Our parliament passed the 26th Constitutional Amendment in late October. It rejects the naïve idea of tyranny defined by people like James Madison. The parliament reflected its collective wisdom, and as the Japanese proverb goes, “None of us is smarter than all of us.”
In 1729, Jonathan Swift proposed a legislative solution to poverty in his essay, “A Modest Proposal for Preventing the Children of Poor People from Being a Burden to Their Parents or Country, and for Making Them Beneficial to the Publick.” He proposed selling and eating the children of the poor to address unemployment, poverty, and disparity in Ireland.
The government’s amendment to the Constitution is also Swiftian, aimed at solving the country's economic, environmental, and judicial problems. The far-reaching impacts of this historic achievement may not have yet dawned on people. Still, to the discerning, it is evident that this has put the country on a transformative path of progress and development.
The country also has an external debt of nearly $90 billion and an annual interest liability of around $4 billion. The government should inform the Paris Club and other multilateral and bilateral lenders that the unconstitutional interest shall not be paid from 2028 onwards
The most significant part of the legislation was amending Article 38(f) of the Constitution, which declares that the state shall “completely eliminate” Riba by the end of 2027. This can help address the country's economic issues by saving billions of dollars in due interest payments.
The government has a domestic debt (borrowed from local banks) of nearly Rs50 trillion and an annual interest liability of Rs7 trillion. The legislation should allow the government to instantly cease making interest payments to local banks since it renders such payments unconstitutional. The country also has an external debt of nearly $90 billion and an annual interest liability of around $4 billion. The government should inform the Paris Club and other multilateral and bilateral lenders that the unconstitutional interest shall not be paid from 2028 onwards.
For Douglas Adams fans, the legislation's brilliance is like the fiscal policy of the Golgafrinchan Colonisation Committee when it adopted the leaf as legal tender and ran into an inflationary problem due to the abundance of trees. They decided to implement a defoliation campaign and burn down all the forests to curb inflation and effectively revalue the leaf.
Another vital part of the amendment was the insertion of Article 9A in the Constitution's chapter on Fundamental Rights. Pakistan's people are now entitled to a clean, healthy, and sustainable environment. There could not have been a better solution to the country's environmental problem. The government focused on the Constitution rather than wasting time and resources on governance and regulating pollution and emissions.
It is disappointing that despite the amendment and a clear constitutional directive, smog continues to reside unconstitutionally in Punjab’s capital. The pollutants blatantly threaten to undermine constitutionalism and the rule of law in the country. One hopes the newly created constitutional bench of the Supreme Court will take a Suo Motu notice and hold smog and pollutants accountable for defiling the Constitution.
While resolving the economic and environmental predicaments, the government has also put the judiciary in its rightful place through the constitutional amendment.
The independent judiciary posed problems for many other progressive governments worldwide. Their great leaders, like Stalin, Mussolini, Hitler, Idi Amin, and Pol Pot, had to curtail the judiciary to uphold the rights of the people and ensure justice. Even in the US, Roosevelt proposed his court-packing plan and brought the Judiciary Reorganisation Bill of 1937 after the US Supreme Court struck down his New Deal legislation.
In India, Narendra Modi tried to gain some control over the judiciary through the 99th Constitutional Amendment in 2014, which changed the appointment process of the superior judiciary. The Indian Supreme Court later struck down the amendment. It is a matter of some satisfaction that where India failed at enacting even a minor change, we have succeeded with a significant overhaul, exhibiting the strength of our democratic institutions.
That said, one is anguished at the inability of the government to table the first circulated draft of the amendment, which had a much more comprehensive set of reforms. Most critical was establishing the military courts for civilian trials and the supremacy of the intelligence agencies. Curbing the political offences of civilians has historical precedents. In 1934, Germany introduced the Volkgerichtshof (People’s Court) when, after the Reichstag fire, Hitler was displeased with the Supreme Court judgment in the Leipzig Trial. This special court dealt with all crimes viewed as Wehrkraftzersetzung (the disintegration of defensive capability).
This government has demonstrated a successful governance model. One is reminded of Terry Pratchett’s Discworld, where the Patrician, dictator of Anikh-Morpork, decided to tax the wizards and the University. He told the wizards, “It was two hundred dollars per capita; if per capita was a problem, decapita could be arranged.”
One hopes the 27th Constitutional Amendment will be more progressive and include some of the first draft's proposals. In The Book of Disquiet, Fernando Pessoa writes, "There’s no sunset so lovely it couldn’t be yet lovelier.”
The subsequent constitutional amendment should also solve other problems faced by the country. For example, nutrition and health should be fundamental rights, and the Constitution should disallow being malnourished and unhealthy. Similarly, the Constitution should prohibit being illiterate to immediately achieve 100% literacy in the country.
There are critics of this government and the amendment. Their criticism is based on an archaic conception of democracy, the rule of law, liberty, and civil rights. These critics also ignore the challenges faced by the country today. Imran Khan has led the ignorant masses astray. If the democratic norms were recklessly followed, he would undeniably have harmed democracy, undermined the judiciary and disfigured Pakistan’s constitutional framework. Imran Khan and PTI are the greatest threats to the country and must be eliminated by any and all means.
Ignoring the critics, this government has demonstrated a successful governance model. One is reminded of Terry Pratchett’s Discworld, where the Patrician, dictator of Ankh-Morpork, decided to tax the wizards and the University. He told the wizards, “It was two hundred dollars per capita; if per capita was a problem, decapita could be arranged.”
The government’s Patrician approach to most of the country's challenges—politics, legislation, economy, tax collection, IPPs, social media, or PTI—bears fruit, and progress can be felt in the air.
This works in the Discworld, much to the angst of the provocateurs living in the Roundworld.