KARACHI, July 14: Speakers at a seminar on Sunday said that electoral reforms in the country were needed to provide a level playing field to all contestants in the elections, but it is debatable as who should introduce these reforms.

They were speaking at an interactive seminar on a new book, “Electoral Reform in Pakistan”, edited by Prof Mohammad Waseem. The seminar was organized by the German Friedrich Ebert Stiftung and the Pakistan Institute of Legislative Development and Transparency.

Expressing their views on national politics, the speakers said the masses wanted a parliamentary democracy and did not like to be ruled by any other form of government, and certainly not by a dictator.

They said it was due to the public support for democracy that even military dictators, whenever they took over power, first of all promised that they would hold elections soon. The speakers said no matter how much the dictators posed to be strong they felt unsafe when faced with an elected parliament. It was because of that insecurity, in the present case too, that the presidential referendum was held by the present regime and now more powers were being sought for the military ruler to further strengthen his position, they observed.

One of the speakers maintained that most of the politicians were corrupt and whenever in the opposition they always tried to overthrow the government or used to asked the army to intervene and overthrow the rulers, which paved the way for military interventions.

Another speaker, however, said that out of the eleven prime ministers, up to Mohammad Khan Junejo, none had been accused of serious financial irregularities, whereas at least two of the four military rulers had been accused of corruption which could also be seen from the amount of wealth that their families now possessed.

The speakers said that over the years the army had assumed so much power that it has completely taken over the other powerful group, bureaucracy, and even the judiciary is not taking up any stand against the decisions of the military rulers. They said the professionalism of the army had also been affected due to its interference in the political and civilian matters.

They pointed out that hate-based education curricula — against different sects, minorities, or even against other countries — be reviewed so that a tolerant young generation could be groomed.

They said Islam over 1,400 years ago had given the idea of democracy through “Mushawirat” (consultation and debate) and “Baiyat” (a kind of a vote and showing confidence in a person) and it worked perfectly in the first four to five decades. But unfortunately, today none of the over 55 Islamic countries has a true democratic system of governance.

The speakers said women were under-represented in the political system. Many of them were not registered as voters, and most of those registered were not allowed to cast their votes, and even fewer contested the polls. They suggested that political parties should give 25 to 30 per cent of their party tickets to women to contest polls.

One of the speakers said that on the one hand by restoring the joint electorate system the minorities have been reintegrated into the national mainstream, but on the other now they could not get elected to the parliament. So the reserved seats, as mentioned in the 1973 Constitution, should be restored and increased according to their population as other seats have been increased.

Shariful Mujahid, Mohammad Waseem, Dr Inayatullah, Javed Jabbar, Dr Faqir Hussain, Kanwar Khalid Yunus, Taj Haider, Burhanuddin Hassan, Dr Khalida Ghaus, Tanveer Khalid, Riffat Hussain, Shaukat Umeri, Mushtaq A. Faridi, Ghulam Mustafa, Ahmed B. Mahboob, Abdul Qadir, and others spoke.