POLITICS in the fair land of Pakistan is more of a Greek tragic-comedy bordering on the absurd. It would be absolutely hilarious if it did not involve the future of 220 million odd citizens. Yes, the pun is intended

After the landmark Supreme Court verdict last July, disqualifying Nawaz Sharif as prime minister, he should have voluntarily resigned from his party’s leadership.

Unfortunately, that is not the done thing in Pakistan and such traditions are non-existent, nay frowned upon.

Instead, Mr Sharif used the parliament to enable him to head his party through the Election Act 2017. This act was challenged in the Supreme Court and the latest SC judgment has disqualified him from heading any party and all his decisions as the head have been declared illegal in retrospective. Thereafter the Election Commission of Pakistan’s rejection of nomination papers by PML-N candidates for the Senate election on this ground is understandable.

However, the rejection of nominations papers duly signed by PML-N Chairman Raja Zafarul Haq is beyond one’s comprehension. The MQM’s case is relevant here.

The MQM is being run by a convener after Altaf Husain’s diatribe against Pakistan. It is ironical that MQM with mere a convener and not a head is allowed to participate in the Senate election on a party basis whereas PML-N Chairman Raja Zafrul Haq’s authority to sign nomination papers was unacceptable to the ECP. The ECP decision is bound to have political implications.

The aggrieved party will scream political victimization, and one fears that Pakistan’s frail democracy may not bear the repercussions of such actions.

Muhammad Javed

Lahore

Published in Dawn, February 24th, 2018