Just when we thought the prevailing political situation couldn’t get any more entertaining, Senators Mustafa Nawaz Khoakhar and Musadik Malik dropped a bombshell on Twitter with their discovery of hidden cameras in the Senate polling booths. The sting operation conducted by the two soon made it to the news and a new conundrum awaited the incumbent government’s response. The presence of secret taping devices and microphones during the election of the Chairman Senate is no ordinary offense. Similar tactics were once used by the leader of the free world and that too of the highest office—The President of the USA.
Richard Nixon’s Presidency has gone down in the annals of history as one marked with deception, cunning, and impeachable offenses. The ignominious night of 17 June 1972, known popularly as the Watergate Scandal, has many similarities with the recent discovery in the Senate polling booths. On that night, five men were caught planting cameras and recording devices at the Democratic Party’s Headquarters at the Watergate Hotel’s building. This spying act was intended to dig out dirt on the opposition candidate of Nixon. What made matters particularly interesting was the fact that these five men were linked to the Committee to Reelect the President (CREEP), and also included serving members of the Central Intelligence Agency-CIA.
What began as a mere burglary attempt turned out to be a job being orchestrated by the White House itself. Regardless of the evidence and a few headlines, Nixon emerged victorious in the 1972 election, and continued as the President for a second term. It was during this tenure that the proceedings of the Watergate Scandal began and tarnished Nixon’s reputation as President. What followed soon was the resignation of his Vice President Spiro Agnew when it was discovered that he had evaded taxes, and the infamous Saturday Night Massacre when Nixon fired the Attorney General and Deputy Attorney General, before he found an official at the Justice Department, Solicitor General Robert Bork, to fire the Special Prosecutor.
This extraordinary Saturday night of 20 October 1973 saw the resignations of Attorney General Elliott Richardson, Deputy Attorney General William Ruckelshaus, and the subsequent firing of the Special Prosecutor Archibald Cox. Public opinion took a radical shift against Nixon, especially after this high-level firing and resignations, which soon before the Judiciary Committee of the House of Representstives began condiering impeachment. Not only this but also the US Supreme Court’s subpoenas of Oval Office’s telephone recordings were turned down by the President, claiming executive privilege. All of this pointed to the malicious intent of the President.
This entire episode of Senate elections and for the Chairman Senate has been a black spot in the political history of the country. This is just the breaking of a political storm that won’t be easy to manage for both the Treasury and the Opposition. It takes two to tango and neither can be blamed entirely for the current dilemma. The PML(N)’s and PPP’s blatant horse-trading in the Senate elections made the PTI explore alternate avenues to curb the menace in the elections for Chairman. Both were wrong in their methods.
The proceedings against the US President had reached the Senate after having been initiated in the House of Representatives and Nixon was doomed to be removed from office, for it had become clear that enough Senators would vote him out. His prudent move of resigning before the decision also led to his pardoning by his successor Gerald Ford. According to Article 2, Section 2 of the US Constitution an impeachment cannot be pardoned.
This summary of events that are nearlyfive5 decades old -seems to be forgotten by many today. The highest offices of the country, in particular, do not seem to have learned any lesson from the presidency of Nixon. The same instruments of spying have been used with no regard to the sanctity of the elections of the Chairman Senate. What the government should especially focus on is that the discovery of these recording devices actually led to the resignation of the President of the USA.
This entire episode of Senate elections and for the Chairman Senate has been a black spot in the political history of the country. This is just the breaking of a political storm that won’t be easy to manage for both the Treasury and the Opposition. It takes two to tango and neither can be blamed entirely for the current dilemma. The PML(N)’s and PPP’s blatant horse-trading in the Senate elections made the PTI explore alternate avenues to curb the menace in the elections for Chairman. Both were wrong in their methods.
We like to make comparisons of our country with the State of Medina and even launch campaigns based on catchy phrases that appeal to the masses. Behind the smokescreen, an entirely different, darker image emerges-one that involves horse-trading, floor-crossing, dishonesty, lust for power, and spying. Are they trying to fool the people or are they the fools themselves?
