Shed the tag

It may just be time to shed ‘neutrality’ and be the arbiter that this nation so desperately needs. Why is it that without military’s ‘intervention’ (dangerous word — challenges sovereignty) the system or the politics is unable to chart a way out of its predicament? It will irk the sensibilities of the puritans sworn to democracy in its truest form where the parliament is supreme and all else subordinate to it except the monarch — the two have established agreed mechanisms to coexist (give and take). Democracy is a complex system to run successfully where men must rise above themselves to live by agreed rules and Parliament remains the sole repository of collective wisdom. To live by agreed rules is the key.

In not so utopian a thought those that do wrong or are found on the wrong side of law, even rules, answer law and voluntarily disqualify themselves from the vaunted position of a representative of the people. Not so in this sham that we call democracy here. The Parliament hardly functions, the representatives are half seeped in crime, nearly all break rules if not the law, and they are unable to seek solutions for themselves from within the structures that they populate. If a solution does emerge it only addresses a selfish end, not an all-encompassing purpose. When politics and its structures are as dysfunctional dependence on others becomes inevitable.

Arbiters are sought and anyone keeping away from the morass taunted for being ‘neutral’. But they will readily accept partisan association on their side cleverly sold to a gullible public for being the right or the just cause. In so doing they turn into self-proclaimed crusaders and revolutionaries justifying their end. It is time to call the bluff and shed the tag. It is not without reason that the courts are working overtime, the army is on tenterhooks — not because of enemy’s design but because of internal shenanigans by the proclaimed leaders of the people — and the media, all kinds, is having a field day. The circus is unending.

And just one more time, it is not a fight between an assumed ‘right’ and a pedaled ‘wrong’; far from it — some day it will need to be brought out in most explicit detail — it is the dysfunctionality of the political mass as a whole which has belaboured this nation for the good part of the last five years. The entire system has come to a standstill in complete negation of the principles on which parliamentary democracies are predicated. The events of the last couple of months stand testimony to the incapacity of the system to resolve itself and of the unwillingness of those that populate the system to work it through. That the engine of running the state and the society stands stalled is the most troubling consequence.

The replacement set-up lacks moral authority even if it meets legal certitude. There are just too many questions on its veracity, sustainability and morality. A government cannot be of the remainders if a principle has been diluted. And this cannot be truer than this motley collection which stands compromised on both, popular and perceptional terms. It makes us into a Banana republic. It is time to give the people a government that they deserve which meets all qualifying criteria to sit over them and their affairs. Elections are the only resort. But not as fast as a side wants. There’s work to do which must be undertaken with the solemnity and earnestness needed to reset the system and place it back on rails.

This is what will need to be done. We need to have a truly national government in place for the remaining time of these assemblies. Those on the outside of the parliament, PTI et al, must be willing to rejoin and contribute to this government from among those in the NA and the Senate. The Prime Minister, Shehbaz Sharif, will have to go — that’s the part of the grand bargain that the current government will need to concede — more to balance things on either side and appease a sense of moral outrage for being perceptually compromised. A lesser controversial member even if from the same party can instead be chosen to lead the cabinet represented by all parties in the parliament.

This shall be a cabinet for reset and removing anomalies in statutes, laws, rules, governance and economy which have crept into the system stalling it into a dysfunction. What is in the courts or may go to the courts, such as the disqualification clauses in the constitution or the period of disqualification for members found in violation of Articles 62 or 63 and the related implications and processes, or matters pertaining to the conduct of state functionaries as the President, the Speaker and the Governors in the provinces who can dislodge the system under given authority conforming to the letter but not the spirit, will need ironing out by this Cabinet. The state, a government, and the systems must never be held ransom to the whims of a person. Whatever time it takes to streamline the laws and the rules of the game between them the cabinet must be able to clear and clean the deck of all its accruements that have grinded the system to a halt. That is when a consensus interim government must be instituted to hold elections. These actions under acute emergency in the national order will need to be given a constitutional cover by the Parliament.

Our current predicament in governance has resulted from a combination of personal, tribal, familial or partisan proclivities. A parliamentary form of government needs all sides to keep the system functional. They must learn to coexist and cooperate in the interest of the state and the people who elect them. When they don’t they are derelict and culpable for failure. We should sift better to qualify only the deserving to represent us through a strict application of the criterion but once in the parliament each is a potential prime minister. Individual reservations don’t count. Yet, for the sake of this country the time is nigh for the ‘institutions’ to help the politicians get their act together and give this unfortunate state and hapless people a government that is truly representative. The effort must begin right away to bring all to agree to formulating such a mechanism with clearly stated aims and objectives to achieve expeditiously in the interest of democracy. Post-budget may just be the right time to put such an interim set-up in place. Luckily we still have a functional parliament which will retain the ownership of the recovery process. The alternate else can only be horrendous.

This training is hurtling down the track at an uncontrolled speed towards a sure wreck. The only brakes available to it are the ‘whole of the nation’ approach. And, while it may not conform to what the puritans and the partisans like it remains the lesser of the two evils. The ultimate option is for the history to repeat and force the system back on the rails. We are on a cliff edge and the choice is ours to make.