Asghar Khan petition
THE revival of the Asghar Khan case, to be taken up by a three-member Supreme Court bench headed by Chief Justice Iftikhar Chaudhry today, has attracted much attention nationally. But while the subject matter may be high-octane and may yield embarrassing headlines for the army and certain politicians, the petition before the SC is unlikely to become a transformative moment in the history of civil-military relations. For one, the petition does not seek any specific punishment against Gen Aslam Beg (retd), Gen Asad Durrani (retd) or Younis Habib.
At best there will be a declaratory judgment along the lines of the one that said the Emergency declared by Gen Musharraf in 2007 was unconstitutional. Those expecting that jail terms or other punishments will be awarded are likely to be disappointed.
For another, the politicians and others implicated of taking money from the army/ISI aren’t respondents in the petition and so direct action against them is unlikely to occur.
Nevertheless, there is an opportunity before the court to underline or lay down important rules in how the business of politics ought to be conducted and how the state is run. At the heart of the ISI-buying-politicians-to-rig-elections story are two issues:
what constitutes a lawful command and how to regulate campaign finance. Aslam Beg’s defence for authorising the doling out of millions of rupees to politicians was that he did so on the orders of then president Ghulam Ishaq Khan. If true, the question really is, when a command is overtly unconstitutional and illegal, ought an officer of the armed forces do what he is commanded and simply hide behind the defence that a superior ordered him to do so? While the chain of command in the armed forces is uniquely sacrosanct, it cannot and must not trump all other principles in every instance. A judgment by the SC elucidating on the boundaries of what an officer is lawfully required to do under instruction from a superior would be unique in Pakistan’s history and would arguably strengthen the armed forces in the performance of their core duty.
The other issue at stake is that of campaign finance. With elections scheduled to be held in the next year or so, the SC could use the Asghar Khan case to lay down fresh guidelines on how campaigns are financed. At the moment it’s a bit of a free for fall, despite legal rules and limits, and even Imran Khan, the self-styled ‘clean’ politician, avoids discussing the matter. Ultimately, though, much will depend on how seriously the SC takes up the case.
Women`s votes
IN the 2008 general elections, according to Election Commission data, over 560 female polling stations — nearly 480 of them in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa — saw a zero per cent turnout. Over 580,000 women were registered at these stations. As the next countrywide polls approach, recent by-elections indicate that this unacceptable state of affairs may well continue. In by-elections held on Saturday, women were effectively barred from voting at certain polling stations in Mardan and Mianwali.
These are not cases of women being physically held back from going to cast their votes. Instead, pandering to the conservatism of certain areas of the country, political candidates in those areas develop informal agreements, or at least understandings among themselves, that they will not try to bring out the female vote. Over time this regressive approach has taken hold to the point where voting for women in some constituencies has become as taboo as going to the mosque or walking into the male section of segregated wedding functions. It has, in other words, become the cultural norm, one perpetuated by those in a position of power.
What is particularly alarming is that this is true of parties across the political spectrum. The ANP and PPP are dominant in the Mardan constituency that was contested on Saturday and the PML-N in the Mianwali constituency. These are all significant and mainstream parties, and at least the former two clearly position themselves as being secular and progressive. Yet Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, where the ANP and PPP have dominated in 2008 and since, is the province where this problem is most acute. The National Commission on the Status of Women and the Free and Fair Election Network have called for the by-election results from the relevant polling stations — and therefore the constituencies in which they are located — to be scrapped. This is a perfectly legitimate demand; political parties need to be held accountable for failing to make it clear to their candidates that creating conditions that effectively bar women from voting is both unconstitutional and against the spirit of democracy.
Cricket defeat
IT was the same old story all over again. Pakistan’s bowlers shined while the notoriously brittle batting line-up collapsed once more to lose the T20 cricket series against England on Monday. Chasing a modest total, it was expected that Pakistan would canter to a victory but that, unfortunately, was not to be. Pakistan lost the match and with it the series decider. A team that has performed exceptionally well over the last year or so could have done better in conditions that suited them more than the opposition. Still, T20 is something of a lottery — not ‘real cricket’ as the purists might put it — and there ought to be no shame in losing a battle of equals. But the 2-1 loss came on the heels of a whitewash in the one-day series and opened up old wounds that only recently appeared to have been healed. Pakistan were on the up but came crashing down rather too rapidly.
That said, it must not be forgotten that Pakistan beat a top team 3-0 in the Test series. It was an extraordinary achievement and accolades are due to Misbahul Haq and his men in green. Test cricket is the real test of calibre and Pakistan proved their worth on that front. We as a cricket-loving nation should take strength from that showing because that was no easy feat against a formidable side like England. Perhaps changes are needed, particularly in the opening batting line-up. Mohammad Hafeez makes up for batting failures with his uncanny spin bowling and enthusiastic efforts as a fielder but he must do more. He should retain his place but serious thought needs to be put into the choice of an opening partner. Also, calls for a change in captaincy in the shorter formats are premature. Cricket fans need to look towards the positive.