The Reconciliation Imperative By Shaziah Zuberi

The Peshawar school tragedy has finally apparently brought the major political parties together in supporting a national plan of action against terrorism. On January 6, 2015, Pakistani’s Parliament passed a constitutional amendment that allows a parallel system of military courts to try terrorists. The key question is why this action was necessary, even though it was unpopular among most of the political parties. The answer is that current judicial system was considered to be ill-equipped to handle terrorism. PMLN was one of the few parties that were always supportive of this decision all along.

While showing flexibility and sound judgment on this issue, PMLN is not displaying flexibility on other crucial issues of national importance. Imran Khan wants the judiciary to investigate general allegations of rigging in the 2013 elections, while the PMLN now insists that the commission should focus on Khan’s original charge that there was a conspiracy involving the ex-Chief Justice Iftikhar Chaudhry, PMLN leadership, the Election Commission, and the caretaker governments to hand-pick returning officers from the lower judiciary in order to manipulate the election results after balloting. Such a conspiracy will be very difficult to prove. PTI’s concerns have been vindicated as the results have come out on the NA-122 vote verification. Apparently there were over 34,000 bogus votes cast in total. As a result PTI is demanding a proper investigation failing which PTI will again lead protests in the country.

There needs to be a spirit of reconciliation to address this issue in light of the national mood in the post-Peshawar scenario. As the party in power the onus is on PMLN to cultivate and sustain this mood. PMLN cannot solve our deep rooted problems and challenges by using the same kind of inflexible, ossified and ostrich-like thinking that they used to their detriment when they came to power twice in the past.

PTI is displaying pragmatism, maturity and a spirit of conciliation in harmony with the national mood. PMLN needs to reciprocate and show that it is capable of enlightened leadership in these troubled times. Right now, the only real threat to the government is the government itself. Flexibility will go a long way in making the government more resilient.

by webmaster@insaf.pk (tkiadmin)