ISLAMABAD, July 23: The interior minister, Moinuddin Haider, has said the democracy can only be strengthened if expansion of fanaticism is halted in the country.

He was speaking as the guest of honour at a seminar on Towards a Sustainable Democracy. The seminar was organized by the Institute of Legislative Development and Transparency (PILDAT) here on Tuesday.

The minister said allout efforts were being made to eliminate the scourge of extremism.

Appreciating the proposed constitutional reforms, he said: “Extremist groups will not be allowed to hijack people at gunpoint.”

Dispelling the impression of controlled democracy, he said sincere efforts were being made to institute genuine democratic order. “Democracy is a way of governance that satisfies people’s heart, mind and soul,” he said adding “Not a form but substance of system is what matters for a large number of ordinary citizens who remain deprived of food, justice and health.”

He said the forthcoming general polls would be transparent and foreign observers would be invited for monitoring.

Dr Tahir Amin of Quaid-i-Azam University focused on global context while pointing out factors, which run counter to the spirit of democracy. Foreign influence in internal affairs must come to an end if democracy is to be established on permanent basis, he said adding “The marked indifference of Western powers towards unrepresentative regimes have created structural difficulties, as prolonged dictatorships in Muslim countries have spiked national political works aimed at sustaining democracy.”

Warning against the repercussions of external cushion for internal power mechanism, he came hard on forced political engineering. “Any sort of engagement for the perpetuation of illegitimate rule is destined to end up in failure,” he added.

Miss Jaba S. Menon from New Dehli said sound institutional base, community participation and regular elections won India the battle for a sustainable democracy.

A guest speaker from Sri Lanka, Dipankar Banerji, said objective of democracy was to promote good governance. Fruits of sustainable democracy are many and the best one is human development, he added. He believed that freedom of expressions, universal suffrage, frequent elections, access to information and associational autonomy of media were vital for true democracy.

Arno Keller of Freiedrick Erbert Noaman said democracy was produced by totally democratised political parties, and political training, dialogue and consensus were necessary for viable and self-sustaining polity.

Prof Dilara Chaudhary from Dhaka University spoke about people-oriented governance practices and narrated the advantages of having democracy in the country after military ceased to interfere after 1977 in Bangladesh.

Mass awareness about the virtues of democracy along with enabling environment created by the government help build a stable political order, she said.

A.G. Noorani Morman, a prominent Indian constitutional expert, dwelt upon the crucial role of press, judiciary and parliament in strengthening democracy. “Political democracy must be backed by social and economic democracy,” he said adding “Constitutional morality is central to sustainable democracy.”

Criticizing centralised party system which he termed as hangover of freedom movement, he said party system with broad participation was the need of hour. On the role of President, he said” Head of the state should be too powerful to prevent derailment of democracy and not too powerful to subvert it.” Test of politics lies in the provision of unfettered freedom to the nation, he added.

A member of the House of Common, Mohammad Sarwar, said the graduation condition would cause political exclusion of majority. “If an undergraduate John Major can become the premier of the mother of parliamentary system, then why 98 per cent Pakistanis are being denied their basic right to elect their representatives.” He said no one should be above the law and there must be across-the-board accountability showing zero tolerance for all found corrupt whether they were generals, judges or politicians.

Acting as a session rapporteur, Dr Tariq Rehman said good governance came after democracy. He called for the institutionalization of the possibility of removing inefficient rulers. Even if an undemocratic party comes to power only people should dislodge that ruling elite, he added.

Suggesting a way forward, Javed Jabbar stressed the need for a self-regulating political parties commission in order to make sure parties practising democracy within. He said democracy was nurtured when abiding will of the people was upheld and equity promoted. He said military rulers should not play with the destiny of unarmed force rather an honest way was to be opted for a broader national reconciliation which was the only road to sustainable democracy.

Kanwar Ahmad of MQM said provincial autonomy, removal of religion in politics, consensus foreign policy, education for all, independent EC and judiciary were the essential ingredients that help sustain democracy.

Meraj Mohammad Khan of Pakistan Tehrik Insaf said unless feudalism, unjust economic order and extremism were wiped out, sustainable democracy would remain a dream. Ijazul Haq of PML-QA questioned if Army could unite when its institutional interests were threatened then why political parties remained divided when faced with political crisis? —Ziaur Rehman Hashmi