Mother of all decisions

Constitutionalism has triumphed. The parliament’s sovereignty stands restored. By terming the ruling of the Deputy Speaker on April 3 erroneous, and nullifying the subsequent dissolution of the National Assembly on the advice of the Prime Minister, the top court has made history. It is a mother of all decisions to this day. It might be a dust-biting situation for the ruling PTI, but today the foundation for a broad-based uncompromised democracy has been laid. Unanimously deciding with a thumping 5-0 verdict, the honourable bench has taken a holistic view of the crisis that swung in after the misadventure on the floor of the house last Sunday. The pronouncement clearly calls upon the lower house to proceed with the no-trust motion, and not to prorogue the house unless it dispenses with the resolution at hand.

It was, indeed, a surprising decision, at least for the government, which was hoping that election gear has been set in and there would not be any going back. The five-day hearing and the nail-biting situation has, nonetheless, upped the ante and it remains to be seen what kind of accommodation springs in. This is again for the first time in history that the apex court has reversed an entire tide of executive decisions, including the Presidency memos, and has closely vetted the proceedings of the National Assembly by asserting its prerogative of constitutional review. It has simply confirmed that on the fateful day of April 3, the treasury benches were carried away, opted for discrepancy in procedural matters of the house, and ultra vires pushed back a binding resolution of no-trust that was duly up for voting. There are lessons to be learnt, and one hopes PM Imran and his restored Cabinet will walk the talk by upholding the spirit of democracy and judicial purview in all honesty.

It was a personified testimony of legal minds exhibiting acumen, and trying to cajole a way out. The honourable bench could have pronounced an instant short order outright last Sunday, but they took a leaf from resilience, heard all the parties, grilled the advocates of proposition, and formulated a mind that made a politically-divisive nation proud. The judges not only upheld the rule of law and constitution, but at the same time came up with magnanimous arbitration to read the mindset of disputing parties underneath the bench. Very often they reflected their mind, heard from the stakeholders in solitude and then ultimately made themselves heard loud and clear. This judgment, on the premise of a suo motu, will long be remembered as a triumph of parliamentary supremacy.

It was closely on the heels of a perfect checkmate in Punjab, though. The PML-N had paid back to the PTI in the same coin. By holding a ‘mock’ session of the provincial legislators on April 6, convened at a local hotel, they demonstrated their numerical strength and went on to ‘elect’ Hamza Shehbaz as Chief Minister. The twist of events that followed in Punjab were theatrical, to say the least. A glance would suffice to say that instability was there since the morning when the National Assembly was supposed to vote on the no-trust resolution against the PM. Governor Chaudhry Sarwar was sent packing by the Federation, perhaps the last of the executive sermons from the PM, before advising the dissolution of the parliament. Deputy Speaker Dost Mazari, of the PTI, turned the tables as he went by the book. He read between the lines as the top court reprimanded the advocate general against any extraordinary delay in electing the new chief executive. What followed was no surprise. The beleaguered provincial house plunged into chaos — and loyalties were up for test.

None are sure what fate the Punjab Assembly will see and whether there will be a formal election of the leader of the house or not. But one thing is for sure, the landmark decision of the apex court will keep it on the edge and it could slide towards perpetual confrontation, if political jingoism is not stemmed. This is time for collective review of the political situation and to step back from the brink. The neutrality of armed forces and the judicial assertiveness have tilted the power fulcrum towards the legislature.

Published in The Express Tribune, April 8^th, 2022.

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