ISLAMABAD: Former Senate chairman Mian Raza Rabbani has expressed alarm over the drive for the presidential system in the country.

The constitutional petitions filed before the Supreme Court seeking directives for a referendum to put into place a “presidential form of government” are misplaced and an attempt to further political instability and sow the seeds of polarisation within the federation, the PPP stalwart said while talking to a group of reporters on Tuesday.

He said the nation had been struggling since 1947 for a federal, democratic and parliamentary form of government — one of the basic principles of the 1973 Constitution. “The parliamentary form of government has, time and again, been enunciated in numerous judgements of superior courts as one of the foundations of the Constitution.”

He noted that a change in form of government was a fundamental change in the Constitution. It is a political decision for the people of Pakistan to take through their elected representatives.

This decision of the federating units and the nation has been reiterated through relentless struggles against dictatorship and a unitary form of government, Mr Rabbani recalled.

He was of the view that a fundamental change in the Constitution cannot be the subject matter of a writ petition.

The courts have held that if such a fundamental change is desired, fresh elections must be held for a constituent assembly and a proposition put before the nation.

“Whoever seeks to alter the fundamentals of the Constitution through courts must be conscious of the fact that this will lead to institutional clashes and grave political instability, which the federation can ill-afford in the present circumstances,” he warned.

The whispering campaign for introducing a presidential form of government finally reached the Supreme Court last week through separate petitions that require Prime Minister Imran Khan to hold a referendum on the matter.

The referendum should be held by the prime minister only after seeking approval from a joint sitting of parliament, suggested the first petition. It was moved by Tahir Aziz Khan, who heads a little-known party, Hum Awam Pakistan Party, by invoking Article 184(3) of the Constitution. The article deals with the apex court’s authority to enforce the citizens’ fundamental rights.

The petition claims that the fundamental rights promised under Chapter 1 of Part II of the Constitution were being infringed upon as the parliamentary form of government had failed to work for their welfare and progress in different fields of life.

Published in Dawn, September 2nd, 2020