ISLAMABAD, March 11: Speakers at a seminar on Monday were of the unanimous opinion that the people have the right to overthrow or install a government or make changes in political leadership.

Former PPP senator Safdar Abbasi said that it was the prerogative of the people to throw out Benazir Bhutto or Nawaz Sharif, after credible election if held under an independent election commission.

The seminar was organised jointly by the Sustainable Development Policy Institute (SDPI) and the Liberal Forum to take stock of domestic ramifications of Pakistan’s recent policy shifts, in the wake of September 11 events and their implications on the people.

The seminar was divided in three parts. Human Rights Commission of Pakistan chairman, Afrasiab Khan Khattak; former Balochistan National Party MNA, Sanaullah Baloch; Jami Chandio, editor of Sindhi language newspaper Ibrat; and Saraiki National Party leader Abdul Majid Kanjo spoke in the first session.

Fauzi Shahid, Rubina Saigol, Zafarullah Niazi, and Aasim Sajjad Akhtar, representing the Press, labour unions, women and civil society, respectively spoke at the second session.

The participants were unanimous in their judgment that the present government did not respond to events of its own volition but followed western dictates as readily as had been done by various governments during the last fifty years.

They said President Musharraf was forced to make U-turn in its Afghan policy. In the domestic sphere, however, the policy of the hidden persuaders, mainly the intelligence agencies, have continued with the same vigour bringing devastating results to the country.

Mr Abbasi said that the PPP chairperson had exposed the dubious hand of agencies in moulding politics and manipulating elections, to achieve ‘positive results’ and eliminating parties which did not suit the establishment.

He referred to the statement of a former ISI director-general, Gen Hamid Gul, who was on record as saying that he had created the IJI in the ‘national interest’ and distributed Rs140 million among the politicians to achieve the desired results and eliminate the PPP.

The representatives of JI, PPP and MQM, asserted that the game playing by the hidden persuaders from agencies, could be defeated in the present context, if the political parties joined hands and shun their differences.

They claimed that credible election should be conducted by a non-partisan and independent election modelled on the pattern of Bangladesh where the elections are held by an independent election commission under a caretaker government.

Mr Abbasi also demanded that the Army and the elite intelligence agency should own the failure in Afghanistan and Kashmir policies.

He also said that the continued extension in the term of the chief of army staff was unconstitutional.

In her paper Nasreen Jalil said the US did not give Pakistan a choice. She however said that it proved to be a blessing in disguise for “if the spread of Talibanization and religious extremism had been allowed to continue Pakistan would have become another Afghanistan.”

She said that the political-cum-military strategists had worked out a theory that if “we corner Indian military in Kashmir it would quit and hand over the state.” The 1965 Kashmir operation and 1999 misadventure on Kargil was based on the same misconceived hypothesis, the MQM leader said.

The JI representative refuted the charge that his party was a B team of President Ziaul Huq. He said that the party followed its own policy on Afghanistan in the sound knowledge that by walking in Afghanistan the Soviet Union was trying to over run Pakistan. He said his party was opposed to political agenda of the military dictator, Gen Ziaul Haque.

Earlier, during the first session Afrasiab Khattak said the state system was centralized and authoritarian and the legislature and judiciary was weak. He was of the view that the state structure did not represent the people. He said that there was continuing effort to control the society through electoral process and Gen Pervez Musharraf was the climax of this process.

He said the present government had shifted his position after ditching Taliban but had stuck to its old Kashmir policy. Even in the Afghan policy there has been no significant change and this was evident after observing the recent conflict near Gardez.

Sanaullah Baloch said that Pakistan enjoyed importance in the world arena due to the geographical position of Balochistan but regretted that his people had no say in the country’s affairs. He maintained that there was only one university in the province and the people of Balochistan could not get employment even in the Ormara naval base with a population of 20,000.

Jami Chandio said that the US military activities was concentrated in Balochistan with Dalbandin, Shamshi, Pasni, Gwadar Jiwani and Ormara serving as silent American bases.—Jonaid Iqbal