A testing time

Gilani deserves appreciation for his vigorous defence of democracy, paramountcy of parliament, elected civilian govts.

The prime minister’s detractors may think that following a contempt of court notice by the Supreme Court on January 16, his days in office may be numbered. However, his supporters will point out that this is just a notice and that Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani will now have the opportunity to explain himself — he can either defend his actions or, as often happens in such cases, throw himself at the mercy of the court and offer an unconditional apology. What actually happens remains to be seen and depends on how the prime minister responds to the notice — in fact, there were reports on January 16 saying that he had offered to resign.

A day earlier, on January 15, Mr Gilani gave a full-throated defence of democracy and the Constitution when he told journalists in Vehari that he was not answerable to any individual but to the people of Pakistan. He must have made this statement after the media reported that in their one-on-one meeting on January 14, Army Chief General Ashfaq Pervaiz Kayani told President Asif Ali Zardari that the latter should ask the prime minister to retract his statement where he had said that the army chief and the head of the ISI had acted unconstitutionally when they filed replies to the Supreme Court in the memo case. The prime minister’s remarks of January 15 were in response to questions from journalists asking him for his views on General Kayani’s purported remarks. Apart from indicating where he stood as far as answering to various entities and groups was concerned, the prime minister also suggested that the military had a constitutional role to play as well, and no one will disagree with the fact that over the years it has quite often ventured outside of that as set down by the country’s Constitution. For his vigorous defence of democracy, and for the paramountcy of parliament and elected civilian governments, Mr Gilani deserves appreciation. This should come not just from his party but from the entire nation that can ill-afford another general who thinks the reins of power rightfully belong to him.

Of course, all this could come to nought if, for example, the prime minister is found guilty of contempt of court. If that were to happen, he would have to step down and would perhaps be disbarred from contesting elections for a certain period of time.

Published in The Express Tribune, January 17^th, 2012.