Even by its own chequered history and standards, Pakistan is on the brink of something new. It could be the deepening of the rule of justice in a strengthened democratic framework through a re-balancing of the distribution of power among key stakeholders. Or it could be a deep-dive into political chaos once again that could blow into an existential crisis. Either way, nothing will be the same again. 

The Pakistan Army is a powerful institution and that is not only because it commands one of only seven declared nuclear arsenals in the world, but because of the enormous influence, it wields over national politics and the country’s governance structure. But in political terms, it weathered two of its toughest days in history on Dec. 16 and 17, 2019, and suffered serious setbacks to its framework of influence.

First, on Dec. 16, a verdict from the Supreme Court disallowed an extension in the service of the army chief for an additional three years which had earlier been ‘granted’ by Prime Minister Imran Khan and his federal cabinet through the president. The court not only ruled that the government had no authority to grant such favor but also declared the law that governs the legitimacy of the army and its attendant rules of business deficient. However, it stopped short of sending the army chief home and instead suggested that the parliament redress the legal deficiencies and determine who can be army chief and for how long. The army chief’s job now has an expiry date of six months for that to happen. 

Second, on Dec. 17, a special court constituted on the orders of the Supreme Court, declared former military leader Pervez Musharraf guilty of high treason and handed him the death sentence.

Both these verdicts are unprecedented as the judiciary has in the past readily provided legal cover to martial rule. The army has directly ruled Pakistan for a total of 33 years through four army chiefs and each dictator’s unconstitutional rule was validated by the Supreme Court.

The two unprecedented verdicts open up an unexpected but wholly welcome opportunity for Pakistan to right the fundamental wrongs of its political and governance structures.

Adnan Rehmat

The army in Pakistan has rarely faced any serious legal challenge before, thanks to its traditional influence over not just the political landscape but also the judicial and executive domains. This has helped entrench it at the apex of Pakistan’s power structure, allowing it to call the shots even when democratic classes have eked out fragile power margins for themselves.

A lot is expected to change now, even as nothing radically does in Pakistan. This is evinced in the brief but prickly reaction from the army top brass with an official statement from it insisting that Musharraf is not a traitor and his death sentence has sent a wave of “pain and anguish” across its rank and file.

In another time, something far more drastic could have been expected. Musharraf arrested over 100 high courts and Supreme Court judges in 2007 after the Supreme Court defied his state of emergency as president. This has resulted in his death treason conviction now, the first for the army chief and unthinkable until recently.

There has still been no public reaction from the military after the army chief was denied an automatic extension. This contrasts with 1999 when army chief Musharraf simply staged a coup, arrested Nawaz Sharif and sacked his government after the Prime Minister used his powers to cut short his service tenure.

The slowly-building confidence now being unprecedentedly asserted by the judiciary is changing Pakistan. To be sure, the judiciary has never had love lost for the political classes. After all, the judiciary has never really protected the people’s mandate – no prime minister in Pakistan’s history has been allowed to complete their five-year tenure while more than half of the country’s army chiefs have exceeded their three-year office terms. All this is in no small measure due to the judiciary’s unease with the political class.

But the Supreme Court is now unexpectedly and explicitly emphasizing the pre-eminence and supremacy of the parliament and is pointedly suggesting that new rules governing the terms and conditions of the military chiefs be made by the people’s representatives. This is a new experience for Pakistan, including for the military.

These two unprecedented verdicts open up an unexpected but wholly welcome opportunity for Pakistan to right the fundamental wrongs of its political and governance structures. Far-reaching political and legal reforms led by political parties are done in order to purge old influences by undemocratic forces and to restore people’s sovereignty in decision making. The old must give way to the new.

No one can be more equal than the other anymore if the new verdicts are anything to go by. The ball is in the court of the political classes to define fairer rules of the game of power — ones that allow people-centric governance and the deepening of political and democratic freedoms and ethos. Pakistan deserves nothing less.

*Adnan Rehmat is a Pakistan-based journalist, researcher and analyst with interests in politics, media, development and science.

Twitter: @adnanrehmat1