KARACHI, June 7: The “people’s uprising” in Kyrgyzstan in March this year was influenced by social problems and corruption, and after next month’s elections the new government there is expected to evolve a new structure of authority, guaranteeing against a return to authoritarianism. This was stated by the Kyrgyz Consul General Mr Islan Ryskulov while giving a talk at the Pakistan Institute of International Affairs (PIIA) on Tuesday.

He said it was a critical stage for his country which recently witnessed a great upheaval following the March uprising against President Askar Akaev, and hoped that the elections would pave the way for major steps towards building a sound economy and initiating reforms that would also strengthen the democratic process.

Mr Ryskulov said that the new government would be asked to construct the new structure of authority to dismantle the edifice of corruption and devise a new economic policy.

He said there was now a commission assigned the task of framing a new constitution for the republic. It included members representing different segments of the society.

The commission, among other things, would consider matters like establishment of different authorities, incorporating a democratic character, redistribution of powers between president and prime minister, and determining roles of political parties and civil society.

The new government would be expected to focus its attention on reducing over-sized bureaucracy, not by dismissing the employees but doing away with unnecessary functions of state bodies. Some changes in the country’s judicial system are also sought. The new leadership would look into the important issue of how much freedom could be sustained.

He pointed out that in the early revolution period, a number of important issues should have been solved. These related to legal registration and legitimization of change pertaining to political authority in Kyrgyzstan - all such actions which would have contributed to the return of a political process in the country in a legal manner.

The resignation of President Akaev was accepted on April 11, 2005 and election for a new president is to be held on July 30 this year.

With regard to his country’s relations with Pakistan, he said the two countries had identical views on many issues but regretted that the absence of information about each other was the main hurdle in the way of mutually advantageous cooperation in all spheres.

Over the past 13 years or so, a relatively small period of time, Kyrgyzstan and Pakistan managed to build warm and friendly relations and were now able to initiate mutually advantageous cooperation in various spheres - political, economic, cultural and humanitarian. More than 22 interstate, intergovernmental, interdepartmental and other bilateral agreements were signed between the two countries during the period. A number of bilateral projects were also initiated.