LAHORE, Sept 7: Hunger and anger breed revolution and both of them are presently found in abundance in the country, says eminent lawyer SM Zafar.
He was addressing a seminar “Good governance; need of the hour,” arranged by Pakistan Institute of National Affairs (PINA) here on Tuesday.
Zafar says rule of law, respect for human rights, independent media, sovereign parliament and an active civil society stabilise a society.
In Pakistan, he says, though all of them are present conceptually but missing in reality and their absence is adding to people's anger.
The recent floods have added to hunger like never before. Both hunger and anger are on the rise, and may lead to chaos or revolution. The latest warning coming from the federal finance minister that his ministry is left with money for two-month salaries should come as an eye opener for every one, he says. SM Zafar says those sounding warnings against a revolution must not forget that it will be against them. The people behind these warnings are either unable or unwilling to understand that they will be the first victim of such a revolution, if temperature keeps rising on both these accounts.
He says if one has to point out one malaise that has eaten into Pakistani society, it will be corruption. Corruption has tainted every one, from top to bottom. There will never be good governance until and unless this monster is controlled. In order to control that, people must stand firmly behind the independence of judiciary and the media, he says. “What happened to a newspaper reporter in Islamabad shows that some fascist tendencies are developing in governance. It must be pre-empted and civil society must stand behind the independence of the media and judiciary.”
He says the media, on its part, should stop spreading “disappointments.” There are a lot of good things happening in society, which can be highlighted.
Speaking on the occasion, Jamil Bhatti, an accountant, says unless transparency replaces discretions in the system, the governance would not improve. Discretions lead to secrecy, which in turn breeds corruption. Under Khushal Pakistan Programme, over 700 different schemes were completed but no one was ready to take them over because they all were discretionary in nature.
“Accountability means nothing if it is not across the board. There are around 20 different government departments carrying out so-called accountability, but have achieved nothing. The process has to be transparent and independent if governance in the country has to improve.”
According to National Assembly former speaker Fakhar Imam, the NFC Award and 18th Amendment are big achievements of the government, which must be followed through to improve governance in the country.