Politicians miss the bus While Pakistan Day came and went yesterday with all eyes fixed on a few significant developments, there was a sense of disappointment that the mainstream political parties had failed to reach agreement on a caretaker prime minister. The eight-member parliamentary committee charged by the constitution with fulfilling this responsibility, with equal representation of the outgoing government coalition and the opposition, signally fell out on the rock of intransigent insistence on their own candidates. It is a matter of profound regret that the politicians chose their respective candidates unwisely, without taking into consideration the other side’s view, and then failed to show the necessary maturity and flexibility to arrive at a consensus. Thereby a great historic opportunity to establish a precedent that would have strengthened the democratic forces was unfortunately lost to partisan considerations. By the time these lines appear in print, the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) will be entering the last day for deciding the matter, having failed also to reach agreement on Saturday, the first of the two days at tts disposal to apply closure. These developments have further accentuated the climate of uncertainty surrounding the upcoming elections. The hope is that the ECP will complete the task and allow the country to breathe a sigh of relief that the process continues to move forward despite fits and starts. The ECP has in the meantime announced the election schedule for the May 11 elections. It has fixed six days from March 24 to 29 for filing of nomination papers. Scrutiny of these will be carried out from March 30 to April 5. Defaulters of even small amounts of any state-run department will be given short shrift. Candidates can file appeals against the decision of a returning officer by April 9. April 16 will be the last date for decisions on the appeals by election tribunals, whereas the candidates can withdraw their nomination papers by April 17. Final lists of candidates will be published by April 18. While this finalisation of the schedule is welcome, all eyes will be on the ECP’s decision regarding the caretaker prime minister today. As though the breakdown between the politicians at the Centre on the question of the caretaker setup was not bad enough, outgoing Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif has delivered himself of a broadside against the nominees of the PPP for caretaker chief minister Punjab. Three provinces, Sindh, Balochistan and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa have agreed the caretaker chief ministers, but something similar to what is happening in the Centre seems to be at work in Punjab. The hardline lobby in the PML-N, led by outgoing Leader of the Opposition Chaudhry Nisar and which arguably includes Shahbaz Sharif, seems bent on sabotaging any effort to arrive at a consensus on the caretaker setup in the Centre and in Punjab. Chaudhry Nisar’s press conferences before and during the sessions of the parliamentary committee clearly indicated that no agreement was in the offing, and so it turned out. It appeared as though the (changed) members of the PML-N on the parliamentary committee had no mandate to decide anything and that their party leadership (particularly Chaudhry Nisar) effectively scuttled what would have been a historic development. Meanwhile eyes also turned yesterday to the PTI’s massive rally at Minar-e-Pakistan in Lahore (more on that some other time) and Pervez Musharraf’s expected return to the country (finally) via Karachi after obtaining protective bail from the Sindh High Court against arrest on arrival in the Nawab Akbar Bugti and Benazir Bhutto assassination cases. The electoral fray is heating up, and all men of goodwill will hope that the process of holding the elections goes ahead as smoothly as possible and with the minimum violence from various non-state actors.