Interim set-up
Politics is picking up momentum as probable names for caretaker prime minister are doing rounds.
To surface as a surprise is the candidature of Ishaq Dar, the sitting finance minister, and it seems the PML-N too is not sure of his name getting a nod from its allies. The initial response from the PPP was one of cold shoulder, and there were voices from inside the 13-party coalition of looking the other way.
If that is so then the PML-N has unnecessarily burnt its fingers by exposing one of its stalwarts. But what makes it a point of concern is that the interim chief executive, mandated with the constitutional responsibility of running the day to day business in an impartial manner, should be above-board, and proposing names of stakeholders from the current dispensation is in bad taste, and tantamount to influencing the polls.
The intention on the part of the government, at the fag end of its tenure, to amend the Elections Act 2017 is questionable. Again, the proposed amendment would empower the caretaker set-up to address economic issues, especially those that are usually left for the elected representative to decide as a principle of their manifesto policies.
It especially wants to target Section 230, which will put the interim rulers in the saddle of looking beyond their horizons. The said move will surely open a Pandora’s Box of controversies, and will go on to pitch the general elections process on a razor-edge of confrontation. The government is, at least, not soundly advised on this initiative, and it seems the PML-N’s decision is Dar-specific, to say the least.
Pakistan is at the cusp of a calamity-like situation, and political instability has tattered its social fabric. As is the convention, let the interim set-up be apolitical with men of integrity, and with the only task of holding free and fair polls.
Any attempt to expand the injunction of authority will lead to chaos, and might derail the system. Consensual decisions are required and not those premised on brinkmanship.
Published in The Express Tribune, July 25th, 2023.
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