the Supreme Court hearing, Ayaz Sadiq was surprisingly reticent. To begin with, his lawyer was asked what rights of prospective candidates had been compromised or abrogated by the LHC Judgement, but he could not point out any. And then the CJ repeatedly asked what was in the old nomination forms that Ayaz Sadiq specifically wanted to hide? Was it properties in foreign countries? in-country wealth? the loans written off? criminal record? the record of income tax paid etc etc? He was asked this, in one form or another, no less than seventeen times, but could not answer. It was exasperation at not getting a reply to this simple question that the CJ erupted with his “Khaada Peeta” remark. In relieving his agitation though, the CJ has given us all a very apt thumb nail definition of the reality of our democracy. And for this, at the very least, we should all be most grateful to him.
So much for our “democracy”, its flag bearer, and his day in court!
Since the Panama case blew the lid off the cultivated piety of the Sharifs, not a day has passed that the media has failed to come up with ever new exposes of massive corruption on the part of those who have governed us for decades. Each new expose has stunned us.
A whole people have thus been forced to call to mind how freely crime has reigned in Pakistan. They are benumbed with incredulity over the sheer range and magnitude of crimes committed in Pakistan. Which theft or scandal was of greater import or more reflective of national degradation– Asif Zardari’s infamous “ankle bomb” or Shahid Khaqan Abassi’s massive LNG theft; the escape of Ishaq Dar in the Prime Minister’s plane or his being elected Senator while being a proclaimed offender; the placing of a convicted felon as head of our National Bank, or Maryam’s submitting of forged documents in the Supreme Court; Chaudhary Qamar Zaman’s white washing of the mightiest criminals in the land by NAB; or Chaudhary Nisar Ali Khan, the most “honest” politician in Pakistan, advising Nawaz Sharif on ways he could best avoid punishment for his crimes; the unheard screams of the families of the roasted victims of the Baldia inferno, or those of the Model Town massacre; throwing out the Hudaibiya Case, or the going on strike of the entire Lahore bureaucracy to show solidarity with Ahad Cheema ?
The list is endless. But there is no more frightening metaphor for the conviction among the ruling class, and its unity in this conviction, that rule by plunder is their inherent right. And there was no louder expression of this right than the way All Political Parties conspired to get rid of the NOMINATION FORMS which made mandatory disclosures incumbent on those who want to take part in elections. AND THERE WAS NOT A SINGLE MEMBER OF PARLIAMENT WHO OBJECTED TO THIS MOST RIBALD EXPRESSION OF THIS RIGHT!
Only if the implications of this solidarity of the crooked is realized, will it be realized that the state is overwhelmed by criminals. Unless these criminals are taken out of the system the state cannot be secure. No meaningful elections can be held unless candidates can first be strictly vetted. Without this we will get only more of “Khaada Peeta” democracy. Any more of such democracy can only lead to the end of the state.
It is important that elections be held on time. But this is not half as important as Hamid Mir makes it out to be. What is much more important is that we get a cleaner democracy, and dirty candidates cannot bring this about.
But if this whole mess is to be cleaned out, it will take far too long. So is there a way out so that elections can be held with a delay of a couple of months, while at the same time ensuring that most of the dross is filtered out?
There is. And this is simple. It needs commitment imagination and courage. Stripped of details, this is a three-step operation:
-impose a national emergency for four months. Without this there is Zero chance of getting back any of our stolen assets, which will be a shot in the arm for us, given our parlous present state.
-enact an Ordinance to the effect that all those charged for a crime may only take part in elections once cleared by the courts. And courts will need instructions to give such clearance, or deny the same within a specified period.
-also charge the “enablers” among the bureaucrats and the police and get them out of the system pending trials, otherwise there will be sabotage.
The powers that be, should be more worried about saving the state than saving a democracy that has become a threat to the state itself and has brought us to our present pathetic pass. In trying to save this version of democracy they risk the state going under.
Pakistan’s situation has never been as dire as it is today. It is a nuclear state that all other states would want to see disarmed. It is a state made bankrupt by massive theft and criminal mismanagement. It is a state that has not the resources to pay back its debts. It is a state that at least the West would like to be made subservient to its arch enemy, India.
The powers that should be more concerned about saving the state, than saving a bastardized “democracy” that has become a threat to the state itself and is directly responsible for bringing about the present situation.