The political circus that is Pakistani politics continues unabated. After Imran Khan’s PTI swept the by-election polls in Punjab, upsetting the calculations of PML-N and the military establishment, it appears the army struck back. However, with the latest judicial intervention things are once again up in the air.
On July 22, Deputy Speaker of Punjab Assembly passed a ruling rejecting the PML-Q’s 10 votes from the final count handing Hamza Shahbaz Sharif a victory. While this decision bought time for Hamza it did create political instability.
There was high drama before all this happened. As a Dawn investigative report showed, “moments before the proceedings finally began, the media began reporting a seismic split in the PML-Q’s senior leadership. Party scion Moonis Elahi told journalists that his uncle, Chaudhry Shujaat Husain, the party head of the PML-Q, had told party MPAs not to vote for his father Chaudhry Pervaiz. He was quoted as saying that a day earlier, PPP co-chairman Asif Ali Zardari, speaking on behalf of the ruling alliance, had offered to make Chaudhry Pervaiz chief minister, but as the coalition’s candidate and not as the PTI’s. He said his father had rejected the offer, but matters quickly took a very different turn.”
While the ruling coalition must be thankful for Zardari’s machinations now the matter is back in court. On July 23, the Supreme Court passed an interim order allowing Hamza to stay as a “trustee” Punjab chief minister until they hear a plea filed by PML-Q leader Chaudhry Parvez Elahi challenging the Deputy Speaker Dost Mohammad Mazari’s decision.
According to constitutional experts Article 63A is clear on the point that it is the parliamentary party, not the party head, that sets the party line on voting in the four specific scenarios outlined in the same article. However, as an editorial in Dawn noted, “since the deputy speaker has taken cover behind the Supreme Court’s recent decision on defections to dismiss the PML-Q parliamentary party’s decision, the court itself will now be expected to elucidate on its ruling on the matter.”
