March, 16 2005	Wednesday	5 Safar 1426

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PESHAWAR, March 15: Speakers at a workshop here have underlined the need for electoral reforms, accountability and freedom of judiciary to allow true democracy to take roots in the country.

Speaking at the workshop ‘Clean money for clean politics’, they cited corruption, lack of funding and the flawed electoral and judicial system as major obstacles in the smooth functioning of the democratic process.

The workshop was jointly organized by the Centre for Civic Education Pakistan (CCEP) and the National Endowment for Democracy at the Peshawar Press Club on Tuesday.

CCEP Director Zafarullah Khan said the country lacked a political culture which allowed rich people to assume the role of leaders. The affluent class invested money in politics with the sole aim to make money, he added.

Referring to an Election Commission report, he said majority of the political parties submitted fake figures about their income and expenses, a practice which had been eroding people’s confidence in them.

Journalist Ismail Khan in his presentation said that democracy and accountability within a political party were interlinked. In Pakistan, he said, politics was done on the pattern of stock exchanges and the price of a party ticket to take part in an election was directly determined by the party’s prospects in elections.

He said big parties in the country were being operated through remote controls from abroad and there was no explanation as to who bore the expenditures of running party secretariats in London, Jeddah and Dubai.

He underlined the need for creating awareness among people regarding funding of parties and their sources of income.

Senator Prof Ibrahim Khan of the Jamaat-i-Islami was of the view that political parties must be formed on the basis of some ideologies, have a clear vision and follow their manifesto. In Turkey, he added, the government provided funds to political parties in accordance with their representation in parliament which was used for their development.

He said corruption should not be tolerated at any cost and a legal source of funding be made available to political parties, which should be exempted from taxes and open to auditing.

ANP’s Mohammad Adeel praised performance of political parties, saying their leaders and workers stood like a rock in the way of anti-democratic forces in the country. Many of them were hanged and jailed but they faced all such repressions with resoluteness and courage.

PML MPA Dr Semin Mehmood Jan was of the view that suppression of democratic institutions and use of force paved the way for revolution, such as France and Germany.

Ikramullah Jan of the Zawan Pakhtun Khyber Agency said that under the FCR children as small as three years were sent to jails in Fata. Drug barons in Fata manipulated elections through their wealth, he added.

Peshawar Press Club President Mohammed Riaz blamed the army for frequent martial laws and the derailment of democratic process in the country.