LAHORE: Renowned legal expert SM Zafar said that the Senate and National Assembly (NA) elections should be held on time since it was the right of the people.
He was addressing a seminar organised by the Press Institute of National Affairs (PINA) on Sunday.
“The masses do not want a confrontation between the institutions,” he said, “The current political situation could be resolved by following the way of truth.”
Addressing the session, PINA Secretary General Altaf Hassan Qureshi said that the seminar had been organised to get positive suggestions for steering the country out of the present situation.
He said that a balanced cooperation among the institutions was missing and there was lack of mutual respect among the institutions.
“Situation on the side of some institutions is provocative and the culture of understanding and respect is absent,” he said.
Qureshi suggested forming a national council which could play its role in such situations to overcome the issues. He said that a group of impartial journalists should be formed who could visit heads of national institutions to end the current political tension.
“Dialogue at the national level is very important,” he said.
He said that political parties should not take up their issues in the courts as it had damaged the political situation.
Other speakers said that creative thinking and awareness among the masses was the need of the hour.
They said that every institution should work within the given constitutional limits, adding that the parliament had failed in playing its role in resolving the issues.
The speakers suggested that Senate elections should also be held through direct polling and parties failing to get at least five percent votes should be removed. They asked for the restoration of the Council of Common Interest and said that the cabinet forum should be utilised to solve issues.
Shabbir Anwar, Rauf Tahir, M Mehdi, Javaid Nawaz, Rehmat Ali Mujahid, Dr Rasheed Ahmad and Sajjad Mir addressed the seminar.