KARACHI: ‘Continuous struggle only way to democracy’
By Bhagwandas
KARACHI, March 26: Speakers at a seminar on Sunday said there were no shortcuts to democracy and it could only be achieved by a long struggle of the people through a political process after rendering great sacrifices. Speaking at a seminar on Crisis Resolution in Pakistan organized by the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan, they said politicians had been disgraced and discredited in a systematic manner by the establishment.
They said the politicians may be good or bad, but political parties were the only way through which true democracy could be achieved and the rights of the people safeguarded.
They said the military establishment had ruined almost all organs of the state and it was not possible to hold free and fair elections under a set up headed by a president in military uniform.
Condemning the army operations in Balochistan, Waziristan, the NWFP, FATA, etc, they demanded that they be stopped immediately, as a large number of civilians, including women and children were being killed by the brutal and ruthless use of heavy arms and ammunition by security forces.
Veteran politician Sardar Sherbaz Mazari speaking on the Balochistan situation said there may be good or bad sardars. But rather than discrediting all of them, the bad sardars could be brought to justice and tried in open courts, and punished if found guilty.
He said ever since 1999 when Gen Pervez Musharraf took over, no problem has been solved. In fact, the miseries of the people have increased manifold.
Makhdoom Khaliquzzamn said Sindhis were being exploited, fearing that if their exploitation did not end, they would become like the Red Indians of the USA.
He said during partition, a major chunk of Sindh’s land was mortgaged to money lenders many of whom had migrated, which was not returned to the natives.
The border lands, he said, were allotted to former army men while major chunks of the coastal land has been taken over and declared as federal land.
Water of the Indus River is being manipulated owing to which hundreds of thousands of coastal land in Thatta and Badin has been affected by sea intrusion.
He said the Sindh Assembly was the first to demand Pakistan, but experiences and exploitation of the past six decades have raised the question if Sindhis should choose the path put forward by G M Syed.
Dr Mehdi Hassan said there were over 160 political parties, including over 55 religious parties in the country. But a majority of these were disorganized and lacked discipline while the military was more organized and a disciplined force and it also had the desire for power.
Justice (Retd) Fakhruddin G Ebrahim said that merely demanding the army to return to the barracks was not enough. It should rather be made accountable for its deeds. The defence budget should be discussed and debated openly in the parliament, he said.
He said the people could get power only through a long political struggle. There was no shortcut to democracy.
Hamid Ali Khan said politicians should not start a dialogue with the military rulers and should isolate them, adding that the military could not rule on its own.
The HRCP’s, Asma Jehangir, Iqbal Haider and Zohra Yusuf said Gen Musharraf called this system democracy but a majority of people did not even know from where the country’s prime minister had come or his earlier involvement in politics.
They said billions of rupees were being spent on non development sectors like defence, but the social sectors were not getting enough funding. They also criticized the discriminatory laws and called for their abolition.
Kamran Arif presented the situation in FATA and said it was being controlled by the Frontier Crimes Regulation and that Pakistani laws were not implemented there.
Parliamentarians elected from FATA could participate in parliament in law making for Pakistan, but they could not make any laws for FATA, he said.
Dr Samina Ahmad, Marium Palijo, Khudadino Baloch, Nawaz Butt, Rochiram, Sajida Shaikh, Sabir Shah, Javed Burki, Iqbal Munshi and others also spoke at the seminar conducted by Ghazi Salahuddin and Mazhar Abbas.
