Bounced by the Senate

Events have not gone in favour of Nawaz Sharif since the Panama Papers exploded in the political firmament. He was turfed out of the premiership by the apex court and bundled unceremoniously to the sidelines. Unwilling to accept his fate he and his party decided to re-write the rules in order that he once again may assume his position at the front of the party that bears his initial — the PML-N. The opposition parties failed to get their ducks in a row and the PML-N barrelled through the Elections Act of 2017 clearing the way for Mr Sharif to snub the decision of the courts and slot himself back into place in time to contest the next general election.

Not so fast says the Senate. On Monday 23^rd October the Senate passed the Elections (Amendment) Bill 2017 by a majority vote which imposes a ban on disqualified persons from taking part in political activities and bringing a halt to the machinations of Mr Sharif. A basket of opposition parties had submitted a bill to the Senate Secretariat early in October that sought to amend Section 203, they won the day, and in doing so righted a palpable wrong.

Re-writing the rules to suit the political ends of one man is simply unacceptable. The Sharif family does not have an inalienable right to govern as it pleases. The rules are there for everybody, and whilst it cannot be claimed that Pakistan has a spotless record in terms of advancing the democratic experiment it is democracy in the local iteration that is the chosen course. The supposition of entitlement that the PML-N invoked to nullify a legal finding now stands overturned and it is likely to have far-reaching consequences. Assuming the boundary delineations that must follow the census results are completed in time the next election is going to be less than a year from now, and the processes of governance will continue notwithstanding. The internal tectonics at the top of the PML-N are shifting, and the imagined seamless unity between the Sharif family and their close associates is looking less and less secure. The Senate just added to that insecurity.

Published in The Express Tribune, October 25^th, 2017.

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