ISLAMABAD: Technically and constitutionally, the 15th National Assembly has not completed its five-year term, but in view of the country’s tumultuous parliamentary history, there is no harm in saying that the outgoing legislature is the fourth one to complete its tenure.

This was a consensus viewpoint among a majority of the constitutional and legal experts Dawn asked: “Can the 15th National Assembly be equated with the three previous assemblies which faced a natural dissolution after completing their five-year term?”

The experts were of the view that the decision of Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif to dissolve the National Assembly three days prior to its natural dissolution, out of political expedience, should not be criticised as he had used his prerogative given in the Constitution.

Moreover, they said, he had done so in consultation with all his allies and nearly all political parties had welcomed the move.

“Technically, you are right but for all practical purposes, [the NA] completed its term. There was no coercion and it was just three days short”, said Pakistan Institute of Legislative Development and Transparency (Pildat) President Ahmed Bilal Mehboob.

In their report based on an analysis of the performance of the 15th NA, released on Thursday, Pildat observed that the outgoing legislature had left democracy almost as vulnerable in the country as it was when the assembly was elected on July 25, 2018.

It said that the MNAs had allowed themselves to be used to weaken instead of strengthening democracy in the five-year tenure. In its report, Pildat also noted that among the 15 legislatures of Pakistan, this National Assembly was the fourth one which completed its term in the 75-year history of the country.

Mudassir Rizvi of Free and Fair Election Network (Fafen) was of the opinion that sometimes they could become too critical while talking about democracy, without realising the fact that the country had been in a transition phase for the past many decades.

Sometimes, he said, political parties had to take some steps out of political expedience, which might not be seen strictly as being in line with the spirit of the Constitution.

But if these steps were aimed at strengthening democracy or for the survival of democracy, then the parties must be appreciated for it, not criticised.

“These are small jerks which are, in fact, necessary for the revival of democracy,” he said while commenting on the question of whether premature dissolution of the assembly was a good omen for democracy.

In a country without “perfect democracy”, he said, such small details could be ignored as, ultimately, the country would go for elections sooner or later.

Moreover, Mr Rizvi said, the prime minister was not making decisions alone and he was doing all this with a consensus among the country’s major political parties.

Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) Senator Raza Rabbani said that generally speaking, “the assembly has completed its term and it has been dissolved three days before for constitutional purposes”.

Therefore, he was of the opinion that it was not a major issue that needed to be pondered over or discussed.

“However, if we talk strictly in terms of the Constitution, then yes, we can say that the NA has not completed its term,” he added.

Constitutional expert Hafiz Ahsaan Khokhar, however, was of the view that premature dissolution of an assembly could not be a good omen for democracy. He believed that the prime minister should not have dissolved the assembly before time to hold elections within 60 days.

Mr Khokhar suggested that if it was necessary to provide time to the candidates for campaigning, or to the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) for preparations to undertake a major delimitation and electoral exercise, then the Constitution should be amended and 90 days should be provided for elections, whether the NA completes term or is dissolved before time.

He said the ball was now in the court of the ECP, as under the law, the commission had the power to decide the polling dates and the matter could not even be challenged before the court.

Another senior lawyer, Barrister Afzal Hussain, was of the opinion that one could say the NA had completed its term “in essence”, but constitutionally speaking, its term was scheduled to end at midnight on Aug 12.

Barrister Afzal also said the prime minister had dissolved the assembly as per the Constitution and this act should be supported if it was “beneficial” for a majority of the people and the parties, which would get sufficient time for campaigning.

Published in Dawn, August 12th, 2023