The government has introduced an Amendment Act for the Election Laws 2017 which has set the PPP against the amendment to Section 230 of the Act. That section deals with the powers of the caretaker government, and the amendment proposes that a caretaker government be allowed to exercise the powers of an elected government. After the candidature of Finance Minister Ishaq Dar for the caretaker Prime Ministership, this raised suspicions that the caretaker government is not expected to just come in and hold elections, but may well stay beyond the 60 or 90 days prescribed in the Constitution. It must be remembered that a longer tenure would require a government that could go beyond the limited mandate of a caretaker government. The excuse doing the rounds is that the caretaker government would have to take steps that go beyond the legal restraints it presently has, if it is to carry out the promises made the IMF by the present government, which are not yet clear. If by any chance the caretaker government was to overstay, it should not be forgotten that the current Stand-By Arrangement with the IMF is for nine months. Is the caretaker government to be empowered to make any agreement beyond that?
The imposition of a caretaker government was intended to prevent an impasse like 1977, which ended in Martial Law. There is a facade of constitutionalism, but the reins of the caretaker government will be in the hands of the establishment. There will be no military dictator at the fore, but there will be no hiding who really runs the show. Elections will have to be held sooner or later, but then that has been how the last two Martial Laws have ended. The country is heading towards yet another extra-constitutional departure.
Unfortunately, at this point, the judiciary does not offer all that much hope. It has been seen as partisan, and is afflicted with infighting among judges, with the controversy over suo motu cases and benches being merely a manifestation of a deeper malaise. Perhaps worse, the Supreme Court’s failure to ensure the Constitution was followed in the holding of elections to the Punjab and KP Assemblies, means that if the remaining elections are not held when due, the precedent exists. That too resembles bouts of military rule: the courts have validated martial laws. If elections are delayed, whatever the excuse, that will mean the Constitution has been abandoned.
