Systems:

When facing systemic collapse.. key actors try to strengthen consensus on its foundations.

Pakistan has a novel way of doing this.

Answer currently dreamt up is creating a separate Constitutional Court in a system based on Common Law & ‘Tradition of Precedent’ :)

1/n

https://twitter.com/salmanAraja/status/1835304435125571843

Reason why Common Law tradition states don't opt for a separate Constitutional Court (a 'Civil Law' derivative) is because Common Law & ‘Tradition of Precedent’ enable such a court to exercise unchecked judicial activism & enable its greater interference in politics & policy

2/n

Pakistan is a Competitive Authoritarian State mired by a colonial system destined for severe dysfunction every decade or so,when,the Military(primary authoritarian actor) constitutes ‘re-sets’ WITHOUT enabling a transition towards an Independent State(democratic or otherwise)
1/n

https://twitter.com/safridis/status/1692721494881714353

Due largely to the military's latest mistakes,Pak stands at the precipice of a rare nation-building opportunity
The environment is conducive for 'redesigning' political,legal & governance sub-systems to enable a transition towards an EVENTUAL emergence of an independent state
2/n

States experiencing some form of transition from authoritarianism towards democracy live through several important, even pivotal, moments of decision …
Pakistan, well, Pakistan’s Army Chief (COAS), is now faced with one such moment

1/n The aftermath of Imran Khan’s arrest, it manner later deemed illegal, saw widespread protests by his supporters (PTI) in Pakistan and isolated incidents of vandalism & property damage that led to, as yet, 25 citizens killed by the state

2/n

Systems: Pakisan's Judiciary

There is nothing surprising or even unusual about Pak’s Supreme Court's internal divisions.

Pak’s judiciary, lower & upper, has, for decades, been predicated on ‘court packing’; the manipulation of judges’ appointments for partisan ends.

1/n Pak's Current Supreme Court has only a minority of floating or independents judges, the proverbial fig-leaves.
While a majority are nakedly partisan between the main political parties (dominantly PMLn & PPP) & Pakistan's Military.

2/n

Pakistan

A populist political leader relying solely on the power & sheer will of the people (voters) is presenting an existential challenge to the Military’s coercive political power as his voters take on the combined might of the state’s institutions

1/n What is being witnessed is Pakistan now SHOULD have happened decades ago …

it’s almost 40 years too late

2/n

Since the 1950s, the US remained the dominant external actor in Pakistan & Pak’s Military the dominant internal actor, irrespective of the regime-type.
US sought to ‘control’ key regional policies; if Pak wavered too much, it intervened; a modern ‘subsidiary state’
1/n

https://twitter.com/safridis/status/1584228588089286657

Pak’s political parties/politicians relied either on the patronage of external actors(mainly US) or the dominant internal actor(military) to form govts..

Without the support of at least one, it was near impossible to form a govt in Pak

2/n

The following two threads are based on conversations over the past months with officials & senators in the US regarding the mess that has emerged in Pakistan this year ..

I thank you all for the permission, & in some cases, insistence, to write this publically

1/n When Pakistan’s [Pak] former PM Imran Khan (IK) claimed that a US Govt backed ‘conspiracy’ removed him from office, his accusation was met with complete bemusement in the US, esp in the Senate’s Foreign Relations and Armed Services committees [CFR] [CAS].
2/n

So a mid-ranking US diplomat relayed the US Admin’s displeasure at Pak-US relations & singled out the Pak PM as the obstacle towards any improvement
..
All fine, a touch condescending perhaps, but that’s because Pak isn’t important in US calculus… but fine
1/n The official went on to clarify that if Pak PM was not removed then Pakistan would have to face consequences
…
That constitutes a clear threat, BUT nothing unprecedented..past Pak Ambassadors have served as conduits for worse threats.. very post-colonial but true
2/n

.""ENDURED"" a VidConf with some key Pak "Thought Leaders"
...
Lessons Learned:

1) Even when facing a Global Pandemic that could kill THEIR OWN family members.. shameless sycophancy, petty politics & confirmation bias were STILL THE MOST important traits among many
..
1/n 2) A sizeable chunk of the 'left wing' press in Pakistan (esp the English speaking contingent), & this includes owners.... seem to be either inhumanly-callous or among the dumbest conspiracy theorists around
..
2/n

Proxy Management:
Seeing the predicament PTM faces in Pakistan today,its important to understand HOW a movement that grew out of populist initial grievances became largely impotent as the Afghan peace process progressed..
This thread will delve lightly into why this happened.. Any asymmetrically powerful state's the use of political proxies within a weaker rival state to further political narratives comes in three distinct stages;
(a) initial alliance goal-congruence
(b) path management
(c) renegotiating an exit
1/n

Indus-G Block:
Without making this into an “introduction” to ‘Offshore drilling 101’, let me do this in a very VERY simple way (one we normally take when explaining offshore drilling to “high school” interns who come for a ‘day visit’
1/n So here goes… in the most simplest terms.. offshore drilling has some distinct phases before the decision on extraction can be made..
..
(1) initial formation reports (seismic etc)
(2) drilling process
(3) analysis/testing/assessment
..
2/n