The caretaker government has completed 149 days in office, making it the longest caretaker government since the system began. However, the caretaker set-up is likelier to last longer, for about two weeks after the elections to be held on February 8, with the next elected government thus likely to take office about 200 days after the dissolution of the National Assembly on August 11. The caretaker government will thus probably have spent more than twice the constitutionally prescribed period for elections, which is 90 days. If one turns to the Punjab and KP Assemblies, which were dissolved in January, the caretaker governments there will have held office for well over a year by the time the handover of power to elected governments is carried out
Perhaps one of the foremost tasks of the caretakers was to ensure elections were held on time; that they could not do. Is the country supposed to forget the delay and be grateful that elections were held at all? There must be a thorough investigation of the circumstances on this deviation. That one constitutional provision demanded delimitations, and the other demanded elections, forced a choice. The details of how that choice was made, and who made it, needs to be examined. Whichever party forms the government, must ensure that this deviation does not occur again.
The problem is not just that of overstaying one’s welcome. This also creates the very instability acknowledged by all to be so harmful to the economy. There is a definite relief, still prevailing, that elections may not take place. As steps on the checklist as ticked off, the possibility recedes. Further, the need for another IMF programme is a strong indicator that elections will take place, because the IMF will only negotiate with an elected government. The excuses that were used to put off the Punjab and KP elections, of militant activity, have not only not gone away, but probably won’t. Someone somewhere does not seem to realize that elections are a necessity in a democracy, and that their results must be respected. Previous experiments of the type mentioned by previous COAS Gen (retd) Qamar Javed Bajwa have shown that interventions do not lead to the results sought. It is best to bow to the will of the people. But that will must be expressed freely.
