Drop scene in Punjab?

The constitutional deadlock in Punjab has taken a new turn. Governor Omar Sarfraz Cheema has ceased to hold office as he was de-notified by the Cabinet Division after a hiatus of more than three weeks. The federal government had to assert itself as the President was adamant, and had repeatedly disapproved summaries sent by the Prime Minister seeking Cheema’s removal. The President pleads that the Governor shall continue to hold office at his pleasure, and the advice of the chief executive is secondary in essence and is now infructuous.

With Cheema’s exit, the question is what’s next? While the Speaker Punjab Assembly is supposed to perform the functions of the constitutional head in the province, till the formal appointment of governor, this is where the catch-22 situation sets in. Speaker Pervez Elahi will have to play roulette by vacating his office, and it seems unlikely taking into account political volatility in the province. He is himself a candidate in waiting for chief ministership, and counting heavily on the verdict against defectors from the Supreme Court to alter the math of provincial assembly. The new ballgame, moreover, becomes interesting by assuming whether Elahi, as governor, will administer oath to the belated cabinet formation of Chief Minister Hamza Sharif or not! Such probabilities have pushed the province and its governance in acute political instability, apart from creating an administrative chaos.

The chronicle gets more worrisome as ex-PM Imran Khan is unrelenting, and has urged the apex court to look into the standoff over Punjab Governor’s ‘forceful’ removal. This is bound to create fissures as he contemplates a long march on the federal capital, and ups the ante over his demand for holding fresh elections. The PTI has already exploited the constitutional provisions to its maximum, and that too at the cost of pushing the province in abject uncertainty. The refusal to swear in Hamza Sharif as CM and the reluctance in removing Governor Cheema are cases in point. And now Khan’s hardened stance over a constitutional fait accompli is nothing but brinkmanship. Punjab, the biggest province, is desperately in need of administrative semblance, and that cannot be delayed any further.

Published in The Express Tribune, May 11^th, 2022.

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