- Challenges include civil-military relations, parliament and executive, parliament and judiciary and balance between two houses, says Rabbani
Chairman Senate Raza Rabbani has said that democracy is facing multiple challenges in Pakistan, including the challenge of the civil-military relationship, parliament and executive relationship, parliament and judiciary relationship and the challenge of balance between the two houses.
Addressing a seminar entitled, “Democracies in transition and the challenges they face” organised as a joint venture of the senate and Commonwealth Parliamentary Association (CPA) on Thursday, Raza Rabbani said that the learning from the experiences of the other democracies and parliaments is important for Pakistan as we are the democracy in transition and also because we have started this journey of transition from dictatorship to democracy.
Parliament is no more debating club or a place of sitting for the politicians; rather the initiatives being taken and the efforts of the Senate of Pakistan to legislate on the rights of federating units and marginalised segments speak volume of the change being taken place.
Talking about the challenge of the civil-military relationship, Raza Rabbani said it is of utmost importance to deliberate and debate on this account as we are in a transition phase to move from dictatorship to democracy and the institutions had vested interests which are not only political but also economic.
He said that politicians are not against armed forces rather there is defined role for the all the institutions in the constitution of 1973 but unfortunately this constitution was either abrogated or held in abeyance when dictators take over, but the people were and are committed for the rule of law.They rose every time they were beaten-up during the dictatorships and they will rise again as the sun rises every morning.
He said the other challenge is that the existing balance of power between the two houses of the parliament is against the spirit of the 1973 constitution and the very purpose of upper house creation was to represent the federating units.
He suggested that a formula must be worked out for equal strength of the both house during the joint setting of the parliament as the 372 member National Assembly outnumbers the Senate having only 104 members representing the rights of the Federation and federating units. The spirit and purpose of the creation of the senate was the equal representation of the provinces.
Chairman Senate Raza Rabbani reiterated that worst form of democracy is better than dictatorship and that democracy is not a switch of light that one switched it off and switched it on at will rather it is a continuous process. Corruption is prevalent in the society but every politician is not corrupt.
