At one level, the situation in Punjab is comical. The nearest thing there is to a government is a chief minister continuing to hold office after resignation. It is not as if there is no substitute awaiting oath; only the Governor is refusing to take oath from him because he has not accepted the certification of the Deputy Speaker that Hamza Shehbaz was duly elected. The Chief Secretary has written to the Governor that he cannot refuse to administer the oath. The Governor himself only replaced his predecessor very recently and holds office himself because President Arif Alvi has not accepted the advice of his dismissal given by the Prime Minister. One result has been a near-paralysis of the provincial government. No one knows how certain his present posting is. The Chief Secretary and IGP are ignorant of their fate, and thus none of their subordinates, which means everybody, is.
Of all the objections that could be thought of, the Governor has plumped upon the validity of Sardar Usman Buzdar’s resignation, as it was not addressed to the Governor, but the Prime Minister. Governor Sarfraz Cheema might remember that resignation was accepted by his predecessor, and thus constitutes a closed and past transaction. However, it might provide a kind of schoolboy satisfaction to PTI leaders and supporters to delay the inevitable. It is almost as if PTI strategists come up with ideas late. The time to raise an objection to the no-confidence motion against the PM was when it was being admitted, not when it was coming up for voting. Similarly, objecting to a resignation was at the time of its being considered, not after it had been accepted. Reinstating Mr Buzdar will merely bring him up against the no-trust motion he resigned to avoid.
The PTI should realize that taking the matter to the courts will not help, except cause the sort of delays that might give some pointless satisfaction, but will do nothing. The whole episode will merely show that PTI will only follow the Constitution when it suits it. Such scorched-earth tactics do not serve the country, and presumably thus the party.
