At Penpoint
- Everybody lost. Except Sadiq Sanjrani
The opposition tried to replace Senate Chairman Sadiq Sanjrani, but failed to do so. However, the means used to keep him in office, the cupidity or fears of at least 14 Senators, managed to ensure that the episode had no winners, except perhaps Chairman Sanjrani, who now seems set to retain office at least till the end of his current term in March 2021. The big loser has been the opposition. Mian Nawaz Sharif, languishing in jail, has had his ability disproved. Asif Zardari has suddenly found himself the target of accusations of double-dealing, of having thrown the support of his Senators in Sanjrani’s favour.
The secret ballot has been also called into question. Its logic has gone unnoticed, because at the moment Chairman Sanjrani does not know which Senator voted in his favour, and which not. Even the most fair-minded of persons would not be able to behave neutrally towards a person who had voted against him, and though the Chairman (or any other presiding officer) would have a fairly good idea of who voted for him, he could not be entirely sure.
One of the essential factors in conducting a House is that the presiding officer is supposed to rise above party. It should not be forgotten that the neutrality of the Speaker of the House of Commons was established well before parties were introduced in it. Speakers are elected on a party vote, which makes it difficult for them to maintain that neutrality. Indeed, in the USA, the Speaker is considered the leader of the parliamentary party of the party to which he (or, as nowadays, she) belongs, because the Speaker is elected by a straight party vote, while other votes generally see party lines being crossed. Also, because there is a presidential system, the House does not elect a prime minister. The presiding officer of the Senate is ex officio the vice-president, who is elected along with the president, so the Speaker has no competition.
That requirement of representing the whole House is why he has been entrusted with issuing production orders. At present, PML-N members of the National Assembly have been arrested by NAB, one by the ANF, a PPP member by NAB, and two PTM members by certain agencies, but the Speaker has not been issuing production orders. The PML-N and PPP members have been proclaimed by Prime Minister Imran Khan as eyesores, and he seems not to understand that none has even had charges framed against them. Of course, all are suspected of crimes, but suspicion by a prosecuting agency does not constitute guilt. A very narrow view of production orders is being taken, that they only apply to matters of confidence, where voting is involved.
The Senate Chairman has not been called on to issue any orders, but it is important for the government to have a chairman who will do what suits it. It was also worth noting the sharp reaction by the ISPR to Mir Hasil Bizenjo about ISI interference. Silence might have been best, for it brought back memories of Sanjrani’s election last year, when he won with PPP support with his own party, the Balochistan Awami Party, having been formed of PML-N defectors after Mian Nawaz Sharif’s fall from office, and then alleged to have agency support. The military has been paying close attention to Balochistan ever since the secession of East Pakistan, especially after RAW has targeted for separation. It is not only the country’s largest province, it has gained in importance because the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor passes through it. The sense of deprivation in the province cannot be removed by such symbolic gestures as having a Baloch Senate Chairman, but it can alleviate it. Mir Hasil is now having his patriotic credentials questioned, but his real flaw is probably that he has been an ally of the PML-N for almost three decades, and even took up a ministerial portfolio in the last Nawaz Cabinet.
Another casualty of the whole process has been Imran Khan, He had criticised this tendency of MPAs to sell their votes while in opposition, but now is seen as having benefited by the unscrupulous senators thus elected. Further, he has been seen as having compromised, as engaging in the kind of horse-trading he used to decry
Mir Hasil might have thought he was on to a sure thing, because Senators have been elected on a party vote, their constituencies being the provincial assemblies. The MPAs are supposed to obey the party whip on this, and in Punjab and Sindh they do, but the same cannot be said about Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan. KPK MPAs are notorious for regarding a free vote, which can be sold, as one of the perks of the job. Thus, it is easier to ensure that a Senate Chairman’s election does not follow party lines than in any other House. Even in the Senate, politicians wanted to make sure that they were not individually tarnished, and the 14 floor-crossing Senators stood up in favour of the motion to admit the vote. They could have abstained then, ensuring that the voting did not take place, but they did not risk exposure.
One of the supposed beneficiaries was Asif Zardari, who is suspected of throwing those votes away, thus effectively casting them in Sanjrani’s favour. It should not be forgotten that Sanjrani was Special Assistant to PPP’s CM Sanaullah Zehri, nor that the PTI’s Leader of the House, Shibli Faraz was the son of the poet Ahmad Faraz, and thus the nephew of former KPK Governor Masood Kausar. Zardari’s supposed motive was that of preserving his Sindh government, which could be toppled if a large enough forward bloc was formed within the PPP there. Such an eventuality occurred in 1990, when a PPP Forward Bloc came into being to join with the MQM in establishing the Jam Sadiq government. Additional benefits for Zardari included fence-mending with the establishment, which he considers necessary to get out of the cases against him, and without which he or his son cannot return to office.
Another casualty of the whole process has been Imran Khan, He had criticised this tendency of MPAs to sell their votes while in opposition, but now is seen as having benefited by the unscrupulous senators thus elected. Further, he has been seen as having compromised, as engaging in the kind of horse-trading he used to decry. He has shown that he too is equally corrupted by the system, and instead of uprooting it, is exploiting it to his own advantage. While he has won this round, it might be a heavier blow for him than the PML-N and the PPP, who make no claims of being particularly pious.
