EDITORIAL: At a presser on Sunday JUI-F (Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazl) chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman said that all parties in the (now defunct) PDM (Pakistan Democratic Movement) coalition that he had headed are ready for general elections, but made it more than obvious that his own party favours an indefinite delay as he added that betterment of the economy is a matter that should be addressed first.

Besides being contrary to a well-known fact that political uncertainty tends to impede economic development, this assertion sounds somewhat similar to “accountability first and election later” slogan raised in the late ’70s by another politician, Khan Abdul Wali Khan, to settle accounts with his nemesis Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, with disastrous consequences from the affects of which the country has still not recovered.

Whilst the ask for ‘economy first and elections later’ amounts to putting the cart before the horse, it sends out two unpalatable messages. One is that democratically elected governments lack the ability to fix the faltering economy or cannot be trusted to do that. In fact, the JUI-F chief said, “I don’t recognise the caretaker government; caretakers are someone else.”

From which it follows that he wants ‘someone else’ to deal with the problems besetting the economy. The other equally concerning issue is that any of the genuine stakeholders in the democratic process should seek delay in general elections beyond the 90-day time limit set by the Constitution.

What is on the mind of JUI-F chief he has said it openly; two major political parties are also engaged in shenanigans. To say the least, it is sad that some disgruntled politicians or certain other elements should think they can violate the supreme law of the land whenever it suits their purposes. This raises troubling questions about the future of this ever struggling democracy.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2023