Constitutional conundrum

The illness of the prime minister, currently undergoing treatment in London, has raised a host of practical and constitutional issues. At some point today, he is going to be under a general anaesthetic and unlikely to be able to discharge fully the duties of his office in the hours and days thereafter. The prime minister is said to be “overseeing the government’s affairs” using a range of communication tools and a posse of advisers, including a principal secretary and a military secretary and “other staff members” — all very much in line with his preference never to delegate unless unavoidable. The budget is around the corner and is reportedly on schedule though there are concerns about its security prior to official release. The Panama Papers crisis is downgrading to an inconvenience rather than the full-blown crisis it was till a few weeks ago. Thus and despite the absence of the prime minister from Pakistan, it is — supposedly — very much business as usual.



Business as usual may be the impression the government wishes to have the nation believe, but the reality is very far from that and there is a genuine cause for concern. There have been calls for the appointment of an interim prime minister to cover the PM’s incapacity, specifically the approval of the budget as well as chairing of other important meetings that are a constitutional necessity. There is no precedent for this to be conducted electronically. There is no constitutional provision, which would allow a substitute prime minister. Who or what in terms of an entity would exercise control over nuclear weapons in the event of the chief executive being unable to is also something of a grey area. None of these questions and conundrums is going to be answered in the short term; but it is apparent that with an ailing prime minister who has needed three visits abroad for treatment this year alone, urgent clarification is needed as well as the establishment of formal protocols that will span successive governments and not just the current dispensation. We wish the prime minister a speedy and full recovery — and an early return.

Published in The Express Tribune, May 31^st, 2016.

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