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Please Unite For The Common Cause

“It is our earnest desire that the same fault may have the same punishment in the person of King or Lord as in the person of the poorest commoner……”

———From a Petition by a Regiment Commander to Lord Fair fax, then Commander-in-Chief of the British Army, preceding a series of events which led to the trial and execution of King Charles I of England on January 30, 1649 (Ref.: A Coffin for King Charles, by C.V. Wedgwood, page 15).

The point blank killing of 14 innocent men and women, including one who was two-months pregnant, by the state police, on camera, inside a private home, will go down as the darkest moment in the history of Pakistan. This incident, in addition to the (now almost-proven) rigging in the 2013 elections, has led to huge protest movements in all parts of the country. Currently, there is a deadlock in the negotiations between the government and the two opposition parties, the PTI and the PAT, in an effort at resolution.

The differences have been narrowed down to the demand for the resignation of the current Prime Minister.  This is a common demand by both the PTI and the PAT.  It is a fair demand, because no inquiry requiring investigation into the conduct of officials down to the police constable and patwari level can be carried out when the administration is headed by the principal accused. The betterment of the country is the intent of both parties, and their objectives are very similar. I think it is about time the two parties came together for the sake of Pakistan. Unity is strength.

In a series of lectures Dr. Tahir ul Qadri has  expounded the rationale and details of his very well-thought-out and comprehensive plan to permanently cure the nation’s ills and to restore power to the people for the first time in the history of Pakistan.

Unfortunately, the parliamentary democracy system, a legacy of the British Raj, has become so much ingrained in the minds of most people in Pakistan that they equate democracy with parliamentary democracy. They fail to understand that what Dr. Tahir ul Qadri is asking for is  a change to a system similar to that given by the founding fathers of the United States: a tripartite system of government with a popularly elected president, and independent and autonomous executive, legislative and judicial arms government acting as checks and counter-checks upon each other. He is also asking for the creation of more provinces and the devolution of power to smaller, manageable units to replace the current system based on the Raj-created four provinces, with 60% of the population residing in one province.

The worst flaw of parliamentary democracy for  Pakistan is that it amalgamates the executive and legislative arms of the government which lays the seeds of corruption, making politics a “business of making and staking money”, as correctly described by Imran Khan. It works in Britain because it was developed and perfected over a period of 600 years of trial and error, from the signing of the Magna Carta in 1215 to the urban shift  following the Industrial Revolution around 1815. The incident mentioned in the opening quote in this article was just a milestone in the trial and error process. This is a luxury that Pakistan cannot afford, but many of its political pundits continue to advocate. They need to realize that we don’t have time.

The parliamentary democracy system has been fairly successful in India, in spite of rampant corruption still prevailing (with 37% of the legislators elected recently facing various criminal charges, including murder) for two main reasons:

(a)  an end to zamindari (feudalism) was included in the program of the Congress and was firmly implemented within a couple of years of Independence in 1947. This has not as yet been done in Pakistan, and

(b)honest and leaders sincere to their country were in power during the early growth process.

Unfortunately for Pakistan, the Quaid-e-Azam did not survive for long, the feudal s took care of Liaquat Ali Khan, and honest and sincere leaders like Air Marshall (R) were never allowed to come into power by the system.

Dr. Qadri’s mission is noble.  However, in a democratic dispensation, the constitutional amendments he is asking for cannot occur because he and his supporters (like me) would like them to be made. The amendments can only be tabled, approved and adopted by the legislators – or by a referendum carried out by a military leadership. Unfortunately, many people in Pakistan jump up whenever the Army is mentioned, as a result of vicious propaganda by politicians whose game of plunder-and-loot-by-turn gets interrupted . Even journalists sympathetic to the demands of the PTI and PAT mention the possible coming-in of the army as if it were a death threat looming over their heads. They forget that the worst atrocities and violations of human rights and the law in Pakistan have been committed under civilian governments – not under the military. Those who do not agree should read the opening articles of the proclamation of the late President Farooq Ahmad Leghari, an honest and upright man, dismissing the government of his own party on November 5, 1996:

“Whereas during the last three years thousands of persons in Karachi and other parts of Pakistan have been deprived of their right to life in violation of Article 9 of the Constitution. They have been killed in police encounters and police custody. In the speech to Parliament on October 29, 1995, the President had warned that the law-enforcing agencies must ensure that there was no harassment of innocent citizens in the fight against terrorism and that human and legal rights of all persons were duly protected. This advice was not heeded. The killings continued unabated. The government’s fundamental duty to maintain law and order has to be performed by proceeding in accordance with law. The coalition of political parties which comprise the government of the Federation are also in power in Sindh, Punjab and NWFP but no meaningful steps have been taken either by the government of the Federation or, at the instance of the government of the Federation, by the provincial governments, to put an end to the crime of extra-judicial killings which is an evil abhorrent to our Islamic faith and all canons of civilized government.”

“Instead of ensuring proper investigation of these extra-judicial killings, and punishment for those guilty of such crimes, the government has taken pride that, in this manner, the law and order situation has been controlled. These killings coupled with the fact of widespread interference by the members of the government, including members of the ruling parties in the National Assembly, in the appointment, transfer and posting of officers and staff to the law-enforcing agencies, both at the Federal and provincial levels, has destroyed the faith of the public in the integrity and impartiality of the law-enforcing agencies and in their ability to protect the lives, liberties and properties of the average citizen……….”.

A 7-judge bench of the Supreme Court  upheld President Leghari’s proclamation on January 29, 1997. Unfortunately, owing to the British-ingrained feelings of loyalty to the Sahib (or the Saheba), President Leghari is remembered more for the “crime” of dismissing the government of his own party rather than for having put Pakistan first, over and above his personal friendships.

It is a shame that the Muttahida Qaumi Mahaz,, which suffered the brunt of the atrocities mentioned in the first article of President Laghari’s proclamation, has become a Muttahida “Nothing-Doing” Mahaz under the expediencies of its finger-twirling, pontificating, comfortably-seated chief. Its humanitarian supply of food and water to the hostages in Model Town and the protesters in Islamabad is laudable, but it needs to take lessons in courage and defiance from Dr. Tahir ul Qadri, who has turned the country upside-down over the brutal killings in Model Town, Lahore.

In my opinion, the need of the hour is for all the forces for change, including the MQM, which is the only political party with the abolition of feudalism in its manifesto, to come together for a peaceful change. If their peaceful efforts fail, the only recourse would be for the army to come in for a short time to restore law and order, punish the looters and plunderers, bring back the looted wealth, and give a permanent solution to the country’s problems, which include the rampant corruption in the judicial system.  In the year 2014, there is no chance of an Army Chief trying to sit permanently (as was done by the late Gen. Ziaul Haq, mentor of many politicians currently in power), specially with a person like Gen. Raheel Shareef at the helm.

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