Politics of sovereignty

Dr Khalil Ahmad

Who have no regard for the constitution of Pakistan, to them the issue of Pakistan’s sovereignty is no more than a political stunt to befool the people. The issue of Pakistan’s sovereignty is once again causing a storm in a teacup. Last time it took place in recent past was in September 2007 when the head of Pakistan Muslim League (N), Nawaz Sharif was hijacked/deported to Saudi Arabia in violation of a seven member judgment of the Supreme Court of Pakistan. At that time, the blame was put on Saudi Arabia. This time it is USA.

In both of the cases, the hue and cry over the “violated sovereignty” is just misplaced. In a kingdom or any such form of government, the nature and limits of sovereignty are determined by the word and will of the king since in a kingdom it is king whose word and will are taken as law. But if Pakistan is having a system of parliamentary form of democracy, it is only under a constitution that states it to be so. In the 1973 constitution this power to exercise sovereignty rests with the people of Pakistan. It is this constitution that defines Pakistan existentially, geographically and administratively. It states in unequivocal terms which territories it comprises, and the duties and responsibilities of the various organs and institutions of the state of Pakistan, and things like that. This is how Pakistan’s sovereignty manifests in totality. Of course, under such a government as ours is the issue of sovereignty should be judged only in terms of its constitution, and not on the basis of its various functionaries’ perceptions and utterances. It is tantamount to saying that Pakistan’s sovereignty derives from its constitution, and not from the word and will of its President, or Prime Minister, or Chief of its Army or such other officials. They are just bound to serve under the constitutional provisions and not beyond that. Thus the whole case hinges on the point of law. Also, since it pertains to the domain of law, it must be viewed in that light first.

As in the case of Nawaz Sharif’s hijacking/deportation, our concern was confined to seeing whether the government honoured the judgment of the apex court or not, now again in the case of US violations of our airspace and territorial boundaries, we are concerned only with the point of total sovereignty in the light of our constitution.

As his kidnapping/deportation to Saudi Arabia was a flagrant violation of the highest court’s judgment which was based on a provision of the constitution, and in that it was doubly an attack on the sovereignty of Pakistan on the part of Pakistani government of that time; likewise, now we should look for the ‘facts’ that tell how and who decided to throw Pakistan into the US war on terror, and allowed US incursions partly or in whatever manner into Pakistan. It was therein that the sovereignty of Pakistan was first violated, and that act gave rise to a series of such violations. Hence, the issue of sovereignty is the issue of the supremacy of the constitution of Pakistan. If the government abrogates the constitution, the sovereignty will be lost to the whims of the rulers. If the government defies the constitution or acts contrary to the provisions of the constitution of Pakistan, the sovereignty is violated. Thus, the constitution of Pakistan provides us with a yardstick to determine the nature and limits of our sovereignty. Now isn’t it evident how the sovereignty of Pakistan was challenged by the country’s own government or its former “President” to be precise when he threw the country into the war on terror, or when on November 3, 2007 he suspended the constitution and threw away the most important constitutional institution, the judiciary. It was he who let another government to use Pakistan’s territory to fight the terrorists in Afghanistan. That thing still continues. Did that whole episode of throwing Pakistan into the war on terror go in accordance with the constitutional provisions? Didn’t it violate Pakistan’s sovereignty? Did that one man then have the power to do that? Or does one man now have that power? As we believe, in Pakistan the supreme law is its constitution.

So, constitutionally speaking, any act of any person which is directly or indirectly violative of the provisions of the constitution and fundamental rights of us people ensured in it is also violative of the sovereignty of Pakistan. But how unfortunate that the grossest violations of our constitution and thus of our sovereignty have been committed by one institution which owes its existence to the same constitution! It means whenever a ‘military takeover’ was imposed on Pakistan, this institution lost its raison d’etre. And worse than that, these grossest violations of our constitution and sovereignty have been excused, validated and sanctified by the collaborator-politicians and collaborator-parliaments.

It is high time we realize that territorial violations by any country can never be as much damaging to the sovereignty of our country as the constitutional violations are fatal to the integrity and the sovereignty of Pakistan! That is why the issue of the sovereignty of Pakistan needs to be taken as a mirror image of the constitution of Pakistan. It will show us our true face as the prime violators of our own sovereignty!