President Arif Alvi, talking to journalists at Governor House Lahore, said that the constitution did not allow consultation on appointment of COAS but there was no harm in discussion on the matter. That is what is called playing on both sides of the wicket. If the constitution does not allow consultation and all such appointments in the past have been made as stipulated in it then why create fuss on the issue?
Nothing is above the constitution and all the state institutions as well as those in the government, including the President and those trying to regain political power, are supposed to respect and abide by it. As head of the state, President Alvi is supposed to reinforce his credentials as a non-partisan functionary by acting in accordance with the constitution and law of the land and avoid saying or doing things which contradict them.
The fact is that Alvi has throughout remained a PTI loyalist and never acted as President of Pakistan. He deliberately avoided taking oath from Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, which was his constitutional obligation, by going on sick leave and consequently the acting President Sadiq Sanjarani administered the oath. He refused to attend the swearing-in ceremony of the Cabinet and the onus again fell on Sanjrani.
He was part of the unconstitutional game plan of PTI that began with the rejection of the PDM no-confidence motion against Imran Khan by the Deputy Speaker followed by dissolution of the assemblies and declaration of new elections by him. It was thankfully declared unconstitutional by the Supreme Court of Pakistan, leaving no doubt about the sinister motives of the PTI leadership including the President. Infact what they did was a willful breach of the constitution. The President also remained involved in the political crisis in Punjab, playing the role of a party loyalist.
He also revealed that he has been trying to find a way to early elections, which again is tantamount to toeing the party line rather than an honest and non-partisan view that a President is supposed to have. It is really untenable why there is a need for new and immediate elections in the country. The question is, will they bring angels to Parliament and resolve all the contentious issues and the much hyped phenomenon of corruption? The answer is emphatic no. There are people on both sides of the divide who are beneficiaries of the archaic system of governance which has in-built avenues of corruption. No matter how many elections are held the situation is not going to change. We will see the same people in Parliament who have a vested interest in the continuation of the prevalent system which promotes power politics with a strong nexus with corruption.
In my considered view, as also shared by many political observers, there is a need for electoral and systemic reforms in the country before going for new elections. All the political parties represented in Parliament must set aside their egos and sit together in the national interest to bring these reforms and resolve the contentious issues which have been responsible for political instability in the country. For that Imran must go back to the National Assembly. Serious issues cannot be settled on the streets. The present National Assembly is mandated to complete its five years tenure which is a constitutional requirement.
After his ouster from power he came up with a narrative of a conspiracy orchestrated by the USA, endorsed and supported by the establishment, to bring an imported government in power which he has been using as a punching bag to mislead his followers. But now in an interview with The Financial Times, he has said that he no more blamed the USA for the conspiracy. This retracting from the conspiracy narrative is probably the biggest U-turn he has ever taken. His followers who have been giving credence to false narratives need to review their outlook about the man and refuse to be misled by him.
Imran Khan was ousted through a constitutional process as also endorsed by the apex court. The PTI undoubtedly has a constitutional right to initiate similar action against the government if it can muster the required numbers. Democracy can be strengthened by all the stakeholders going according to the constitution and showing unqualified respect for Parliament which is mother of all the state institutions. Any conduct contrary to this is inimical to the national and state interests.
Nevertheless, it goes without saying that the current political crisis and instability in the country is a sequel to politics of anarchy and chaos unleashed by Imran Khan who is hell-bent to regain political power by inventing false narratives, their relentless propagation to mislead and misguide the people as well as settling the political issues on the streets and also involving courts in them. No wonder then that even the SC has repeatedly asked Imran Khan to go back to the assembly and try to find solutions to the political and legislative issues through the parliament. Imran’s strategy of incessant attack on the state functionaries and the establishment is a detestable ploy to pressurize, malign and denigrate them.
The fact is that Imran’s three-and-a-half year rule was a disaster on all counts. He proved himself to be a demagogue of first order, failed to bring about an economic turnaround, never acted as a democrat by refusing to have even a working relationship with the opposition, which had reached the Assembly through the votes of the masses. Taken together they had obtained far more than the votes polled by PTI. He practised politics of vendetta by instituting false cases against his opponents which were never proven in the courts of law and many of them have been acquitted honourably.
Now after having been ousted from power he is telling the people that he did not have the power and decisions were made somewhere else and that it was the establishment which told him Nawaz Sharif and Zardari were corrupt. These statements are in fact his self-indictment for being a puppet doing the bidding of the establishment. Can such a person be a revolutionary or a reformer? Nobody in his right mind can accept his credentials as a revolutionary. He wants political power at any cost and through any means. The Wall Street Journal, dilating on his brand of politics has said, “Imran Khan’s vainglory and taste for brinkmanship can tip an already turbulent Pakistani nation into chaos.”
His political career is punctuated with falsehood. Who can forget his rhetoric of 35 punctures on which his campaign against PML -N government and his attempt to oust it, were premised? But when the judicial commission formed to probe the allegations of rigging nullified his contention, he publicly admitted that the allegations regarding 35 punctures was merely a political talk and somebody had told him about it.
After his ouster from power he came up with a narrative of a conspiracy orchestrated by the USA, endorsed and supported by the establishment, to bring an imported government in power which he has been using as a punching bag to mislead his followers. But now in an interview with The Financial Times, he has said that he no more blamed the USA for the conspiracy. This retracting from the conspiracy narrative is probably the biggest U-turn he has ever taken. His followers who have been giving credence to false narratives need to review their outlook about the man and refuse to be misled by him.
