KARACHI: Senior PPP leader Senator Mian Raza Rabbani has called for revisiting the Charter of Demo­cracy of 2006 in efforts to bring about a new covenant among the democratic forces to save the country from internal and external threats.

Addressing a press conference here on Friday, he warned: “If any attempt is made to derail the democratic process, it will not be a threat this time to the 1973 Constitution but to the federation.”

He regretted that instead of learning a lesson from past mistakes, some people were talking about the days of the elected government being numbered.

Senator Rabbani read out an open letter to the citizens in which he pointed out that the country had stumbled from one uncertainty to another amid power machinations of its ruling elite and was now on the edge of the precipice. He called upon all sections of the society to forge an alliance and wage a joint struggle for the survival of the state, and for an egalitarian society based on freedom and law, federal and parliamentary structures and moderation.

Terming democracy the only panacea that could save, unite and take forward the federation, he conceded that much had gone wrong in the country. Corruption, terrorism, sectarianism, lawlessness, drug abuse, economic disparity, crony capitalism, fiscal irresponsibility and economic mismanagement had made it difficult for the people to earn their livelihood. “Their welfare and that of their children is being mortgaged at the hands of international financial imperialism.”

He gave a 14-point charter highlighting the need to protect the Constitution and federalism, redefine the civil-military relations at all levels and protect the fundamental rights.

He said the federation today was different from the Pakistan of 1958, 1969, 1977 and 1999. After an arduous struggle, the charter of the people for devolution, provincial rights, ownership of resources and political, economic and cultural rights had found expression in the will of the parliament through the 18th Amendment.

“Pakistan’s ruling elite, be it political, civil or military, must realise that one of the latent outcome s of this amendment is that it has stemmed the tide of extremist nationalist movements. Let us learn from the example of the former USSR and how international imperialism seeks to redraw the map of the Middle East. Let us not provide an opportunity to the imperialist forces to fulfil their nefarious hidden agenda in the 21st century.”

He said that besides terrorist groups waging a war against the state and seeking to end constitutional rule and impose their brand of Sharia to pursue their agenda, sectarian violence and politics to divide and sub-divide the people to weaken the society and the state, foreign-funded nationalist insurgencies in various provinces, widening economic disparity between the ruling elite and the common people, the near collapse of systems of governance, and the continued tension and turf war in civil-military relations, elements within the state apparatus were seeking to pursue a pan-Islamic policy.

Insisting that the country was in crisis but had yet to become a failed state, he called for a grand national reconciliation, as had been achieved in May 2006 through the Charter of Democracy which was reinforced by the all-party conference in London. At that time it was to struggle for a democratic, federal, parliamentary Pakistan and now it should be to protect the country from internal and external threats, he said.

He said the new covenant among the democratic forces should reaffirm the federal and parliamentary structures and the supremacy of parliament enshrined in the Constitution.

The PPP leader called for redefining the civil-military relations at all levels through constant dialogue and development of systems at the executive and parliamentary levels, to shun ad hoc decisions and develop systems for good governance, including civil service reforms, and to ensure the independence of the judiciary and develop national consensus against intolerance, extremism and terrorism.

All democratic and progressive political forces should discuss and sign a minimum national political agenda, he said, which he named as the “Benazir Bhutto model to democratic transition”.

PPP leaders Senator Saeed Ghani, Syed Waqar Mehdi and Mian Rashid Rabbani were present on the occasion.

Published in Dawn, July 5th, 2014