EDITORIAL : THE DAWN, PAKISTAN

Way forward

THERE is resistance to the new prime minister, and the issue of the letter to the Swiss authorities still looms. But if the ruling coalition and the opposition are willing to display some cooperation and maturity, there is still a workable way forward. Despite their seemingly being at loggerheads, there are glimmers of hope in what the prime minister and opposition politicians have said in recent days. The initial opposition response to Raja Pervez Ashraf was not particularly encouraging — understandably so, given the prime minister’s record on the energy front. And his invitation to the opposition for talks on governance issues during his inaugural speech in the National Assembly was snubbed. But the PML-N spokesperson has now said the opposition would be willing to talk — as long as the focus of talks is on appointing a chief election commissioner, creating an interim set-up and holding early elections. And in that lies a potential middle ground that could benefit both the ruling coalition and the democratic system itself.

The wisest course for the PPP now is to announce a time frame for negotiations, asking for a specific period of time to govern before the start of talks on elections and related issues. This concrete proposal could stem some opposition impatience by displaying a willingness to bring elections forward. That, in turn, could buy time for the government to implement whatever improved governance is possible and try to improve its badly damaged reputation on that front before the next polls. The PPP has little to lose by doing this — it has nearly completed a full term, and by bringing elections forward it would lose at most a handful of months in power. In return for a reasonable time frame for the start of negotiations on polls, the opposition should tone down its rhetoric and let the ruling coalition try to implement some reforms.

If an arrangement like this can be worked out, that should be all the more reason for the Supreme Court to consider carefully the effects of pursuing the letter to the Swiss with the current prime minister as well. The upside of doing so is entirely unclear, given the position the ruling party has taken on the president’s immunity. The downside, though, is obvious: destabilisation of the system once again, a lack of clear answers on how to proceed and, in the worst-case scenario, further encouragement to extra-constitutional forces that so far haven’t taken matters into their own hands. If they are able to reach an agreement and schedule for the way forward, Pakistan’s politicians might yet be able to prevent this chain of events from taking place.

Morsi’s victory

EVEN though there were mutual greetings and thanks, the military junta and Mohammed Morsi, Egypt’s first freely elected president, must have been conscious of the difficulties involved in working together. Mr Morsi is the Muslim Brotherhood’s first leader to rule Egypt, and that makes his position unique and his task challenging. While he thanked his people for the sacrifices in the cause of democracy, Mr Morsi also expressed his thanks to “the army and the police” whose brutal handling of the protesters had resulted in hundreds of deaths. While receiving congratulations from Field Marshal Hussain Tantawi, Mr Morsi could not have failed to note the irony in the situation because of the post-election decree that almost nullified all the democratic gains made since Hosni Mubarak’s ouster. The decree issued by the Supreme Command of the Armed Forces makes Mr Morsi an almost ceremonial head of state, for it denies him the title of the supreme commander of the armed forces, reserves budget-making for Scaf and protects the army from civilian oversight. With the Lower House already dissolved by the constitutional court, Mr Morsi will be hamstrung by the absence of a legislature. That gives lawmaking to Scaf. A general election will now take another year, until a constitution is prepared, and here too the generals have made it clear it is they who will make the basic law.


The assembly’s dissolution and the sweeping powers assumed by the generals are clear indications that Mubarak loyalists are well-entrenched in the system. The generals had to hold an election because there was no other way in which the anti-Mubarak insurgents could be satisfied. But Mr Morsi’s victory upset all their calculations. Let us also note that pro-Mubarak feelings still exist among the people, as is evident from the narrow margin of Mr Morsi’s victory, for Ahmad Shafiq, Mr Mubarak’s prime minister, secured over 48 per cent of the votes. The world will keenly watch how the Arab world’s most populous nation works in the coming months to make a success of a democratic experience already sabotaged by the generals.




Doctors climb down



WHAT was always a case fit for emergency treatment is finally getting the right kind of attention from those who can help provide a remedy. The Young Doctors Association in Punjab has climbed down from its position and appears more likely than at any other time in recent weeks to enter into decisive negotiations with the thus far unyielding Shahbaz Sharif government. The change in the YDA stance has come after the provincial government shot down an impossible Rs423bn ser-vice structure package proposed by the doctors. Clearly, the young medics at Punjab hospitals who have developed a habit of staying away from work in recent years at the risk of public censure had stretched it a bit too far this time. By asking for the moon they exposed themselves to a strong and reasonable counterargument by the government.


Another factor that raises hopes for some kind of compromise is the alliance between the YDA and Pakistan Medical Association, a platform senior doctors work from. The YDA has in recent times widened the scope of its demands to cover the senior doctors also. This strategy brought the young doctors closer to the seniors who had so far kept away from the former’s protest. The alliance between the YDA and PMA has given the doctors’ movement a more comprehensive look, and in the process, it has provided the young doctors’ drive with the cool, thinking heads it was so far accused of lacking for a workable solution. These senior doctors must now try and mediate a careful compromise between the young doctors and the government. It is not an easy task but it is one that can only be delayed at the cost of thousands of patients who turn up at government hospitals each day for want of an option.