KARACHI, June 6: Speakers at a meeting, on Thursday, said that people should be given opportunities to express their views for if such a space was not provided then, with time, it could lead to a storm that would change the system.

They were speaking at the meeting organized by the Aga Khan Foundation’s NGO Resource Centre, where Dr Kumaran Naidoo spoke on “How Citizens Make a Difference — An International Perspective”.

Dr Naidoo, chief of South Africa-based CIVICUS: World Alliance for Citizen Participation, is in the country to launch the country report on “Civil Society in Pakistan”, prepared according to the CIVICUS Index, at Islamabad.

Speakers on the occasion said that the present tension between Pakistan and India was due to the fact that the civil society, which did not want war, had not been given the chance to play its due role in both the countries and the decision-making powers had been given to politicians and military rulers.

Dr Naidoo said that civil society organizations could work on three levels — at the macro level, it could interact with the government, give its input and provide assistance in formulating people-friendly policies; at the middle level, it could help bridge the gap between the government and the people working for the betterment of the common people and at the lowest level, work individually for the betterment of the common people at whatever limited scale.

He said that the concept of democracy just comprising casting of vote and that once a party is in the office, it has a blank cheque to rule the country for a specific time is old and fast- changing.

He said that the new concept which is fast gaining popularity in the western countries and being practised there is that civil society organizations remain in continuous touch with the government and give their input to the government of what the common people on the streets think about a particular situation. In this way, the government has an additional resource of information to formulate a good policy.

He said that the media also has an important role to play in creating awareness regarding issues among the masses and also to highlight what people want, so that the government becomes aware of the issues being faced by the people.

He said that if the citizens’ voice of dissent is not given due space with the passage of time, it would shift underground and probably resort to extremism or even violence — which some call freedom movement and others terrorism, depending on the political angle.

One of the speakers said that civil society organizations in Pakistan and India need to be strengthened so that they play their role in relaxing the tension running high between both the South-Asian neighbours.

The speaker said that civil society looked down at politics and political parties, whereas it is necessary that they interact with these parties and take concrete steps so that democracy can be strengthened.

Another speaker said that it was strange that meetings to plan improvement in the lives in the common people — majority of whom did not even have access to clean drinking water, sewerage system etc, — were held in air-conditioned halls of expensive five-star hotels.

The speaker said that NGOs were also becoming more and more bureaucratic and resentment was becoming strong against their way of working or the subjects that they chose to work on. Referring to the role of media, the speaker said that earlier, when the media was not as free as it was now, more people came out on the streets to press for their demands. But with more freedom to the media, lesser people take to the streets to demonstrate — a phenomenon that needs to be looked into.

The speakers also said that whatever small changes were being witnessed in the working and approach of the government, which was now formulating comparatively more people-friendly policies such as devolution, etc, was due to awareness created and pressure generate by civil society organizations.

They said that though the government had to provide health, education and other basic services to the people, many times people even have to pay to get treatment and medicines from government hospitals.

They also said that Dr Naidoo — a citizen of South Africa and of Indian origin — by coming here in this situation when Americans and Europeans are leaving Pakistan — had proved by his actions who are eager to help and who are leaving them in this time of need.

Senior journalist Mahmood Sham, Zohra Yousuf, Kamal Chinoy and Qadeer Baig also spoke.