LAHORE: An All-Party Conference (APC) organised by the Lahore High Court Bar Association (LHCBA) on Saturday resolved to “frustrate any non-political and undemocratic move in the country”.

A declaration approved at the end of the event -- “All Political Parties Conference” -- said no political leader would support any undemocratic act in the country as democracy was already facing challenges. Parliament, it averred, is the supreme institution and the only way to rule in a democratic country. It also underscored the need for the political parties to learn from their mistakes and restore public trust.

The declaration hit out at comments about the judiciary by certain political parties and asked the politicians to avoid unnecessary criticism of the institution.

Announced by LHCBA President Chaudhry Zulfiqar Ali, it sought justice for the families of the Model Town incident victims and also demanded that the government expose those involved in the Khatm-i-Nabuwat case.

Leaders from almost all major parties participated in the conference and expressed their gratitude to the representatives of the Bar association for bringing them on one platform.

Railways minister Khwaja Saad Rafiq defended the stance of his party on the disqualification of Nawaz Sharif as prime minister in the Panama Papers case. He said dictators had introduced laws to victimise politicians, citing the regime of Ayub Khan who had inserted the disqualification provisions in the Constitution. “These were deleted until another dictator (Musharraf) restored them only to stop the way of the late Benazir Bhutto and Nawaz Sharif,” he recalled.

“How can you sit silent when you see a conspiracy against democracy,” he blasted.

Without mentioning the recent Faizabad sit-in, he urged all the political parties to protect the country from “Talibanization”. He condemned attacks on the residences of PML-N leaders by the sit-in participants and said everyone should reject the politics of protests.

“Why each democratically elected prime minister of Pakistan was either ousted or killed but not a single martial law administrator was held accountable,” he rhetorically asked.

“We did our best but failed,” he said while admitting failure of his government to bring Musharraf for trial. The politicians, he said, were not allowed to point out mistakes of the state institutions. Damaging a political party or forging new alliances would be of no use, he said, adding that “all such experiments proved unsuccessful in the past.”

The railways minister also criticised Musharraf for his statement wherein he endorsed subversion of the Constitution and democracy in the name of national security.

In reference to the Model Town incident, the minister said police had no right to kill anyone or lodge fabricated cases. But, he said, pursuing such cases by any party was deplorable.

Mr Rafiq admitted that the provincial governments had not devolved powers to local governments. He said elected representatives in the local government system were entitled to be empowered like parliamentarians are.

The minister said the general election could be delayed if the Constitution Amendment Bill was not adopted in the Senate. He hit out at Asif Ali Zardari and Imran Khan for joining Pakistan Awami Tehreek chief Dr Tahirul Qadri in the Model Town incident.

Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf Vice-Chairman Shah Mahmood Qureshi talked about the need for tolerance in politics. He said an independent and empowered election commission was essential for a strong democracy.

Mr Qureshi said the PTI had learnt a lot from its mistakes and added that the politicians should overcome their bitterness. He criticised Nawaz-specific amendment to the election laws and questioned how a man who was not eligible to become a member of assembly could head a political party. He said the release of Justice Najafi’s report on the Model Town incident was vital to meet the requisites of justice.

Awami Muslim League’s Sheikh Rashid claimed that next three months would be very critical for the country’s politics and added in the same breath the Supreme Court and army would save the country. He said the Supreme Court would also decide as to when the next general election would be held.

Many important decisions including the fate of Hudabiya Papers Mills case would be taken in the coming week, he said in his characteristic style.

Sardar Latif Khan Khosa of the Pakistan Peoples Party, Pak Sarzameen Party chairman Mustafa Kamal, Pakistan Awami Tehreek Secretary General Khurram Nawaz Gandapur, Chaudhry Zaheeruddin of the PML-Q, Maulana Mussadaq of the Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam and Ahsan Wayne of the Awami National Party also spoke.

Published in Dawn, December 10th, 2017