LAHORE, Jan 17: The restoration of a joint electorate, increase in the number of National Assembly seats and women’s quota will go a long way toward strengthening the civil society, and must, therefore, be welcomed, a statement issued here on Thursday by the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan said.
These steps, it said, were in fact the long-standing demands of various sections of the civil society.
However, the absence of a consultative process made even the most beneficial steps controversial. Questions about legitimacy and constitutional legality were too fundamental for democratic governance to be set aside by claiming that the ends justified the means.
The reservation of seats for technocrats in the National Assembly could hardly be justified. Similarly, the academic qualification required for a place in the parliament went against the grain of democratic representation as well as the constitution and smacked of an unwelcome predilection for elitism.
AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL: The Amnesty International Pakistan, too, welcomed the amendments announced on Wednesday as a step forward in implementing Article 21 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights to which Pakistan is a signatory. It hoped that the decisions will promote peace, harmony and tolerance in the society.
CHRISTIAN NATIONAL PARTY: The party said the decisions had won the hearts and minds of the Christian community. The Christians, he said, wanted to contribute towards the well being of the country by participating in its governance. President Gen Pervez Musharraf, they said, had risen to the occasion.
SERAIKI PARTY: Taj Muhammad Khan Langah, the Pakistan Seraiki Party president, also welcomed the decisions.
However, he said, allocating seats for technocrats would lead to corruption and favouritism that was a familiar sight in Senate elections.
The increased number of National Assembly seats, he said, would inevitably favour the Punjab — the biggest province. This, he said, will only add to the grievances of the smaller provinces. For this reason, he argued, the Punjab must be divided into three provinces.
MILLAT PARTY: Malik Abdul Qayyum, the central vice-president of the party, hailed the amendments saying they would further the cause of national solidarity. The decisions to increase the number seats in the National Assembly and restore the joint electorate, he said, had been part of his party’s manifesto.
Minorities, he said, were as important for the social cohesion of the country as the majority community.
JAMAAT-I-ISLAMI: JI Naib Amir Liaquat Baloch said the president had no right to amend the constitution. The government, he alleged, was only trying to establish its right to amend the constitution. Once the principle was accepted, there would be no end to it. He warned that this would be followed by structural changes like president’s supremacy over the parliament or abolition of the Islamic provisions in the constitution. The political and religious parties, he said, must join hands to resist the changes.