PESHAWAR: Senate Chairman Raza Rabbani has stressed the importance of dialogue among institutions to ensure supremacy of the Constitution and pull the country out of crises.

There is a need for a doctrine of dialogue among institutions, he said at the Mufti Mehmood Seminar organised here on Sunday by the JUI-Fazl.

He said the country was passing through a crucial period and political forces needed to shun their differences and strengthen the federation and federating units. He said the federation was under threat and “we should promote a culture of dialogue, otherwise, history will not forgive us”. Ominous clouds hovering over the federation, he said, required the political leadership to play its role.

Take a look: Confused political preferences

Senator Rabbani said he had recently taken an initiative in this direction and invited the chief justice of Pakistan to address the Senate. Military dictators pitted political parties against one another and institutions against each other to strengthen aristocracy.

There is lack of tolerance in the society and extremism is flourishing. He said the society needed tolerance and unity and should block the forces which promoted intolerance and extremism.

Describing the late Maulana Mufti Mehmood as a role model, Senator Rabbani said he had played a key role in framing the 1973 Constitution which was democratic, parliamentary and Islamic, and also ensured provincial autonomy to some extent. Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman, Qaumi Watan Party Chairman Aftab Ahmad Khan Sherpao, Awami National Party leader Ghulam Ahmad Bilour, the Jamaat-i-Islami’s Liaquat Baloch and PML-N’s Khyber Pakhtunkhwa chief Pir Sabir Shah also eulogised the struggle waged by Mufti Mehmood.

Maulana Fazl said the 18th Constitutional Amendment was a major success of democratic forces.

About integrating the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (Fata) into Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, he said tribesmen should first be repatriated to their homes before involving them in other issues.

Published in Dawn, November 9th, 2015

On a mobile phone? Get the Dawn Mobile App: Apple Store | Google Play