.
Pakistan owes most of it's problems to its genesis. Its successive rulers added the rest on the top. They had very little clue how to avoid further complications, nor they bothered about for it. To bring up a little baby is already an enormous task and the genetic abnormalities and prematurity makes the task more difficult. The inexperienced midwives make a mess of every thing. It was treated like a little guinea pig and every one was experimenting on it. Instead of following the prescription of 1940 they decided to the contrary.
Mr. Jinnah must be given credit to make a case out of nothing, thanks to Indian national congress and British. Indian midwives assisted British surgeon.
Pakistan was bound to have complications but the carers were least experienced and least worried about the future of the baby and it effects on its normal growth
The people in uniform were involved at a very early stage and the help of American specialist was sought at a huge cost, the newly born was mortgaged, in return for medicinal supply in the form of Dollars.
The vital organs were not allowed to mature, to defend itself and by the time the child reached to 27 year, it lost more than half of the body, at the hands of these jack of all but master of none. Every new crisis was worse than the previous one; the vital organs were damaged beyond repair.
Now 62 years but still convulsing and pushing it to that state of non-viability. The civilian leadership has proved its incompetence beyond doubt. They have stamped the fact that they are the Brainchildren of military dictatorship and historical blunders. To call them politicians will be an insult of politics. Except on two occasions, there has never been a political movement in our country; the first one was against Ayub Khan and the second was the long struggle of black coats. The rest were all power struggles. The first one had a political miscarriage and nothing materialised but the second one succeeded as it was in professionals hands, and they were vigilant that the so called politicians are good at hijacking. Though Mian Sahib did try but could not succeed.
So for we don’t have any institutions to run the country deomcratically or to ensure the transition of power smoothly and transparently. Accountability is being used for political victimization. There is no cheque and balance. The murderers and those who abrogated the constitution are scot-free and were sent off with all official pomp and show as if he was a national hero. Moneyed aristocracy, landlords and industrialists, filled the vacuums due to non-existence of the institutions. Those who failed to run their businesses leaped in to politics and since the system was money oriented they made political and financial fortunes.
Internal weakness reflected in our external policies and we were fully exploited, whether they were Americans or Saudi. Not only the out side countries but the influential and moneyed magnets of Middle East unashamedly interfered in our internal and external affairs. Mian Nawaz Sharif and Musharaf introduced the individuals’ interference.
The most disgracing aspect is that we are begging for aid and then ask the donor to give on our terms. I think the beggars at Islam Abad airport have learnt the trick of the trade from our politicians. As you come out the whole army surrounds you and they refuse to accept if you give them in rupees they ask for sterling, riyals or Dirham, as they know the flights origination and demand accordingly. We do appreciate the heart ach of our politicians for national pride but I wish they paid the income taxes of last 10 -20 years. It will solve the problem.
Our so-called politicians want to be given bath, shrouded and given forgiveness. They create all the problems and they look outside the boundaries of the country for some one to solve it for them or ask the public to be ready for sacrifices. Isn’t it an open invitation to others?
I have my strong reservation that democracy will ever take roots in Pakistan, if the present lot is at the helm of affairs. None of them has that frame of mind. None of them is ready to sit in opposition. An opposition that is neither friendly nor conspiratorial in nature. A genuine, constructive opposition is the key to a healthy democracy. We mist not forget that when Late Z.A.Bhutto refused to accept the role of elected opposition leader the country disintegrated. Is Mian Sahib planning to do the same?
Democracy has two wheels to roll on smoothly. The treasury and the opposition led by the leader of the house and leader of opposition. Who is a shadow Prime Minister? Refusal to be the elected leader of opposition is either derailing of democratic process or breaking of the country. We have no doubt that Ch. Nisar is a good parliamentarian but after all he is the member of Nawaz league and cannot be a replacement of Mian Nawaz. When he and Mian Shehbaz met the chief of staff in the dark of the night, it was Nawaz Sharif to show his resentment that they should have met him in broad daylight. It was his statement, which calmed the public.
Mian Sahib must answer some questions, not in Raiwand but on the floor, to clear the clouds about his intentions.
What is holding Him Back?
What is his party stand on military action? His non-committal statements denote his support for terrorist by default.
His unambiguous and clear picture about federal democracy? On one hand he was screaming at the top of his voice when it came to clamp governor rule in Punjab, on the other hand he is refranchising Pukhtoons.
Chartered of democracy was pact between him and Shaheed Benazir. He has expressed his opinion about Pukhtoons. How we could be expected to trust him keeping his track record in mind. We honestly believe that 1973 constitution is out of dated document to hold the federation together, in the present imbalance Pakistan. It is the time to put all these documents to gather and frame a new constitution. Mian Sahib is not trust worthy. If some one from Haripur or Abbot Abad wants deprive us of our identity we are ready for re demarcations of the provinces.
He must clarify his refusal to contest after the visit to Saudi Arab and reveal the real deal between him, Musharaf, King of Saudi Arabia and Mr. Hariri of Lebanon.
What are his reservations about American aid and what is the alternative in his mind?
Democracy, as claimed by few, is not the dictatorship of the majority but it is the accommodation of minority. Majority has no right to defranchise those who have voted for the opposition. Mian Sahib is in the best position to put to the house, the secret deals and give an alternative?
MQM, ANP, and the reservations of other small nations must be clarified?
All the foreign dignitaries visit him and the statement issued at the end is the same as they issue after their meetings with the government official but still his the statements issued from the Raiwand are to the contrary?
The present governance is condemnable, but the opposition still have to show its role to be commended. It stinks foul.
Every government ask the people to be ready for sacrifices for the integrity of the country. Is it not the right of the people to ask the rulers show their sacrifices?
It is the time to say enough is enough. People have nothing to sacrifice? Can you?
Showing posts with label doctor khurshid alam pukhtun pushtoon afghanistan kor peshawar pakistan. Show all posts
Showing posts with label doctor khurshid alam pukhtun pushtoon afghanistan kor peshawar pakistan. Show all posts
Tuesday, 20 October 2009
Friday, 16 October 2009
Democracy And Provincial Autonomy
By definition democracy is the government by the people, of the people and for the people. In our country there has never been a democracy in the real sense but we had some spells of civilian rules. So the governments, which came in to power were by the people, but was never of the people and for the people. It was just to cheat the people. There was no difference in the mental make up of the civilian rulers and military dictators. Basically the people damn care,
Who is ruling them, but how they are being ruled?
Democracy as such, is not an ideal system but has no better alternative. The more it gets maturity, the better it gets. It is unfortunate that in Pakistan it has always been nipped in the bud. Ideally the system in its true form; does not exist anywhere in the world. Even the U.N.O. is being run undemocratically. But a comparative study can be made.
There is no a universally tailored suit of democracy, to fit every nation. Every nation has to go through a process to reach a stage and tailor the system according to its own circumstances. Unfortunately U.S. wanted to force the world to adopt their system and look like a band of bandmasters. During Bush & Dick administration it was too evident. Forgetting that the first term of Bush; was hardly of democratic in nature. It is a system to be evolved by the people. It is not some thing to be exported or imported.
It hardly matters, whether a system is parliamentary or presidential but the essential factor, is the inbuilt accountability of the rulers by the be-ruled. It also depends on the geographical structure of the country in question. It is unfortunate that quite often, democracy has been misinterpreted and abused. Most commonly the people consider it, the rule of the majority. Yes it is one of the aspect, but more important is the accommodation of minority and a mechanism to have continuous accountability, to stop the abuse of authority, by majority. At no point the public say should be ignored. It is a form of collective leadership and the minority should not be refranchised.
The global population is now a mix race. A nation might have a majority in a piece of a land but in its purest shape, not conceivable. The solution to this problem is; to take the geography, cultural background and history in to consideration too. According to Russell, “the more we are near to these natural factors, the greater will be the intrinsic strength and cohesion of the society or country. After all this is a question of common sense that there are roughly 6000 languages in the world and 190+ countries. So a pure racial administrative unit is not a logical thinking. A system has to be evolved that the majority does get its due status; but minority languages and cultural entities are not to be swallowed or extinct, but preserved and protected.
In a democratic set up, it is not only the fair distribution of the resources but the protections of other factors too. Human dignity and national identity should not be robbed, as it promotes internationalism as pointed out by Bertrand Russell. More are the cultural entities; the more colourful will be the society. It is not only hunger but also human aspirations that must be taken in to account
.
Sometime religious groups think, that it is not in conformity with religion. I agree with them, but it is not even against religion. In my view; Islam takes it a step forward, that the sovereignty lies with Allah and the elected people being the viceroys of Allah. So they have to face double accountability; to Allah and the Electoral College. The idea of devolution of power, provincial autonomy and local government stems from the basic fact, that more people should be involved at every level and made accountable. On one hand it promotes local developments, on the other, it provides chance to the people from the gross roots to go through a process and take over the leadership of the country. In Pakistan instead of power, corruption was taken to the roots. The dictators did it cleverly, as corrupt masses cannot challenge corrupt masters. The other injustice which was done to the system that instead of creating a system, which could produce leadership from the root level, the agents were created to serve the vested interest.
If properly implemented it discourage the centralisation of authority to a person or to an institution and broaden public base. The centre should devolve it to provinces, states or nations and they should in turn devolve it to district and tehsils. The basic aim is, to give the feeling of participation and to provide the facilities at doorstep. This is one of the best systems in available circumstances. What happened in Pakistan that Ayub khan did it to limit the Electoral College and Musharaf devolved corruption to the root level? I was basically further centralisation of power and negation or refusal of the autonomy to the provinces. It was not the jurisdiction of the centre, but right of the provinces. The system is essential part of democracy and provincial autonomy but the implication, execution and intentions were undemocratic and vicious. It was more politically motivated than developmentally. It is the absence of this system that most of our leadership is imposed on us from the top and have no knowledge of the problems of a common man. If a system is abused it is not the fault of the system but of the abuser.
Some time one start really questions his own mind, that why does this system fails so often to work in Muslim world? Do we lack the tolerance and the courage to be accountable? If we trace our history back, either this system of collective leadership has been sidelined or has been dubbed as un-Islamic. Another point to be noted; there is no mechanism of peaceful transition of power. From very early days of Islam every transition of power had some serious casualties and was stained with blood. One must understand the difference between power of a sovereign and delegated power. In our religion sovereign is God, only. Delegated power underlines, the issue of accountability. I have not seen that any of our leaders has been made accountable for their deeds. And more interestingly none of them has received the verdict of guilty from our courts when they were in power. To the contrary their unconstitutional acts have always been provided judicial protection. When there is no fear of accountability the delegated powers are used as absolute power, with absolute corrupt intentions. The power corrupts and absolute power corrupt absolutely. The corrupt leadership corrupt the system. This is the play going on in Pakistan.
Pakistan is in a grave danger. In my view the main danger is internal. The most important political and constitutional issues been ignored, which are eroding the basis of the country. The main issue is the devolution of Power or in other words provincial autonomy. The Pakistan of Jinnah ( 1947-1972) was an imbalance Pakistan. The only nation who voted for Pakistan, The Bengali, was 54% of the total population. Who were refused autonomy in the name of Islam? Parity of the two wings was introduced to convert the majority to parity and to take away the identity of the three small nations in the west wing. The base of power, civilian or military, derived its strength from Punjab. It was the basically the Ashrafia of that province, enjoying the by products of political strength.
Gen Yahiya held the election on the basis of one-man, one vote but was not honoured, by Yahiya and Mr. Bhutto according to Larkana plan and the country was split in to two. It was the second time that Muslims were divided for the sake of power. India was provided an opportunity to prove the two-nations theory wrong just 23 years after its invention. No body came out to defend Islam and big brother concept. Nazrul Islam was slaughtered by Alla ditta in the slum of Dacca.
Like the Pakistan of 1947, the new Pakistan was again an imbalance Pakistan. Now Punjab had 62 % numerical strength and was the base of power.
In both cases it was the top priority to solve the question of devolution of power and reassure the smaller nations that they’re right to rule their respective provinces with financial, cultural, linguistic and historical identity. As their fear had increased in intensity; that if 54% majority, one thousand miles away, can be given such a horrifying blood bath for using the power of ballot, what could be their future? Collectively having 34% population, with no military and industrial might on their back? The close geographical proximity to the new Big Brother was another genuine concern.
Neither it is acceptable in Islam nor democracy that the Big brother should make the smaller as slaves. In both systems, even if a brother is handicapped and small, but has the equal right to the bigger and stronger one. The fear had logic and the logic proved itself to be true, when six months later, the governments in Pukhtoonkhwa and Baluchistan were dissolved, the entire leadership was arrested along with thousands of workers and the rest went in to hidings. All were charged for high treason and those forces that committed the high treason were made the rulers. The remaining Pakistan was basically saved; by the then opposition who dropped the demand to have a fresh mandate in the new country and just insisted for a federal and democratic Pakistan. These were not illogical demands. This was a new Pakistan, with completely different geo- political structure. Mr. Bhutto was having the same dilemma, as faced by Mujib. He had no representation in NWFP and Baluchistan. In the greater interest of the integrity of the remaining Pakistan, a new constitution was drafted. Bhutto came across to the opposition leader; Late Wali khan, to request him to drop further demand of Provincial Autonomy, pointing his finger to Gen; Tikka, in the Gallery, he is ready to take over. The constitution was accepted unanimously but with a condition that the question of quantum of provincial autonomy particularly and the revision of the whole, will be carried out after 5 years. The co-author of 1973 constitution did not rule the country constitutionally, nor the emergency was lifted for a single day during his tenure. Military action started in Baluchistan. FSF (A PARAMILITARY FORCE) committed the most heinous crimes against the opposition leaders and his own members, who tried to defy him like Miraj Mohammad khan. Sardar Atta u Allah Maingal’s son eyes were enucleated by a Col; of FSF and were brought to Jinnah hospital to show him, while he was in bed with a heart attack. The infamous Liaquat Bagh firing took place during that time. We took 23 dead bodies back to our province, as I was watching the might of the mighty governor of Punjab , Mustafa Khar. It must be surprising for the readers that 4 years old son of Ajmal Khattak along with his mother were detained in Police stations for Anti State activities.
The amendments in 73 constitutions were started by Late Bhutto and are continuing till to day. Zia and Musharaf completely changed the shape.
The constitution of 73, didn’t work at that time and it is beyond any wild imagination that it can protect the interest of smaller nations.
After its promulgation there have been two very strong civilian Prime Ministers; Bhutto and Nawaz Sharif. Both have rapped the constitution, without having the slightest guilt complex. Killing of Bugti, the bloody drama of Malakand division, FATA and its fall out on the districts has strengthened our beliefs that in present we are not safe. (Ref. Major general Qureshi on ARY). Pakistan as a state is not viable in present form, not because of any external threat; but the internal breaches.
Pakistan needs a completely new democratic, federal constitution, with guaranteed political and financial provincial autonomy, with historical sanctity. We do accept that the present government has failed to give transparent and good governance but looking at the alternative; Mian sahib, and remembering his rule with 2/3rd majority in the parliament, sends cold wave in our spines. Any way Mian Sahib is least likely to join the present parliament. In present circumstances, to be the leader of opposition is not a joke. You have to be equipped with political wisdom and acumen and strength of character, to change the direction of the internal and external policies. I hope I am wrong but I don’t see that sort of man in him.
If the country has to be held together; it has to be strong, fair and prosperous internally, to be respected externally. You cannot demand respect and equality; one has to learn how to earn it? You can borrow money with pre-conditions but can’t beg, with preconditions. We have lost sovereignty long ago. Without An exception or two have been sold several time as a country. Now to win it back, it will be the internal strength, if we gain it. Let us forget USA, UK, SAUDI ARABIA fiddling in our internal affairs, if they are, who gave them this chance? The last part to be answered and must be addressed to. Even influential business Tycoons of Middle East have been involved to settle out political and judicial problem like MR. Hariri of Lebanon, when Mian sahib returned to the country during Musharaf time and was escorted back by Hariri. Was he uninvited intermediary or was invited by Musharaf to insult our judiciary?
It is the scream of time. We must disengage from the ideology of Pakistan, strong centre or big brother concept. We must build a democratic union of states with enshrined respect for human dignity and national identities. The trump card is in the hands of Punjab to act now or never. The smaller parties should share each other ideas and experiences and put their cards on the table.
We condemn state or political atrocities of all natures. We demand full fledge judicial enquiry of all these judicial or extra judicial murders; but there is a big “BUT” that these heinous crimes were not committed in late sixties or late eighties. Pakistan came in to being in 1947, much before those two periods. These sort crimes were committed from the day one. We should not forget those who have laid their lives for fair play and justice from day one. We should not forget those who were killed in the dark streets of our short history. We must not forget those; who stood up to the people who were given the status of prophets, what to say of dictators.
It was disgusting on the part of our leaders not to move a resolution in the opening session of National Assembly to ask for apology to the Martyrs of Babra and Liaquat Bagh.
By. Dr. Khurshid Alam………………………………… khurshidalam5@hotmail.com
London ..Dated 6th October 2009.
.
Who is ruling them, but how they are being ruled?
Democracy as such, is not an ideal system but has no better alternative. The more it gets maturity, the better it gets. It is unfortunate that in Pakistan it has always been nipped in the bud. Ideally the system in its true form; does not exist anywhere in the world. Even the U.N.O. is being run undemocratically. But a comparative study can be made.
There is no a universally tailored suit of democracy, to fit every nation. Every nation has to go through a process to reach a stage and tailor the system according to its own circumstances. Unfortunately U.S. wanted to force the world to adopt their system and look like a band of bandmasters. During Bush & Dick administration it was too evident. Forgetting that the first term of Bush; was hardly of democratic in nature. It is a system to be evolved by the people. It is not some thing to be exported or imported.
It hardly matters, whether a system is parliamentary or presidential but the essential factor, is the inbuilt accountability of the rulers by the be-ruled. It also depends on the geographical structure of the country in question. It is unfortunate that quite often, democracy has been misinterpreted and abused. Most commonly the people consider it, the rule of the majority. Yes it is one of the aspect, but more important is the accommodation of minority and a mechanism to have continuous accountability, to stop the abuse of authority, by majority. At no point the public say should be ignored. It is a form of collective leadership and the minority should not be refranchised.
The global population is now a mix race. A nation might have a majority in a piece of a land but in its purest shape, not conceivable. The solution to this problem is; to take the geography, cultural background and history in to consideration too. According to Russell, “the more we are near to these natural factors, the greater will be the intrinsic strength and cohesion of the society or country. After all this is a question of common sense that there are roughly 6000 languages in the world and 190+ countries. So a pure racial administrative unit is not a logical thinking. A system has to be evolved that the majority does get its due status; but minority languages and cultural entities are not to be swallowed or extinct, but preserved and protected.
In a democratic set up, it is not only the fair distribution of the resources but the protections of other factors too. Human dignity and national identity should not be robbed, as it promotes internationalism as pointed out by Bertrand Russell. More are the cultural entities; the more colourful will be the society. It is not only hunger but also human aspirations that must be taken in to account
.
Sometime religious groups think, that it is not in conformity with religion. I agree with them, but it is not even against religion. In my view; Islam takes it a step forward, that the sovereignty lies with Allah and the elected people being the viceroys of Allah. So they have to face double accountability; to Allah and the Electoral College. The idea of devolution of power, provincial autonomy and local government stems from the basic fact, that more people should be involved at every level and made accountable. On one hand it promotes local developments, on the other, it provides chance to the people from the gross roots to go through a process and take over the leadership of the country. In Pakistan instead of power, corruption was taken to the roots. The dictators did it cleverly, as corrupt masses cannot challenge corrupt masters. The other injustice which was done to the system that instead of creating a system, which could produce leadership from the root level, the agents were created to serve the vested interest.
If properly implemented it discourage the centralisation of authority to a person or to an institution and broaden public base. The centre should devolve it to provinces, states or nations and they should in turn devolve it to district and tehsils. The basic aim is, to give the feeling of participation and to provide the facilities at doorstep. This is one of the best systems in available circumstances. What happened in Pakistan that Ayub khan did it to limit the Electoral College and Musharaf devolved corruption to the root level? I was basically further centralisation of power and negation or refusal of the autonomy to the provinces. It was not the jurisdiction of the centre, but right of the provinces. The system is essential part of democracy and provincial autonomy but the implication, execution and intentions were undemocratic and vicious. It was more politically motivated than developmentally. It is the absence of this system that most of our leadership is imposed on us from the top and have no knowledge of the problems of a common man. If a system is abused it is not the fault of the system but of the abuser.
Some time one start really questions his own mind, that why does this system fails so often to work in Muslim world? Do we lack the tolerance and the courage to be accountable? If we trace our history back, either this system of collective leadership has been sidelined or has been dubbed as un-Islamic. Another point to be noted; there is no mechanism of peaceful transition of power. From very early days of Islam every transition of power had some serious casualties and was stained with blood. One must understand the difference between power of a sovereign and delegated power. In our religion sovereign is God, only. Delegated power underlines, the issue of accountability. I have not seen that any of our leaders has been made accountable for their deeds. And more interestingly none of them has received the verdict of guilty from our courts when they were in power. To the contrary their unconstitutional acts have always been provided judicial protection. When there is no fear of accountability the delegated powers are used as absolute power, with absolute corrupt intentions. The power corrupts and absolute power corrupt absolutely. The corrupt leadership corrupt the system. This is the play going on in Pakistan.
Pakistan is in a grave danger. In my view the main danger is internal. The most important political and constitutional issues been ignored, which are eroding the basis of the country. The main issue is the devolution of Power or in other words provincial autonomy. The Pakistan of Jinnah ( 1947-1972) was an imbalance Pakistan. The only nation who voted for Pakistan, The Bengali, was 54% of the total population. Who were refused autonomy in the name of Islam? Parity of the two wings was introduced to convert the majority to parity and to take away the identity of the three small nations in the west wing. The base of power, civilian or military, derived its strength from Punjab. It was the basically the Ashrafia of that province, enjoying the by products of political strength.
Gen Yahiya held the election on the basis of one-man, one vote but was not honoured, by Yahiya and Mr. Bhutto according to Larkana plan and the country was split in to two. It was the second time that Muslims were divided for the sake of power. India was provided an opportunity to prove the two-nations theory wrong just 23 years after its invention. No body came out to defend Islam and big brother concept. Nazrul Islam was slaughtered by Alla ditta in the slum of Dacca.
Like the Pakistan of 1947, the new Pakistan was again an imbalance Pakistan. Now Punjab had 62 % numerical strength and was the base of power.
In both cases it was the top priority to solve the question of devolution of power and reassure the smaller nations that they’re right to rule their respective provinces with financial, cultural, linguistic and historical identity. As their fear had increased in intensity; that if 54% majority, one thousand miles away, can be given such a horrifying blood bath for using the power of ballot, what could be their future? Collectively having 34% population, with no military and industrial might on their back? The close geographical proximity to the new Big Brother was another genuine concern.
Neither it is acceptable in Islam nor democracy that the Big brother should make the smaller as slaves. In both systems, even if a brother is handicapped and small, but has the equal right to the bigger and stronger one. The fear had logic and the logic proved itself to be true, when six months later, the governments in Pukhtoonkhwa and Baluchistan were dissolved, the entire leadership was arrested along with thousands of workers and the rest went in to hidings. All were charged for high treason and those forces that committed the high treason were made the rulers. The remaining Pakistan was basically saved; by the then opposition who dropped the demand to have a fresh mandate in the new country and just insisted for a federal and democratic Pakistan. These were not illogical demands. This was a new Pakistan, with completely different geo- political structure. Mr. Bhutto was having the same dilemma, as faced by Mujib. He had no representation in NWFP and Baluchistan. In the greater interest of the integrity of the remaining Pakistan, a new constitution was drafted. Bhutto came across to the opposition leader; Late Wali khan, to request him to drop further demand of Provincial Autonomy, pointing his finger to Gen; Tikka, in the Gallery, he is ready to take over. The constitution was accepted unanimously but with a condition that the question of quantum of provincial autonomy particularly and the revision of the whole, will be carried out after 5 years. The co-author of 1973 constitution did not rule the country constitutionally, nor the emergency was lifted for a single day during his tenure. Military action started in Baluchistan. FSF (A PARAMILITARY FORCE) committed the most heinous crimes against the opposition leaders and his own members, who tried to defy him like Miraj Mohammad khan. Sardar Atta u Allah Maingal’s son eyes were enucleated by a Col; of FSF and were brought to Jinnah hospital to show him, while he was in bed with a heart attack. The infamous Liaquat Bagh firing took place during that time. We took 23 dead bodies back to our province, as I was watching the might of the mighty governor of Punjab , Mustafa Khar. It must be surprising for the readers that 4 years old son of Ajmal Khattak along with his mother were detained in Police stations for Anti State activities.
The amendments in 73 constitutions were started by Late Bhutto and are continuing till to day. Zia and Musharaf completely changed the shape.
The constitution of 73, didn’t work at that time and it is beyond any wild imagination that it can protect the interest of smaller nations.
After its promulgation there have been two very strong civilian Prime Ministers; Bhutto and Nawaz Sharif. Both have rapped the constitution, without having the slightest guilt complex. Killing of Bugti, the bloody drama of Malakand division, FATA and its fall out on the districts has strengthened our beliefs that in present we are not safe. (Ref. Major general Qureshi on ARY). Pakistan as a state is not viable in present form, not because of any external threat; but the internal breaches.
Pakistan needs a completely new democratic, federal constitution, with guaranteed political and financial provincial autonomy, with historical sanctity. We do accept that the present government has failed to give transparent and good governance but looking at the alternative; Mian sahib, and remembering his rule with 2/3rd majority in the parliament, sends cold wave in our spines. Any way Mian Sahib is least likely to join the present parliament. In present circumstances, to be the leader of opposition is not a joke. You have to be equipped with political wisdom and acumen and strength of character, to change the direction of the internal and external policies. I hope I am wrong but I don’t see that sort of man in him.
If the country has to be held together; it has to be strong, fair and prosperous internally, to be respected externally. You cannot demand respect and equality; one has to learn how to earn it? You can borrow money with pre-conditions but can’t beg, with preconditions. We have lost sovereignty long ago. Without An exception or two have been sold several time as a country. Now to win it back, it will be the internal strength, if we gain it. Let us forget USA, UK, SAUDI ARABIA fiddling in our internal affairs, if they are, who gave them this chance? The last part to be answered and must be addressed to. Even influential business Tycoons of Middle East have been involved to settle out political and judicial problem like MR. Hariri of Lebanon, when Mian sahib returned to the country during Musharaf time and was escorted back by Hariri. Was he uninvited intermediary or was invited by Musharaf to insult our judiciary?
It is the scream of time. We must disengage from the ideology of Pakistan, strong centre or big brother concept. We must build a democratic union of states with enshrined respect for human dignity and national identities. The trump card is in the hands of Punjab to act now or never. The smaller parties should share each other ideas and experiences and put their cards on the table.
We condemn state or political atrocities of all natures. We demand full fledge judicial enquiry of all these judicial or extra judicial murders; but there is a big “BUT” that these heinous crimes were not committed in late sixties or late eighties. Pakistan came in to being in 1947, much before those two periods. These sort crimes were committed from the day one. We should not forget those who have laid their lives for fair play and justice from day one. We should not forget those who were killed in the dark streets of our short history. We must not forget those; who stood up to the people who were given the status of prophets, what to say of dictators.
It was disgusting on the part of our leaders not to move a resolution in the opening session of National Assembly to ask for apology to the Martyrs of Babra and Liaquat Bagh.
By. Dr. Khurshid Alam………………………………… khurshidalam5@hotmail.com
London ..Dated 6th October 2009.
.
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