BEFORE its presentation in Parliament for approval or rejection, differences arose among political parties and legal experts regarding the proposed constitutional amendments. The proposed constitutional package consists of 56 amendments, including a three-year term limit for the Chief Justice of Pakistan and the establishment of a parallel Federal Constitutional Court alongside the Supreme Court. Among the proposed changes, the establishment of this Federal Constitutional Court is being considered a major point of contention within the entire package.
The legal fraternity realizes that this would be a violation of the basic structure of the Constitution of Pakistan-1973 and undermine the independence of the judiciary. Indeed, Pakistan has been experiencing political instability and economic crisis over the past few years and cannot afford another crisis in the form of a constitutional amendment package. National consensus must be developed on all issues, including the proposed amendments. In the absence of consensus among the national leadership on these matters, there is a rapid rise in chaos and confusion among the masses. Political instability leads to social unrest and divisions within society, which further impacts the economy while simultaneously exposing Pakistan to exploitation by external forces.
Unfortunately, despite passage of seventy-seven years, Pakistan has not come out from these elements of instability and chaos at national level. Each government faces the challenge of its political survival from the day it is elected and instead of working for the national development and economic prosperity of the people, the government takes all legal and illegal measures to complete its tenure. This includes: political bribe, violation of merit system, undesired and harmful alliances at home and abroad and, above all, ignoring the national interests and wellbeing of the people. This all is happening in Pakistan besides so many other ills and evils for decades now. The unfortunate aspect of this all is that, there is no realization among those who cause these problems and play with the future of Pakistan and Pakistanis and yet remain at the helm of affairs.
The ongoing struggle of powers among the political parties of Pakistan, started in February 2022, is badly damaging the national image and process of democratization as insinuated in the Constitution of Pakistan. The unfortunate political polarization in Pakistan is impacting the country on two significant aspects: (a) creating a chaos at domestic level and (b) augmenting state’s vulnerability for external forces and rising trends of terrorism and militancy. Internally, the people of Pakistan are confused about the future of the State, thus there is a state of uncertainty. Economy of the State is getting bad to worse with each passing day, questioning the very economic survivability of the State. Taking advantage of the political instability in Pakistan, the rival forces find an opportune time to further destabilize Pakistan by exploiting its existing fault lines, using militancy and economy issues as the main tools. Militancy emanating from western borders is spreading all over Pakistan, targeting security personnel and civilians alike. Despite promises of not allowing the use of its soil against any state, the Interim Afghan Taliban Government is fully supporting the TTP and other militant organizations, attacking Pakistan.
History proves that states with strong domestic order, social cohesion, political stability, national harmony and a visionary leadership are less susceptible for foreign invasions and aggressive acts of external forces. On the other hand, countries with domestic chaos and political disorder easily became victim to external aggression. Some of the recent examples are: Libya, Iraq, Syria and Yemen. These states once had admirable living standards and harmonized domestic order, giving job opportunities to rest of the world. The domestic unrest, political rivalries, bad governance and lack of statesmanship among the top national leadership exposed them for external exploitation and current level of economic breakdown.
Such a happening can take place anywhere with any country, since international system is based on power politics where states tend to weaken the rival states for the expansion of their influence and power. The State of Pakistan itself became a victim of external aggression in 1971, mainly because of political polarization, self-seeking political leadership, bad governance, festering social cohesion and self-centred leadership at the help of affairs. Today, once again the foes of Pakistan are all out to exploit domestic chaos and political unrest in Pakistan. This is a dangerous situation, facing Pakistan.
At this critical juncture of its history, Pakistan cannot afford any constitutional crisis, political volatility, domestic unrest and fragmented national image. Unfortunately, this all is happening after this resilient nation successfully defeated the globally-imposed terrorism against the state and society of Pakistan. This externally imposed terrorism was defeated through valiant act of heroism, undertaken by Pakistani Military where the nation stood behind them wholeheartedly. Unfortunately, this connection is weakening with each passing day which is very serious and needs immediate attention.
The evolving political instability, proposed constitutional amendments, social unrest, economic crisis and resurgence of terrorism may provide the rival forces an opportunity to fuel the situation to the disadvantage of Pakistan. Therefore, in order to find a way forward from all these domestic and external challenges there is a dire need for the initiation of Grand National Dialogue for developing national consensus over all prevailing issues including the proposed constitutional amendments package. An agreeable outcome of these dialogues will end the egocentric political polarization with a national consensus over proposed constitutional amendments while bridging the existing political and social fault-lines. Theoretically, the incumbent Government must initiate this process by inviting the political leadership and all stakeholders.
— The writer is Professor of Politics and IR at International Islamic University, Islamabad.
