Speakers see electoral reforms panacea for political crisis

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Speakers at the meeting of Shura Hamdard Karachi chapter have urged the government to hastily introduce the required reforms which are needed for national unity and continuation of democratic process.

The meeting was held the other day on the theme: “Electoral reforms and continuity of democracy in the country” presided over by former chief justice Federal Shariat Court, Haziqul Khairi, at Hamdard Centre, Nazimabad.

Hamdard Foundation Pakistan President Sadia Rashid was also present in the meeting.

Speaking on the occasion, Prof Dr Atta-ur-Rahman, FRS and UNESCO Science Laureate, said that electronic voting system must be included in electoral reforms as it would stop the bogus voting to a large extent.

He was of the view that the present democratic system of the country was based on feudal democracy which would never be able to solve the problems of the country, the presidential system of democracy might be introduced in the country instead, but it should not be based on autocracy but democracy.

In presidential system of democracy, the elected president could choose his ministers on merit and competency without political pressure and such team of ministers could solve the country’s problems quickly and in a better way, he added.

He said the feudal system had been abolished in India, Bangladesh and other mentionable countries of the world, but Pakistan was the only country still left with feudalism, resulting in lawlessness, plundering and huge corruption.

Rs 8500 billion were looted in the last five years, Rs 480 crores were being taken daily as a loan by the present government, thus the burden of national loans had been increased by 11 per cent, he added. The failure of the country was linked to illiteracy and social injustice prevailing in our society, he opined. Therefore, it would be a wise step to educate people on war footing and for this purpose ‘education emergency’ should be imposed in the country, he suggested.

‘Our country’s education budget is lesser than many African countries. How can we make progress without literate manpower? he lamented. To put the country on right direction, to implement electoral reforms and to end corruption, a national government comprising technocrats ought to be installed for at least three years in the country and judiciary and army must have a role in this setup as the country needed a deep surgery,” he suggested.

Haziqul Khairi said the presidential form of government was in Pakistan in the past, but it failed and corruption increased manifold during that period. He wondered whether the nation would accept it again or not.

The need of the hour was to hold local body’s elections in the country because new leadership would always emerge from this institution, he added.

Haq Nawaz Akhtar said the big issue of the country was still illiteracy because they could do nothing without literate manpower. Dr Mirza Arshad Ali Beg said that silent majority was responsible for rigging because they didn’t vote in elections and their votes were used in bogus voting. He said ‘the theatre of dharnas’ which was being staged in Islamabad must stop now otherwise the petition about Balochistan sent to the UN by the opponents of Pakistan might come under discussion of the world body and then whatever happened in Sudan and Eastern Timor (God forbid) might happen to Pakistan as well.

Commodore (r) Sadeed Anwar Malik was of the opinion that the present political system of Pakistan must be protected keeping in view the prevailing national and international scenario and safety of the country.

Dr Qadri and Imran Khan were pushing us towards wrong direction which could be a disastrous move for the country, he warned. Engineer Anwarul Haq Siddiqui said the presidential and parliamentary forms of government were successfully running in the USA and the Great Britain.

The success of a system depended on the people who run the system and the literacy rate of voters who elected the representatives to run the government, he asserted.

M Abul Fazal, a former diplomat, said that the All India Muslim League was a bourgeois party and wanted to run Pakistan under the capitalist system which had the potential to make the country a developed state, but feudal lords, who came into power, didn’t allow the party to do so.

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