EDITORIAL: At a time when the country is in the throes of political and economic turmoil, PPP Chairman and Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto Zardari has taken a much-needed initiative to defuse a crisis-like situation. Inaugurating the golden jubilee celebrations of the Constitution— drafted and approved with consensus of all political parties under his grandfather and the party’s founder Zulifqar Ali Bhutto’s government — he called for developing a consensus to deal with myriad challenges confronting the nation.
His party, he said, had decided to form a committee assigned with the task of evolving an agreement among all stakeholders on devising a code of conduct (CoD). The committee is to approach all political parties, including the PTI (Pakistan Tehrik-e-Insaf), to convince them of the need for working out rules of the game for contesting elections and regulating “our behaviour inside and outside Parliament.”
As to why the Foreign Minister should seek support for the proposed CoD from all parties, it needs to be noted that the PPP is not a component of the PDM (Pakistan Democratic Movement) but a coalition partner of the PDM that comprises a dozen parties, and led by the PML-N (Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz). So it is free to determine its own course to protect and promote its own interests that may or may not be the same as those of the PML-N as in the present situation.
Fearing an imminent defeat, the latter has chosen not to contest the forthcoming by-elections to a number of National Assembly seats that fell vacant when the incumbent PTI legislators’ resignations were selectively accepted by the Speaker.
Efforts are also afoot by the PDM to convince the PPP to do likewise and not contest the by-elections. Since most of these election are to be held in its traditional support base in Punjab, the PML-N seems to have not succeeded yet to dissuade the PPP from participating in them.
More important from the general perspective, however, is Bilawal’s push for a CoD. As he rightly averred, “if all political parties agree on a code of conduct, we can overcome the crisis and chart a path to progress.”
It seems a big ‘IF’, though, in the prevailing environment. The PDM government has instituted countless cases of alleged wrongdoing against PTI Chairman Imran Khan, designed to disqualify him from participating in any electoral race. Several second tier party leaders have also been arrested without warrants in blatantly bogus cases.
If that was not bad enough, resorting to a colonial-era holdover, almost all of them, including Khan, have been booked in sedition cases. The campaign is aimed at causing desertions in the party to weaken it. That should be all the more reason for the PTI to give a positive response to the PPP’s move and help create an enabling environment for all players.
The PTI is yet to formally respond to the proposed CoD; reports, however, suggest it is amenable to sitting with other parties to discuss issues of its concern, particularly timing of general elections and related matters, though for obvious reasons it also wants to include representatives of the establishment.
Arguably, nothing can stop progress in the desired direction provided all legitimate stakeholders in the democratic project get together and arrive at a consensus on the way forward. Hopefully, the PML-N will also realise the cost of exacerbating political polarisation and get on board with CoD deliberations.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2023
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