Pakistan's Politics Needs Rules Before It Needs Deals

In about 48 hours this week, Pakistan’s politics produced four headlines that look unrelated and are not.

On Wednesday, after an Islamabad High Court order, lawyers were able to meet Imran Khan and Bushra Bibi in Adiala jail for at least three hours. On Thursday, two of Mr Khan’s sisters, Dr Uzma Khan and Noreen Niazi, were released from Kot Lakhpat jail after their extended detention orders were withdrawn, while a third sister, Aleema Khan, stayed behind bars. The same day Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi floated a referendum on creating new provinces. And the chief election commissioner, Sikandar Sultan Raja, accused the federal government of trying to “sabotage” Islamabad’s local government elections.

Different players, different issues. But the same weakness runs through all four: big decisions are being announced, hinted at or denied before there is a process that people can see. I think that is the real problem with our politics today, more than any single party or leader.

Publish the proposal before you hold the vote. Mr Naqvi says survey reports suggest new provinces would improve governance, and he calls a referendum “the best way to put an end to this debate”. Defence Minister Khawaja Asif has said Pakistan could have as many as 12 provinces if they are drawn on administrative, not ethnic or linguistic, lines. The PPP strongly opposes the idea in Sindh. PTI’s secretary general, Salman Akram Raja, says Mr Khan has always supported new administrative units, though the party has concerns about the “context” and wants public opinion to count. A referendum can only settle a question that is specific. How many units? Drawn where? Paid for how, and with what change to the NFC award? Until those answers are in writing, a vote would ask people to approve a slogan. My ask is simple: put a draft on the table, let Parliament and the provincial assemblies debate it in public, and only then talk about asking voters. The same goes for the 28th constitutional amendment. Rana Sanaullah has said no draft has been presented. If that is true, say it plainly and say what is being considered. If there is a draft, publish it.

Hold the local polls you have already announced. The Election Commission has set December 20 for local government elections in Islamabad, after a delay of more than five years. Mr Raja says the government has directed that teachers should not be given election duty, and he asks where the commission will find staff. The government has not explained in the reports available how the polls will be run. An NA committee has also proposed changes to the 2015 law, which adds doubt about the date. Local government is the one level at which Mr Asif’s argument about delivery can be tested at once: services that reach people through elected councillors. The government should either withdraw the instruction or tell the commission in writing where the staff will come from, this week.

Detention needs a reason, a limit and a hearing. PTI lawyers say the three sisters were held under the Maintenance of Public Order ordinance, first for 30 days and then for 30 more, and Noreen Niazi’s son says there was no charge and no trial in 53 days. The government’s position, as Mr Naqvi put it, is that people get whatever relief the courts grant. I do not need to agree with PTI to say that preventive detention should be rare, short and quickly reviewed. When orders are extended and then withdrawn without public reasons, trust in the system falls, whoever is held. Aleema Khan’s case should be heard promptly, and the reasons should be given in open court.

Talk to the people who can deliver. Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari has called for a “political reset”, and Mahmood Khan Achakzai, the opposition leader in the National Assembly, has said the prime minister should personally invite the opposition. Both are asking for a meeting. A short agenda would do: the local polls, a process for the provinces question, and how detention cases are reviewed. Nobody has to concede on Imran Khan to agree on that.

Why this matters beyond politics. This week ministers told delegations from 60 countries at the Minerals Investment Forum that Pakistan offers predictable policies. Investors read headlines too. At home, petrol is Rs335 a litre, still well above its pre-war price, and Mr Bilawal has called the economic crisis one of the worst ever. A country that wants steady money needs steady rules, and rules are what a published draft, a fixed election date and a hearing within days provide.

I am not asking anyone to give up their politics. I am asking for three small things this month: a written proposal on provinces, local polls on December 20, and a hearing for every detainee still waiting. If those happen, talk of a reset will have some substance. If they do not, we will be writing the same four headlines again next month.