Dawn.com invites readers to debate current affairs in this forum.
On Thursday, President Asif Ali Zardari called upon the government to take the appropriate steps to implement the Charter of Democracy. The CoD has many points on its agenda, including the removal of undesirable powers to the president that he enjoys under the 17th constitutional amendment as well as the restoration of the constitution as it stood in 1973.
President Zardari has described the CoD as ‘our compass in a rough sea’ and a guide to Pakistan’s democratic future. Do you think the implementation of the CoD will help strengthen national democratic institutions? What impact will the implementation of the CoD have on relations between the PPP and PML-N?
Let us first List down the most crucial problems facing pakistan today:
1. US pressure for war on terror, conditional aid and blank cheques, Alqaida and taliban in border with Afghan.
2. Upset in swat, shariat implementation, parallel system of justice.
3. Upset in FATA, US Drone attacks
4. Bomb blasts in various Pakistani cities.
5. Baluchistan Libration Army, Gawader issue
6. Kashmir issue, indian opression, war danger
7. Economic slow down, Capital flight, Loans, Economy under burden
8. Political instability, Martial law fears
9. Power, water, wheat, urea crisis
10 Corruption, looting and injustice
I am hopeful that our leaders deal with the problems sincerely with their collective best and take us out of the problems.
Pakistan needs a grassroots revolution to completely overhaul its feudal and anarchic social, economic and political systems.
A revolution like that of Cuba is needed. Iranian-like revolution has potential of creating sectarian strife.
CoD is an agreement amongst the elite and the privileged,to keep the state power within a limited group.
Parliamentary democracy has not and will not work in Pakistan. The CoD is another attempt by our corrupt and inept politicians to eliminate all checks and balances and impose a parliamentary system which is devoid of any real checks and avails an elected government unfettered power to do as they please. In Pakistan’s case, our politicans have proven time and again that when given unlimited power they use it for their own personal gain and we now see history repeating itself.
Nothing good will come out of the CoD and should our politicians undo the 17th amendment, they will only be setting themselves up for another military take over down the road when they make a mess of things yet again. As a Political Scientist, I can say that Quaid-e-Azam preferred a Presidential system for Pakistan, he had stated such and written so as well. However; after the creation of Pakistan and to this date political interests prevented and subdued his views from being promoted over the parliamentary system which they prefer. How shameful of them and unfortunate for Pakistan that the nation continues to suffer at the hands of these incompetent thugs.
What really needs to happen is the abrogation of the 1973 constitution and implementation of an effective Presidential system with ample checks and balances not a CoD that is meaningless coming from political parties that fail to hold party elections and pass on leadership to other family members as an inheritance.
There can not be any democracy in Pakistan so long as politcal parties remain personal property of its present leaders and their descendents.
fulfillment of cod will have very positive effect on politics of pakistan and bring a harmony and respect between different political parties .Also it will strengthen the parliament
In totality its a road map, if sincerely carried out the envisaged terms, which i’m afraid owing to lack of vision may not happen. But at the same time if they fail to develop consensus, i personally feel that either the same characters would be sharply replaced by the rightest wing or a new face will emerge. Well,this is how aye foresee sitting in America with very cool minded approach.
The 1973 constitution should be adopted and then elections should be held under 1973 constitution so that we can feel that the electorates are elected under the constitution. The present parliament members are in no way elected under 1973 constitution. These are representatives elected under the rules of former Military dictator General Musharraf. Get rid of illegal electorates and let constitutionally elected representative form the government.
Why are not we hearing talk of restoring 1973 constitution? Why are politicians shying away from the constitution that had unanimous endorsement and approval of all parties? CoD is an agreement that was negotiated between two parties at that time when they were not even elected representatives of people.
If you do it right, please do it right once but do not move the political process in piecemeal fashion that will never lead to the original 1973 constitution.
While acknowledging that the nation is going through a critical phase in its history, it is imperative for one and all to pledge unconditional support for every move and proposal in the right direction, and abandon any and all grudges against those who are in charge of running the country. Every single Pakistani has to really work diligently and honestly to create more faith and trust in each other and to uphold the law of the land under all circumstances so that the masses are the real beneiciaries (and not just a chosen few) of this change.
After reading certain comments, I have to say this; the talent of a man should not be curtailed. The CoD tries to curtail and cut down one authority that is the President, as if he is an alien and he is not from us and an elected guy. So why if his talent puts him in the centre of authority and he is sincere, he be kept out of the orbit of power. Why, what is the logic? This is unnatural and against the law of nature.
The free well-behaved press, free expression, free competition should be encouraged.If the P.M. is worthy let him take over the helm, if the President is worthy let him take over the helm – let the dual of them take over the helm, why scuttle one.
In any case ideally Pakistan needs a Presidential System of rule as Ayub Khan did in his time.There is no need of a P.M. We always see duel between the P.M. and the President and then Islam has always had only a Caliph – the President.
Agree with Salman.Although the tradional feudalism should not be replaced by “industrial feudalism” or else the result will be the same.Keeping feudal lords aside,how do industrialists explain paying 1 dollar a day labor wages and how do they explain earning in pakistan and depositing in american banks.If money earned locally is wired abroad,your country is a mere american/british colony with a symbolic independance day.Come up with a working system in the cities first,then worry about the feudal strong holds.In the mean time ,apply the constituion to everyone – if the lawyers can get justice for their man ,I am sure they can do the same for their fellow citizens.
When are Pakistanis going to wake up and ask themselves a simple question! A population of 170 million approxiamtely 5%-7% possess any recognizable level of education. Pakistan’s leadership have always sent their children to schools in the West. How then can Zardari or anyone else ever expect to establish any form of democracy, regardless of fancy names like the CoD, etc.?
Here’s the problem, since day one: Pakistan has either been ruled by feudals or the military. Throw into that mix the now ubiquitous Pakistani Taliban, Al Qaeda and the rest of the power-hungry nut cases.
A large majority of the population continues to subsist in abject poverty, disenfranchised by a lack of education and completely under the yoke of feudals. It stands to reason that a complete lack of educational institutions, domestically, is what directs the elite to send their families to the be educated in the West. In 60+ years no Pakistani leadership has ever remedied this problem? Why? And yet Zardari, Sharif, et al continue make statements with such fancy terms as CoD! One has to wonder if such comments are meant to be consumed by funders like US, Britain, etc., because, domestically for the majority to understand this, it would be like the OJ Simpson jury trying to understand DNA!!
On the other side of the domestic political coin, the threat of the Islamists, now, looms large! You think maybe they will attempt to capture Islamabad, as they have recently threatened to do. Let the military loose and empower them to attack this problem, with full force and uproot and eradicate this menace from Pakistan. Make it very clear, that those who will stand in the way of extricating Pakistan out of this psuedo-Islam will go down with the others.
One other thing: Abolish the feudal system.
Short of such drastic actions, Pakistan is doomed, something that is bound to happen in short time!
President Asif Zardari should implement CoD during his tenure in office, otherwise who knows? Another military coup perhaps!
islamic republic’s genernals fancy very little democracy.
I totally agree with salman the problem of Pakistan is feudalism right from the beginning – it’s not too late to sort it, but who will do it?
adhering to some principles is necessary. we talk too much and do least. we had a constitution which war never practiced in true spirit. even its authors had plundered it. soon after it was passed unanimously, a host of amendments were incorporated by the authors bulldozing the parliament. since then every ruler including ppp, pml-n and the dictators had ridiculed it. if the two major parties are sincere, they should pledge not to violate it any more and practice it honestly.
pakistan is currently passing through a dangerous stage and instead of experiments, sincerity is required. with cod or without it, what is needed is honestly working for the country, but that objective is a distant aim. may Allah help us and save innocent people of pakistan from those who are nothing but looters and plunderers.
What the political parties need is self regulatory discipline. No charter will work, just as the Ten Commandments have not worked perfectly.
Parties, charter or no charter will continue to act as bullies until they realise they will have to go to next polls and it is someone else’s turn at the helm.
Definitely so.But we can not see TNSM vis-a-vis Mr Obama`s Comprehensive War Strategy indefinitely.We have got to bring out immediate viable strategic solution for the good of country.In ultimate analysis, CoD`s Implementation at this opportune time may open new vistas of national prosperity.
Abolishing the feudalism just like India did early on Pakistan should have done the same. Vision of Pakistan was in the mid of our founder Quid-e-Azam was to have an exemplary Muslim state…A modest very prospers country with a different mind set.
Feudal lords have ruled Pakistan either in the form civilian govt. or military govt. They think Pakistan is their personal property conducting business for their own benefit. We need to eradicate this system first. First thing first then you can form a true democratic institution and have a constitution.
If all the CoD can accomplish is to bring back the parliamentry system and stop the politics of confrontation between two main parties,that is huge progress.
I would like to see the people who abandoned the constitution tried in the supreme court. Whether they are alive or dead,the cases need to be reopened and published in the history books.That will be a start… The next time a PM messes up, it will be up to supreme court to take action, not the generals.
Is Charter of Democracy over then the Constitution of Pakistan. When our corrupt politician defy the constitution of Pakistan for their personal gains and agenda how one can expect they will adhere to COD without their personal gains. We are pushed back into dark age once again by our corrupt leaders.
This is What i wrote on my blog few days ago:
“People often ask why this ‘Charter Of Democracy’ is mentioned so much in the speeches of politicians, why can not they instead address the real problems of the common man. In my view the Charter of Democracy which was signed on May 14, 2006 between the two major parties, is nothing short of a revolutionary document in the history of this nation. If made a part of our constitution and the laws, this agreement can go far towards in undoing much of the follies of our past which will have a subsequent effect on the people. Let us look at some of its proposed clauses in detail.
1. The 1973 Constitution as on 12th October 1999 before the military coup shall be restored with the provisions of joint electorates, minorities, and women reserved seats on closed party list in the Parliament, the lowering of the voting age, and the increase in seats in parliament and the Legal Framework Order, 2000 and the Seventeenth Constitutional Amendment shall be repealed accordingly.
2. The appointment of the governors, three services chiefs and the CJCSC shall be made by the chief executive who is the prime minister, as per the 1973 Constitution.
It invites hardly a debate among intellectuals. This system right now, with vast powers delegated in the President, is not the true essence of Parliamentary system. Either revert to a true Presidential rule like in U.S. or make it a true Parliamentary democracy with the President just a constitutional head. With his own party in the government Zardari will not have much to lose in this; in fact he will gain some lost political ground for its party if he needs to make it big again in the next elections.
3. (a) The recommendations for appointment of judges to superior judiciary shall be formulated through a commission, which shall comprise of the following: i. The chairman shall be a chief justice, who has never previously taken oath under the PCO.
ii. The members of the commission shall be the chief justices of the provincial high courts who have not taken oath under the PCO, failing which the senior most judge of that high court who has not taken oath shall be the member
iii. Vice-Chairmen of Pakistan and Vice-Chairmen of Provincial Bar Association with respect to the appointment of judges to their concerned province
iv. President of Supreme Court Bar Association
v. Presidents of High Court Bar Associations of Karachi, Lahore, Peshawar, and Quetta with respect to the appointment of judges to their concerned province
vi. Federal Minister for Law and Justice
vii. Attorney General of Pakistan
(a-i) The commission shall forward a panel of three names for each vacancy to the prime minister, who shall forward one name for confirmation to joint parliamentary committee for confirmation of the nomination through a transparent public hearing process.
(a-ii) The joint parliamentary committee shall comprise of 50 per cent members from the treasury benches and the remaining 50 per cent from opposition parties based on their strength in the parliament nominated by respective parliamentary leaders.
(b) No judge shall take oath under any Provisional Constitutional Order or any other oath that is contradictory to the exact language of the original oath prescribed in the Constitution of 1973.
Again, this is absolutely no alien concept. By enacting the proposed law, the influence of executive over judiciary would be highly curtailed which happens to be a touted aim of our constitution, that is to separate judiciary from executive. The notable point here is the ‘public hearing’ which will ensure that the name of no compromised candidacy will be put forward unless someone wants a public investigation and a resulting embarrassment. U.S. Senate committee which ratifies the name of judges works somewhat along these lines where anyone is allowed to raise an objection on any candidacy.
5. The Concurrent List in the Constitution will be abolished. A new NFC award will be announced.
Provincial autonomy has become one of the pressing issue of the times and this very clause proposes something that should have been done ages ago. After the dismemberment of East Pakistan, our fathers only had a consensus on the constitution of 1973 with the declared hope that the concurrent list would be abolished soon. Concurrent list is a legal way to encroach upon the right of provinces by the centre. Provinces as well as the centre can legislate on the 47 subjects provided in the list but the federal law reigns supreme in a case of conflict. The problem here would be to reach consensus between all the major parties. As much time has passed after 1973, many parties like MQM propose much extreme legislation which would leave only few subjects with the centre (MQM proposes 3, while PMLQ suggests 4 as opposed to 67 subjects in the federal list right now). The formula for NFC awards is another issue that would be vigorously debated upon. Awards distributed only on the basis of population right now has earned serious discontent of other three provinces. Factors like territory, poverty and the collection of revenues should also be included in the computation of final share.
8. FATA shall be included in the NWFP province in consultation with them.
9. Northern Areas shall be developed by giving it a special status and further empowering the Northern Areas Legislative Council to provide people of Northern Areas access to justice and human rights.
These two above steps in my personal opinion are the most important that can contribute to the solution of growing militancy in FATA and to bring social uplift in the aforementioned areas. The FATA areas, with draconian FCR laws and deprivation of other political rights, should have been integrated in the country much earlier. Again, this all can be achieved by taking on board the very population of FATA. Unless the people of FATA see some incentives for them in the proposed amendment, they will not be very much enthusiastic about it.
I will discuss the rest of the clauses some other time, but it is important to emphasize here that such enormous changes can only be brought to effect when other parties are also included in the process. The Charter of Democracy remains only a document signed between PPP and PMLN for now.”
The need is to strengthen our state institutions and implement and follow the rule of law. COD spells out a road map to achieve our objectives of strengthening the institutions and implementing and following the rule of law.
We need mature leadership to steer the country out of the current situation. The civil society should assume the role of watch dog.
Leadership lies in competency and not abrupt agreements signed to protect self interests. The army is also not the answer as they have proven to fall into the same mix of incompetency as the others. So what then is the answer for our beloved Pakistan? Respect the rule of law as a first step and enhance this element to ensure everyone’s basic right to a fair and just legal system….this will eventually weed out the enemies of the state.
Sorry to say, I think country’s constitution is sole document needed to run the country not CoD. In addition, this CoD is two party document prepared in the heat of desperation. If PPP and PML (N) wanted any validity, other parties should have been include during drafting the bogus peace of paper.
The constitution of 1973 was a good start. But, I am sorry to say that it is too early to implement any thing good. Pakistanis stopped growing to become a mature nation soon after they were free. Living in a competitive world either helps you to become mature or destroys you. The only thing they ever built is a HUGE vanity. The ARMY.
I think that our country is going through a crisis, and that we should let President Pervaiz Musharraf come back. With attacks going on in Lahore and Islamabad, I dont think our country is safe now. I mean these terrorist elements can target anyone, it is time for us to bring a change.