Stuttering stop

In a matter as sensitive as events of May 2, we need consensus so that the commission findings will have credibility.

The tendency of things to fall apart in the country is growing more and more marked. What had seemed like a perfectly wise move — setting up a commission to inquire into the Abbottabad fiasco of May 2 as per a parliamentary resolution — has turned into something of a disaster essentially because of the PML-N’s displeasure over the constituents of the body announced by the prime minster and the failure to consult the opposition before doing so. Neither party chief Mian Nawaz Sharif nor opposition leader Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan are, to put it mildly, at all pleased. The names suggested by Chaudhry Nisar for the commission — which included among others Justice (retd) Bhagwandas, Supreme Court Bar Association (SCBA) President Asma Jahangir and Majeed Nizami — were not included on the unilaterally announced government panel. To make matters worse, the one name in common on both lists, that of Justice (retd) Fakhruddin G Ibrahim, is no longer valid as he has opted out in a letter to the prime minister.

There are other complications. The SCBA has asked how a sitting judge can be included without consulting the Chief Justice. Justice Javed Iqbal has himself said he will need a formal go ahead from the Chief Justice. But even if these matters can be sorted out, the angry opposition response brings matters to a stop. In a matter as sensitive as events at Abbottabad, we need consensus so that the commission findings will have credibility and will be accepted by a wide range of people. Without this, the exercise is pointless. The PML-N had stuck a big spanner in the works; the government, too, would have done well to proceed through consensus. But as things stand now, we are back to square one — which basically means that feet are nailed to the starting block and the quite deliberate attempts to steer up hostility seem to be working, as the setting up of a commission is stalled and a still greater measure of hostility injected into an already tense environment. The government, as far as the opposition is concerned, can do nothing right and we see a return to the acrimony that has so often marred politics in the past.

Published in The Express Tribune, June 4^th, 2011.