Will SC sanction or banish floor-crossing?

The Supreme Court has an historic opportunity at hand to permanently shut the doors on the scourge of floor-crossing.

As leaders of PPP, PML-N, JUI-F and the ruling PTI continue hurling abuse and threats at each other, the court finds itself at the cusp of a momentous occasion in Pakistan’s fledgling democratic evolution, evident in former chairman and Senator Raza Rabbani’s stated position on the “compulsion” to vote for the party under the 18th Amendment.

When voting along others for the establishment of the military courts in January 2015, Rabbani sobbed and cried while justifying his “vote against my conscience” in favour of the military courts.

“Yeh vote party ki amanat thi (this vote was my party’s trust), and hence I stand by my party,” Rabbani said. Coincidentally, his party boss Asif Ali Zardari staged a different maneuver to usher PTI dissident MPs into the Sindh House. And Rabbani eventually sought to become a party in the presidential reference with regard to the interpretation of Article 63-A case. Will he support the turncoats or plead with the court to also consider the spirit of the Article 63-A?

Regardless of whether and how much funds are involved, the issue at hand is not money alone, it is betrayal of the trust that a party places in the hands of a party member.

The apex court’s ruling on the issue is likely to leave enduring imprints on the conduct of proponents of democracy in this country. It will become clear in a few days as to whether the court goes only by the letter of the constitution and sanctions floor-crossing (lotacracy in local parlance), or will the honourable judges adjudicate the reference also in  the spirit of the Article 63-A to foreclose possibility of defections in future, particularly those elected from a particular party platform.

Why is the spirit of 63-A imperative? Probably not. Can and will the honourable judges remain oblivious to the filth and ignominy that ensued after the combined opposition requisitioned the National Assembly session for the no-confidence move. The Sindh House saga meanwhile requires no explanation. Nor can the judges overlook.

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It would make probably perfect sense for the judges to go by the LETTER of the constitution had it been a case in the UK, US, Germany, or Japan – where politicians and officials commit suicides if caught lying or cheating.

Deploying the same LETTER-of-the-Constitution principle in a stinky socio-political environment with abysmally low moral scruples would be extremely erroneous, if not downright naïve. Not many have forgotten the videos that involved a former governor and minister who drew no moral lessons, and still adores television screens.

The SPIRIT-of-the-Constitutional provisions applies to the Pakistan context more than anywhere else as we see a shameless galore of pretensions, personal ambitions, self-centred agendas, unscrupulous rants in the name of democracy!

Why is entire nation watching and waiting in suspense as to which way the honourable judges eventually go. In the current circumstances, they carry an enormous responsibility to

a) deal a fatal blow to the literal dictatorship that a Party Chairperson enjoys under the 18th Amendment

b) ostracize for good all the merchants of conscience and sellers of souls

c) foreclose options for dithering MPs of the ruling party to switch loyalties and become instrumental in deposing the same person (Leader of the House) that brought him or her into the parliament

d) reject the notion of floor-crossing and thus dis-incentivise it with a lifetime ban on “switchers”.

For too long has the nation agonized under the consequences of the Doctrine of Necessity. Not any more Honourable Judges. Let this judgement bury the curse of floor-crossing for ever. Let us be counted among the countries where at least the courts care for integrity, morality and the SPIRIT of the constitution. Cold-blooded political wheeler-dealers need a death-knell for their self-serving cabals. Let your judgement become one for the collective good of 220 million Pakistanis.