KARACHI: Civil society split over poll participation
By Bhagwandas
KARACHI, Dec 16: The majority of speakers at a meeting on Saturday were certain that the upcoming elections would be rigged, though some said that yet they would participate in the polls while others were in favour of boycotting the elections.
Speaking at the consultation forum on the current political situation organized by the Aurat Foundation, those in favour of participating in the polls said that they took this line so that the field was not left open for the supporters of the status quo, adding that they wanted to protect the rights of the masses, while those stressing a boycott said that by participating in the polls, credibility was being given to the “dictator’s” actions.
Sindh High Court Bar Association chief Rasheed A. Razvi said that without the restoration of the independent judiciary of Nov 2, free and fair polls could not be held. He said that 23 judges had been inducted in the past few days in the superior judiciary that would decide the election petitions. Citing an example, he said during 1999, when he was a judge, he had sent a case of misconduct of a lawyer to the lawyers’ body, which investigated and confirmed the misconduct and at present, the case was pending in an appellate body. Now that lawyer has been inducted as a judge and one could visualize what kind of decisions he would take.
He said that the emergency was imposed to fight terrorism, yet so far not a single terrorist had been arrested, while a large number of judges had been sacked. He said that just before the announcement of elections, 73 judicial officers were posted on the recommendations of the PML-Q and MQM, so one could imagine what kind of polls they would conduct.
He said that the masses have become more aware of the situation and were looking for sincere leadership, yet they were becoming disillusioned when they saw that the political parties, which had championed the cause of democracy, did not practice democratic principles within their internal matters.
Huma Baqai, an academician, stressed that the elections should not be boycotted because then people similar to those who were in the last parliament would be elected and it would continue to act as a rubber stamp parliament.
She said that it was owing to the boycotts and weaknesses of the politicians that religious extremists and those in uniform had taken over the controlling positions; one ruled the country in the name of religion while the other in the name of national security, she added. She said that efforts were being made to model the political process here on the pattern of Africa and the Middle East, as a Hosni Mubarak type leader would be installed here who could serve the purposes of the powers that be. She said that such designs could be foiled by full participation in the polls so that true leaders emerged.
Nargis Rehman, a civil society activist, said that the poor masses were being used by the political parties while as the poor suffered state oppression, the politicians harvested the benefits of their sacrifices. She said the masses were not yet aware of their rights and efforts must be made to spread literacy among them. The organizers suggested some basic requisites that were necessary for free and fair polls. Some of these were: reinstatement of pre-Nov 2 judges; restoration of the curtailed powers of the judiciary, removal of judges appointed under the Provisional Constitution Order; appointment of an independent election commission and neutral caretaker government; withdrawal of amendments in the Pemra ordinance and restrictions on the media; release of all judges, members of civil society, political leaders, etc and withdrawal of cases against them; abolition of secret agencies’ involvement in politics and cancellation of all transfers, postings and appointments after Nov 3.
Representatives of various political parties participated, but most of their time was spent on hurling accusations and counter-accusations towards their political opponents.
Representatives of the PPP, PML-N, PML-Q, MQM, Sindhiani Tehreek, Jamaat-i-Islami, Sindh National Party, Labour Party Pakistan, National Workers’ Party, All Pakistan Minorities’ Alliance and others participated.
