LAHORE, Feb 27: Speakers at a seminar, welcoming the advent of democracy after a long period of military rule in Pakistan, have said the elected representatives have failed to address the problems of the people.
The seminar was held by the Institute of Legislative Development and Transparency here on Thursday with former National Assembly Speaker Fakhar Imam in the chair. The subject of discussion was the state of democracy report on “First 100 days of democracy” prepared by a 10-member steering committee of the institute comprising politicians, intellectuals, academicians and media persons based on the draft written by Dr Hasan Askari Rizvi.
Speaking on the occasion, Fakhar Imam said there were numerous issues like poverty, unemployment, price hike and the deteriorating law and order situation which the national and provincial assemblies could discuss during their first 100 days in office besides undertaking necessary legislative work, but they failed to deliver the goods and their performance had been far from satisfactory.
He said there were many other issues which could be debated for days, but they avoided any discussion. The Legal Framework Order, the role of judiciary, independence of parliament, distribution of funds among the provinces and the need for a new national finance award were some other issues which the National Assembly could take up but it had not bothered to touch them.
Supreme Court Bar Association president Hamid Khan said the military had reluctantly restored limited democracy without enough powers to the elected representatives and that, too, under the international pressure and national constraints. He said initiation of such a democratic process must be seen in the context of the situation which prevailed since the military had taken over and under the circumstances which followed the takeover.
He said there was great pressure of the military on superior judiciary which had been paralyzed by the PCO to legitimize the takeover. He said the terrorist acts in America on Sept 11, 2001, were a blessing in disguise for the military rulers as the invasion of Soviet Union on Afghanistan was for the late Gen Ziaul Haq. The 9/11 incident had strengthened the position of Pervez Musharraf when he announced Pakistan’s full support to USA and its allies in their war against terrorism. In such a situation, he could get up to 10 years from the Supreme Court to rule the country, he said.
He said following in the footsteps of Gen Zia, Musharraf had first held a referendum in April last and then had given a facade of democracy to perpetuate his rule. By doing so he had sabotaged the democratic process before it had started. He said the nation would not forget his attempts to distort the Constitution by bringing LFO, weakening the judiciary, pre and post-polling rigging of elections and manipulating the majority for the political party of his choice.
He said the military does not believe in sharing of power with the elected representatives of the people through the prime minister who was just a showpiece. It was just an exercise in public relationing to show to the world that democracy had been restored in Pakistan. He said that a trio of the president, chief justice and chief election commissioner was ruling over Pakistan and there was no democracy. “We must expose them before legalize LFO to distort the Constitution,” he asserted.
The Punjab Assembly secretary Dr Abul Hassan Najmi, appreciating the report, said that it was a good attempt to document the process of initiating a democratic process in Pakistan as it was a valuable assessment of the situation which prevailed during the first 100 days of the national and provincial assemblies. He said that the compilers of the report should also have analyzed their performance. He said that Rule of Law was the main ingredient of democracy which must be strengthened to enable the assemblies to make laws for the welfare of the people. He said that the Punjab Assembly had passed about half a dozen laws to solve some of the important problems of the people.
Former ambassador Inayatullah, while hailing the efforts of the people who had prepared the report, said that credit must be given to the judiciary which had fixed a time limit for the restoration of democracy in the country. There was also international pressure on military for starting a democratic process and there was no scope of any delay in holding the elections. He also referred to the events of forming what he called Kings Party through manoeuvring the support of the assembly members. He said that Musharraf should not wear military uniform as President and should wear be civilian dress. However, he could visit GHQ in uniform. He said that assembly could take steps to eradicate corruption from the country but they failed.
Other speakers included MMA MPA Ehsanullah Waqas, Mujibur Rahman Shami, I.H.Raashed, Dr Iftikhar Ilahi of the British Council, Ms Maha Raja Tareen MPA, Ghulam Murtaza MNA, PILDAT director Ahmad Bilal Mahboob, Dr Hasan Askari Rizvi, Abdul Qadir of Friedrich Ebert Stiftung, a German NGO which collaborated with PILDAT in holding the seminar.
The report which was under discussion said that though transition moved very slowly and there was a continuity of key policies and even personnel from the military period, the change had initiated a process which can take Pakistan on road to democracy. The assemblies should meet frequently and have the potential to shape up as important centres of power and decision making but it will take time before they become viable. The democratic process will be strengthened if the government and the opposition evolve some political understanding on contentious issues like LFO, issues related to the superior judiciary, the divergence between local government system and the newly-elected assembly members on the utilization of development funds. The federal and provincial governments will have to tread their paths rather carefully by solving the social and economic problems of the people, showing greater deference to democratic and parliamentary norms in letter and spirit.