You can\u2019t have your cake and eat it too. On one hand, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Chief Minister Gandapur wishes to be a key component of the government machinery because he seemingly realises that no good can come from confrontational politics.
\nA series of \u201cgood talks\u201d with the executive indicated that he was ready to work with the federal government for the sake of his province. But standing in stark contrast to these confidence-building measures is his party\u2019s unwavering position on the issue of reserved seats in the provincial assembly. As the rest of the country participated in polls for senate seats on Tuesday, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa walked a different path.
\nThe fact that 25 lawmakers from the opposition benches elected on seats reserved for women and non-Muslims were yet to be sworn in by Assembly Speaker Babar Saleem Swati meant that the next step in the democratic trajectory had to be shelved. Considering a verdict from the Peshawar High Court and a clear-cut narrative from the election commission regarding the oath-taking meant the chaos would continue as long as the speaker put an end to the foot-dragging and followed due process.
\nRepeated declarations have been issued in this regard by the ECP. Proclaiming that their government is ready to \u201crender any sacrifices for democracy\u201d does not go in tune with the ongoing shenanigans. The provincial government would do well to remember the constitutional ambit.
\nEven if the heated decision to reject the Sunni Ittehad Council\u2019s claim to the allocation of reserved seats had drawn the ire of the legal fraternity as a move bereft of the law of precedent, the dye has\u2013for now\u2013been cast. There\u2019s no stopping the new home of PTI-backed independent candidates from knocking on the doors of the higher judiciary for relief or for the bench to deliberate on the intricacies of the constitutional questions involved but trying to hijack the governance train until they receive their answers does not make any sense.
\nThe decisions taken by the election watchdog need to be addressed on an immediate basis to spell an end to the prevailing confusion. However, like it or not, the country can no longer lie dormant and wait for the sun to shine again. *<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
You can\u2019t have your cake and eat it too. On one hand, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Chief Minister Gandapur wishes to be a key component of the government machinery because he seemingly realises that no good can come from confrontational politics. A series of \u201cgood talks\u201d with the executive indicated that he was ready to work with […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-398365","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-editorial"},"yoast_head":"\n