Supreme Court ruling sparks another row in Pakistan

By Sameera Aziz

POLITICS is a business of interest. Unfortunately in Pakistan, it seems to have degenerated into only the business of self-interest.

Laws and ordinances seem to be serving this trend. Exiled former prime minister late Benazir Bhutto returned to Pakistan under the protection of National Reconciliation Ordinance (NRO). After her assassination, her widower Asif Ali Zardari, entered the fray.

All of a sudden, he transformed from a housekeeping husband looking after the children and a sick mother-in-law in Dubai, into a man in the middle of crises. Almost all legal obstructions to his election as member of the National Assembly have already been removed thanks to the NRO.

NRO 2007 is protected under Section 4 of PCO 2007 and Section 5 of the Revocation of Proclamation of Emergency Order 2007. It states that all court cases and investigations against people who have held public offices till October 1999 will be canceled. This was endorsed and admitted by Attorney General Malik Abdul Qayyum.

But there was another hitch. Under rules framed by President Pervez Musharraf in 2002, parliamentarians must possess graduation degree. Zardari, according to those close to him, is not a graduate. But this hitch too was removed with a recent Supreme Court judgment. The apex court said the graduation condition went against Articles 17 and 25 of the Pakistan Constitution.

Indeed, this rule enforced prior to the 2002 general elections by President Musharraf's government was discriminatory. Everybody has the right to contest elections and vote for his preferred candidate.

Among the population of over 169 million, almost 9 million people are privileged voters. Graduates account for merely 3% of the population, of this only 1.4% are eligible voters.

A country where literacy rate is so low, it does not make sense to have a law restricting the right to contest elections to only those who are graduates. But at the same time, the urgency shown by the Supreme Court to annul this rule casts aspersions on this verdict.

Perhaps, the government intended to open the doors of the legislature for Zardari under a quid pro quo of you scratch my back and I scratch yours.

Surprisingly, Attorney General of Pakistan Malik Abdul Qayyum - who is the representative of federal government - had argued in the Supreme Court against the graduation condition. Don't forget that it was he who endorsed NRO in 2007. Since the upcoming by-elections are an extension of February 18 polls, here the question arises as to how by-elections can be held under a different conditions. The 2008 general elections were held under the graduation condition, which led to the disqualification of many politicians.

The previous assembly has proved it that holding a graduation degree doesn't mean that the legislatures would become more sagacious, thoughtful, learned and efficacious. Many a time the media captured and showed the unparliamentary behavior of many parliament members.

This condition helped the black market in fake degrees. Several parliament members obtained fake graduation in degrees to contest elections.

To add grease to the rumor mill and to further justify the self-interest theory, the date of by-elections was extended to June allegedly to allow Zardari to contest from the Larkana constituency of his assassinated wife.

All indications now point to the fact that PPP co-chairman Asif Ali Zardari would be the country's next prime minister as soon as he manages to enter the new parliament through a by-election.