OVERSHADOWED by the change at the top in the military at least three other appointments made on Wednesday by the federal government send various signals of their own. The nomination of Justice Tassaduq Jillani as the next chief justice of the Supreme Court was a constitutional formality, but it has put an end to the endless speculation concerning Chief Justice Iftikhar Chaudhry’s term somehow being extended beyond Dec 11. With the ascension of Justice Jillani, the country will have witnessed a historic and unprecedented constitutional transition of power across institutions this year: a new parliament, a new president, a new army chief and, on Dec 12, a new chief justice. Utterly necessary as an orderly transition was for the democratic order and stability, in many ways the real work begins now: do any of the principal figures imbued with proper constitutional legitimacy have it in them to collectively steer the country towards a better future?

In that regard, the two ministerial appointments made by Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif on Wednesday may provide an unhappy answer. That the country has been without a defence, foreign or law minister for much of this government’s term so far has been an unexplained failure. After all, if the prime minister wanted to keep the defence and foreign portfolios for himself because of the linkages between the military, national security and key foreign relations then perhaps it was understandable. But what exactly has Mr Sharif attempted to do these past few months on those fronts? And now, faced with the defence ministry being hauled over the coals for the continuing saga of the missing persons, the prime minister has seen fit to put a buffer between himself and the court in the shape of Khawaja Asif — who will continue to be the water and power minister. Quite how it makes sense to sidetrack Mr Asif with defence ministry duties when he already has charge of a ministry tasked with solving the staggering energy crisis remains unexplained.

Still, if Khawaja Asif’s appointment was merely about avoiding the prime minister being dragged to court, the appointment of Pervez Rashid as law minister is truly inexplicable. The information minister has nothing on his resumé that suggests he is capable of dealing with the complicated task of being law minister. Or is Mr Rashid just a cover for the continuing behind-the-scenes influence of sidelined former law minister Zahid Hamid? More importantly, does the PML-N, with a majority in parliament, really have no one in its ranks to fill even the essential ministries?