Direct elections for the Senate in Pakistan

THE TIDE HAS TURNED OR RE-TURNED?
By: Kunwar Idris
Sunday, 20 Dec, 2009
kunwaridris[at]hotmail.com

It must go to the lasting discredit of our political parties and their leaders that in less than two years of a credible election the centre of state power has shifted entirely from parliament to the Supreme Court and the public aspirations towards the armed forces of Pakistan. The politicians may allege conspiracies by outsiders but have only their own shenanigans to blame. In pursuing personal and factional interests they have been violating every rule and convention of parliamentary democracy. In the absence of a single-party majority in the National Assembly, the obvious course for the two major parties i.e. the Pakistan People's Party (PPP) and the Pakistan Muslim League (PML-N group) to follow was that one should lead a coalition government and the other a united opposition. Instead, President Zardari incessantly and deceitfully talked of "taking everybody on board" and Nawaz Sharif (leader of PML-N) cluelessly sung of "not destabilising the system". They couldn't, however, bring themselves round to forming a national government. Resultantly, the governments at the centre and in the provinces have been no more than ragbags of ministers, advisers, special assistants, and ambassadors at large -- you name it, they have it -- drawn from a variety of parties, most with shockingly shady backgrounds. Particularly comical was the position in Balochistan where, at one time, every assembly member joined the government but for one who was also the leader of his own one-man opposition. The worse and the most fatal blow to the parliamentary system, however, came when Mr. Asif Ali Zardari chose himself to be the president of the country and chose for his party (PPP) in Punjab to be an unwelcomed, sulking partner in PML-N dominated government rather than sitting in a functional, respectable opposition. Government Ministers like Mr. Kamal Azfar should not have been blaming the CIA and ISI, nor Babar Awan, the Jews and Qadianis for conspiring against the government. Conspiracies brewed in their own ranks. The Supreme Court's order now leaves no choice for the political leaders but to agree to hold elections afresh. If the Supreme Court's order points towards immediate elections, the NFC award announced a week earlier provides an initial basis for a new operational framework between the federation and the provinces.

For the first time the award has recognised that:
[1] the provinces deserve a larger share in the national income;
[2] population should not be the only basis for division of developmental funds;
[3] the tax jurisdiction of the provinces needs to be enlarged; and
[4] the provinces should have greater control over their natural resources.

Punjab had been traditionally resisting any departure from the set formula. This time round Shahbaz Sharif (the Chief Minister of Punjab) has valiantly pioneered the change even though his province has been the only loser. Balochistan, the most aggrieved, has gained the most. While it may be said that the award is no substitute for provincial autonomy but it is certainly a big step in that direction. The problems confronting the country are too many and too formidable for the present shattered institutions and demoralised leadership to comprehend and resolve. Topping the list are: constitutional structures, provincial autonomy, jurisdiction of local councils and reorganisation of civil services. Violence may subside but discontent will continue to simmer till the representatives of the people from all regions find some equitable and enduring solutions. That the form of government will be parliamentary and the prime minister the chief executive is by now a settled question. But how the prime minister should be restrained from abusing his authority remains a worrisome issue. The recent appointments of secretaries and ambassadors at will by the Prime Minister are a case in point. A solution that instantly suggests itself is that all such appointments should be subject to the approval of a committee of the Senate. Presently Ben Bernanke is being grilled by a US Senate committee for his second tenure as head of the Federal Reserve. Here in Pakistan the President / Prime Minister pick up whosoever they wish as governor of the State Bank. The public accounts committee headed by Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan has shown that abuse of financial authority can be checked but long after it has taken place. For such appointments the committee's approval must come beforehand.

In the legislative institutions, the reform most needed is the direct elections to the Senate. In the present system the Senate just mirrors the position of parties in the National Assembly. On provincial level, the aspirations for provincial autonomy range from greater autonomy to mere abolition of the concurrent list. In the prevailing regional situation, which threatens the country overall as much as its various parts, it is nearly impossible to meet the extremists halfway. The new parliament with a directly elected Senate would be the best forum to debate and settle this question as the previous senates have never really been seriously considered as nationalists, rather they're only viewed as cranks and seccessionists. Local councils should be protected in the constitution but each Province must have its own law defining its functions. The underlying principle should be that the council must earn its keep. An independent commission should determine the subsidy each council must get depending on the income it can raise and the service it is expected to provide.The civil service (that is all career public servants to put it curtly) has become an extension of the political party in power. Politicians expect civil servants to carry out their orders, legal or illegal without any moral conscience. For this reason, the people have been fast losing faith in the ability of the civil servants to be just and impartial. Today their trust is at an all-time low. No commission has been able to reverse this trend nor will another if it were to be constituted. The police was politicised more when President Musharraf's law put it under independent commissions. The only remedy left to be tried is to go back to the laws and systems that governed the civil servants before Prime Minister Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto launched a viral corrosion of the legendary institutions in Pakistan by dismissing more than 1,300 of the public officials overnight, in a civilian dictatorship manner. Much may not be achieved but an effort must be made to reform the legal and administrative systems before the optimism generated by the Supreme Court's judgment fades away.

"There is a tide in the affairs of men, which, taken at the flood, leads on to fortune. Omitted, all the voyage of their life is bound in shallows and in miseries. On such a full sea are we now afloat. And we must take the current when it serves, or lose our ventures." -- Shakespeare.