DESPITE the government’s protestations, a constitutional crisis seems to have been averted — at least for now. After two days of deliberations, the Election Commission announced late Friday afternoon that it had ‘decided’ to implement the Supreme Court’s verdict in the reserved seats case and had directed its legal team to immediately identify any confusion that may arise during the process.

However, in response to 11 Supreme Court justices’ finding that it had grossly misinterpreted the bat symbol judgement to not recognise the PTI as a political entity and violated the law in doing so, the Commission continued to remain defiant. It was clear from its press release that the ECP still harbours reservations about the reserved seats ruling and that its implementation may not be as smooth as one would hope. Nonetheless, things seem to be moving in the right direction.

The development came amidst ominous warnings of a ‘constitutional meltdown’ and a ‘looming emergency’, which had been propagated all week by various TV ‘analysts’ as well as ministers, while rumours circulated that the ECP would defy the court. Defence Minister Khawaja Asif appeared on a TV talk show on Thursday to warn that a “constitutional breakdown is about to happen…”

It may be recalled that the ruling PML-N had set off a major controversy earlier this week when it announced that the largest party in parliament would be banned. It was then forced to walk back that announcement amidst heavy condemnation from friends and foes alike. Humbled publicly, the party then took to lashing out at both the judiciary and its political opponents, accusing the former of favouritism and the latter of hatching conspiracies against the country.

The PML-N’s confrontational stance and overt refusal to respect court orders on arguably flimsy pretexts is a dangerous sign. The party seems to be throwing a tantrum over being denied a two-thirds majority, which it had only secured due to a series of patently unjust and illegal decisions taken by the ECP. It is unjustified for it to escalate tensions on this matter to the point where they may bring two branches of the state into direct conflict with each other.

On the one hand, the PML-N wastes no time condemning the PTI for causing ‘irreparable harm’ to the state due to the events of May 9; on the other, it seems to have no qualms about the harm it is causing to the tripartite arrangement of power by directly attacking the superior judiciary with accusations of bias towards the PTI and saying the courts want to ‘derail’ the political system with their judgements. The party must dial back its rhetoric and reverse course. History will not remember it kindly if it continues down this path of confrontation.

Published in Dawn, July 20th, 2024