Parties shoot down PML-N idea

The call of Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) for holding mid-term elections isn’t finding any takers. And most mainstream political parties say they’re not in favour of going to the hustings even if a large number of parliamentarians turn out to be holding fake degrees.

The issue came to the fore because of a statement by PML-N bigwig Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan on Friday. Anticipating what may happen if the Supreme Court (SC) were to disqualify around 25 per cent members of parliament and provincial assemblies, Khan said that by-polls on such a large scale would not be an option.

Just a day before, the SC had asked the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) to move decisively against lawmakers holding fake degrees.

Although the condition no longer holds, at the time of the 2008 elections, being a graduate was a precondition to sitting in the Parliament. And the courts disqualified several lawmakers from the national and provincial legislatures after their degrees were found to be fakes.

According to media reports, the number of fake degrees may run into hundreds. And in the wake of the SC’s verdict, some fear the triggering of a political crisis.

But while most parties support the SC’s decision, they are not as enthusiastic about mid-term polls.

“There is no need for mid-term polls,” PML-Quaid (PML-Q) chief Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain told the media on Sunday in Lahore, a sentiment echoed by party secretary -general Senator Mushahid Hussain. However, both think the fake degree holders should resign on their own.

Meanwhile, the Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) says such elections would not allow democracy to take root. “Mid-term polls might be the ambition of many parties but we don’t support it,” says MQM MNA Haider Abbas Rizvi. “We want the government to complete its tenure.”

“Why should the entire Parliament be punished for the crime of a few?” asks senior Awami National Party leader Haji Adeel Ahmed, who is similarly opposed to the idea.

But even Ahmed advocates that fake degree holders should be denied party tickets in the future.

Meanwhile, a JUI-F official also said the party would not like to see the country going to the polls any time soon.

Published in The Express Tribune, June 28^th, 2010.