KARACHI: People from different segments of society ranging from educationists, lawyers, writers and trade unionists to journalists, artists, rights activists, elected representatives and leaders of various political parties have expressed alarm over what they described as reversal of the ‘democratic transition’ amid press gags.

According to a press release that carried names of scores of people from various walks of life, the civil society representatives endorsed a declaration calling upon all democratic and progressive forces to stand for “the sovereignty of the people and their civil, social, economic and human rights, including freedom of expression, as enshrined in the international covenants and the Constitution and unfettered right to elect their true representatives through a free, fair and un-manipulated franchise must be actualised under a fully independent and powerful Election Commission, as opposed to the past farcical and controversial electoral exercises.

The declaration said there was no alternative to a constitutional, civilian, democratic and peoples’ rule as reflected through a sovereign parliament, autonomous provincial assemblies and the authoritative local governments, participatory federation and provincial autonomy, subordination of all institutions of the state to the will of the people (parliament), a responsible and truly representative government serving the interests of the downtrodden people of Pakistan.

“The tracheotomy of power and separation of legislative, judicial and executive arms of the state have to be observed with a sovereign parliament without any encroachment by any institution in the domain of other institutions. All unconstitutional incursions by the state institutions such as by the security institutions into the matters other than security and unrestrained judicial ‘activism’ that undermines legitimate governance, must be stopped forthwith,” it added.

The declaration called for protection of human and economic rights and freedoms of the citizens. “Suppression of freedom of expression, due process of law, impunity of state institutions in the cases of missing persons, ban on students’ unions, restrictions on trade unions and professional associations, blatant censorship of media, all kinds of discrimination against women and minorities and use of violence by the state and non-state actors against peaceful citizens must come to an end,” it added.

The civil society representatives demanded a political solution to conflict in Balochistan.

The declaration further called upon people to stand for “promotion of good governance, democratic and tolerant culture and eradication of all patriarchal, inhuman and violent practices and authoritarian and fascist tendencies”.

It said a paradigm shift was required from a traditional national security state to a broader, inclusive and holistic vision of human security and development that served the interests of its people, by providing them a good quality of life. It called upon people to support “a modern republic which is at peace with its people and with its neighbours”.

The declaration was endorsed among others by politicians Hasil Bizenjo, Raza Rabbani, Pervaiz Rasheed, Ahsan Iqbal, Farhatullah Babar, Mian Iftikhar Hussain, Yousuf Masti Khan, Afrasayab Khattak, Lashkari Raisani, Dr Laal Khan; lawyers including Pakistan Bar Council (PBC) vice president Syed Amjad Ali Shah, Ali Ahmed Kurd, Kamran Murtaza, Mohammad Yaseen Azad, Babar Sattar, Lateef Afridi, Haider Imam Razvi, Abid Hassan Minto; rights activists including Human Rights Commission of Pakistan General Secretary Haris Khalique, Muna Baig, Nighat Saeed Khan, Rubina Saigal, Anis Haroon, Uzma Noorani, Mahnaz Rehman and Mir Zulfiqar Ali ; artists Saleema Hashmi and Sheema Kirmani; senior journalists and analysts M. Ziauddin, Zahid Hussain, Imtiaz Alam, Talat Hussain, Attaul Haq Qasmi, Hamid Mir, Asma Shirazi, Iftikhar Ahmed, Mazhar Abbas, Absar Alam, Raza Rumi, Jabbar Khattak, Afzal Butt, Nasir Zaidi, Mehmal Sarfraz, Ashraf Khan, Ahmed Khan Malik, Imtiaz Faran Khan, Zulfikar Mehto, Syed Hassan Abbas and Aajiz Jamali; educationists Dr Riaz Ahmed Shaikh, Dr Waseem, Dr Tariq, Dr Sarfraz, Dr Tariq,

Dr Pervaiz Tahir, Dr Kaiser Bengali; trade unionists Karamat Ali, Habibuddin Junaidi, Saeed Baloch, Nasir Mansoor and Shaikh Majeed.

Published in Dawn, July 15th, 2019