Ever since Mariyam Safdar, daughter of Nawaz Sharif and his political heir, has returned from London after stabilizing the platelets for her ailing father, she has been talking about the need for a level playing field
On 19 November 2019, Nawaz Sharif left for London after faking his ailment. Since then, he has been residing there under the treatment of Dr David R. Lawerance of Sri Lanka. On 4 September 2022 Dr Lawerance submitted a medical report to the Lahore High Court which included a long list of life-threatening ailments but no mention of the current platelet count of his patient on the basis of which bail was granted.
It reminded me of Dr Mukhtar Randhawa who practiced medicine on Nabha Road right next to the gate of the Income Tax office. He was a retired police surgeon who had a reputation of issuing certificates as required by his patients. There was another character called ‘ Chacha Emboss ‘who was based in Istanbul in the 1980s and 1990s. He single-handedly issued fake visas and international driving licensees to his fellow countrymen, enabling them to enter Switzerland to buy used goods which were then sold to the Turks. He was finally apprehended and convicted when the civilian government came into power in Turkey.
A level playing field is a myth in the politics of Pakistan. According to Ex-PM Shahid Khaqan Abbassi every election since 1970 has been rigged in the land of the pure. His party claims that in 2018 PTI (Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf) was brought into power by the establishment. I could not vote in 1970 being under age, but since then I have voted in every election.
Despite my stay abroad my late father Nazir Ahmed Malik, a worker of the Freedom Movement, insisted that I must exercise my right to vote and be counted in my homeland. The electoral exercise in 2018 was very orderly and peaceful mainly because the police were kept out. There were allegations of pre-poll rigging and arm twisting of the electables to join the PTI. Some observers believe that even the 1970 contest was not totally free and fair.
Firstly, the establishment did not take seriously the public support of Awami League and People’s Party. A hung parliament was expected. The Military Junta was of the opinion that Mujib’s Six Points were negotiable; so did Bhutto but, in the end, Jinnah’s Pakistan was dismembered. Bangladesh emerged on the world map after the surrender of the troops in Dhaka.
In cricket, neutral umpiring and helmets were introduced very late. Finally, the game changed for the better after about a century. Pakistan is still 24 years away from this milestone. Pitches are prepared by groundsmen who are employees of the Cricket Boards. They are required to follow the directives of the executives above them. For a level playing field electoral contest the ‘groundsmen’ report to the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) which must ensure total neutrality. When Justice Fakhar-Ud-din G. Ibrahim (Fakhru Bhai) was appointed CEC in 2012 it was expected that the election in 2013 would be free and fair but it was not. Fakhru Bhai resigned and went home. His lips were sealed till his death.
It was perhaps the bumpiest innings of his life from which he never recovered. He failed in providing a level playing field for all the contesting players. The ‘groundsmen’ defied his orders in preparing the pitch. The PTI Chairman marched in protest to Islamabad on 14 August 2014 demanding a re-election. The dharna continued till December 17, and was finally called off after the Army Public School attack in Peshawar which resulted in the loss of innocent lives.
Such a contest will then be remembered and revered by history for all times to come; others will just fade away as nightmares to be erased from memory. Pakistan and its suffering masses have to move forward under rule of law and the Constitution. While platelets keep humans alive nations are built on the foundations of honesty and integrity and never without it. Now that Nawaz Sharif has decided to come back to the field there must be a credible report on his current platelet count before he is allowed to play, as his medical condition may not be conducive as reported by Dr Lawerance of Sri Lanka who practises in London and prepares reports as required by his clients for the courts in Lahore, directly competing with Dr Randhawa of Nabha Road.
Currently the parties in power are meeting in Dubai to prepare desirable pitches for the next electoral contest while propagating the need for a level playing field. A field that has been cordoned off with the help of the ‘groundsmen’ for the largest and most popular political party of the republic. The match is expected to be played in October this year.
Despite the constitutional requirement and orders of the Supreme Court of Pakistan, the ECP failed to organize the contest in the stipulated period as the groundsmen’ refused to prepare the pitch. First ECP has to establish its neutrality followed by compliant ‘groundsmen’. Unless the ‘groundsmen’ are neutral like the umpires operating under the watchful eye of the camera, the electoral contest will be neither free nor fair. The current CEC has been controversial. After the promulgation of the 1973 constitution he is the first bureaucrat to head the commission but has miserably failed to perform his duties.
Bhutto did not have faith in the neutrality of the bureaucracy, that is why he mandated appointment of Judges of the superior judiciary for this position. As the experiment has failed, judges should return but with a stronger mandate to control the ‘groundsmen’. A credible election is the only way forward for which complete neutrality of the system is mandatory.
Those who were parachuted into power, played with their own umpires, prepared their own pitches with the collaboration of groundsmen have no chance when they take on the field which is level and neutral.
A level playing field is for those individuals who revere dignity and honour, who do not fake their ailments to gain favours or freedom. Those who do defy courts and judges yet appear before them and even attack them to stall their conviction under the law. Clients of ‘Chacha Emboss’ were able to pursue lucrative business opportunities in Europe through fake travel documents but the evil system was eventually busted. The same approach was adopted in the use of Calibri Font by the ‘Royal Family’ of Pakistan which got exposed. The PPP under the Bhuttos remained on its ideological course which is long gone under the Zardaris of Nawabshah.
Now they prepare their own pitches as was seen in the recent Mayoral contest in Karachi. At least they still believe in elections on their specified timing. There should be a grand consensus on level fields, neutral umpires, subservient and obedient groundsmen who only follow the legal and constitutional directives.
Such a contest will then be remembered and revered by history for all times to come; others will just fade away as nightmares to be erased from memory. Pakistan and its suffering masses have to move forward under rule of law and the Constitution. While platelets keep humans alive nations are built on the foundations of honesty and integrity and never without it. Now that Nawaz Sharif has decided to come back to the field there must be a credible report on his current platelet count before he is allowed to play, as his medical condition may not be conducive as reported by Dr Lawerance of Sri Lanka who practises in London and prepares reports as required by his clients for the courts in Lahore, directly competing with Dr Randhawa of Nabha Road.
