Quid pro quo in Punjab

A day of interesting twists and turns as the Supreme Court was finally able to strike a deal of political convenience in Punjab politics. The quid pro quo agreement came as Speaker Pervez Elahi surprisingly agreed to accept Hamza Shehbaz as interim chief minister, till a formal polling to elect a leader of the house was cast on July 17. This expression of largesse, however, was owing to the bitter reality that the PTI-PMLQ combine was short of simple majority -- and had the headcount to elect the new chief executive gone through instantly. Elahi exhibited his wisdom as a shrewd politician and won the day for the struggling opposition at the hands of an assertive PML-N dispensation. Now as per the stalemate stuck, it is politics as usual till the provincial assembly meets to elect a new leader and by then much water would have flowed in the form of bye-election in as many as 20 constituencies and return of opposition legislators who are abroad.

The nail-biting proceedings at the Supreme Court were in the backdrop of a petition moved by the PTI on Friday, seeking clarification on an overnight judgment of the Lahore High Court. With a 4-1 verdict, the high court had ruled Hamza’s election as ultra vires, ordering a re-counting of votes -- excluding those cast by PTI dissidents – held on April 16. The timeline to do it was by sunset of Friday, which was numerically unfavourable to the PTI’s current modus operandi on the floor of the house. Hamza reportedly enjoys the support of 175 MPAs, while Elahi lags behind with 168 and, moreover, some of them are on pilgrimage. This was so because the high court retrospectively applied the Supreme Court’s May 17 verdict on a presidential reference seeking interpretation of Article 63-A of the Constitution, which sealed the fate of defecting lawmakers.

Friday’s simultaneous proceedings at the seat of top court in the federal capital, and its registry in Lahore, created a lot of activism. The chips were down for either party as the honorable bench of the apex court was in a decisive mood to bring down the curtain on uncertainty that had plagued the affairs in the country’s biggest province to the core. Elahi’s instant decision helped the opposition evade the sword of Article 130(4), under which Hamza would have won the high office once again. The court’s intervention and summoning of stakeholders made a valid point: politicians unnecessary go over the brink by refusing to settle things down with an honest dialogue. Elahi and Hamza’s faceoff underneath the bench has a lesson to be learnt.

Published in The Express Tribune, July 2^nd, 2022.

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