We are all aware of how our political parties are run by a few personalities without any regard for democratic principles. We also know how this seriously weakens the parties and impacts their ability to address the issues of the people and stand up to the establishment where needed.
Even now, while most of the party workers of PPP are against any deal, BB is having talks with Musharraf in sheer disregard of the majority opinion in her party. Many opportunistic politicians are holding negotiations for tickets with more than one party without any commitment to any ideology or manifesto. All this naturally undermines the political process and prevents it from having much relevance to the people at the grass roots level.
While the events of the last few years have convinced many that military rule is not a solution to Pakistan’s problems, it is equally true that the political system, as it stands, is in need of a major overhaul. Most Pakistanis feel a complete disconnect between politics and how it impacts their lives. They are either indifferent or jubilant when the military takes over, hoping that perhaps the new ruler will turn out to be better. If the people are to have confidence in the political process, it must give them a genuine sense of participation.
It is not enough to say that the system will automatically sort itself out if allowed enough time sans interference from the military. This view is like the trickle down theory of economics, which says that given enough time, the benefits of economic growth will automatically filter down to the masses. While both trickle down theories may be strictly correct and good for a drawing room discussion, the suffering people can not and should not be made to wait so long. They can not be expected to come out in protest against a military coup when all the political system has to offer them is a vague promise of a trickle down effect some time in the far future.
Concrete steps are needed for making the political process reach out to the people at the grass roots level if the system is to function without any threat of derailment by the military. This should include steps for democratizing the party structure, genuine devolution of power to the lower level, free electronic media in the form of local radio and TV stations for openly debating grass roots issues, holding live debates on the manifestos of political parties rather than focusing on personalities, and putting in place solid checks and balances to prevent nepotism and corruption. Once such steps are taken, the political culture can start to change for the better in a noticeable way and the people can appreciate why the democratic process under the constitution is relevant to their well being.
Unfortunately, the political parties are not interested in such reforms. Even the much hyped charter of democracy, (which did contain some constructive proposals on the independence of the judiciary, the election commission and the national accountability bureau) was lacking in any useful points on the above mentioned issues. And with Benazir’s negotiations with Musharraf for a deal, even this somewhat limited charter of democracy is now effectively dead.
It is therefore left to the media and civil society to raise their voices for badly needed reforms aimed at making the political system genuinely participatory for the people. There are many issues worth struggling for, but as the polls approach, the focus for the next few months should be directed at reforms relating to the election process. In addition to the independence of the election commission, it is also very important to demand solid steps aimed at making the voters more aware and interested in manifestos rather than empty slogans on personalities (here and here), and having the parties put in place democratic and transparent processes for selecting their candidates.
With that in mind, a campaign is being started for generating pressure on political parties to democratize the process for deciding party tickets. A set of suggestions has been drafted on how the process for party tickets can be made democratic and transparent and can be read here. The whole article is located here.
We are hoping to collect a large number of signatures from interested Pakistanis and gather their valuable input on improving these suggestions by Sunday, Aug 12.
After that, the resolution will be finalized and sent to political parties. This will be followed by aggressive marketing of the ideas to build pressure.
Your help is needed in the following four ways:
1. Leave a message of endorsement on the web page here.
2. Provide your valuable input to improve the suggested points or the campaign strategy by posting your comments on the above link.
3. Spread the word around and urge others to support the campaign.
4. Write letters to political parties, media and civil society groups on the subject and keep track of the issue by following up. Make sure that the issue is not allowed to go in the background over time.
It is about time that there was a serious effort to reform the political process to make personality politics, dictatorship within parties, and lotacracy obsolete. It is going to be a long struggle for the media and civil society to make that happen, but we need to start by raising our voices for appropriate reforms, and repeating them again, again and again in unison until it becomes impossible for vested interests to ignore them.
Thanks God….
Supreme Court against smashed the government over the nawaz Sharif issue….
A man of unbeatable respect Justice(R) fakhruddin J Ibrahim…started case from Nawaz Sharif in the words that I am very happy that i am standing before a new court reborn on 20 july…My Lord..case is very simple but very important as well…Article 15 17 19 24 clearly says that a person can move freely inside the Pakistan if he is a citizen of pakistn ..My client is not only a citizen of pakistan but former 2 timesPM of Pakistan ..and former CM of largest province…
But a Millitary man is saying ..he is not allowed ..My Lord..tell me…whethere a Constitution have to follow or a Dictator…..thats all….
Justice Ifthikhar remarked ..was not the case already decided that Shabaz Shrif can come in pakistan in 2004…Who denied the orders of SC ..who dares to put aside the clear cut ruling of SC over Shabaz Sharif case…tell me his name ..who didi all that….
so all Provincial attorney generals …4 Chief Secretaries are summoned on 16 august ..to tell ..why they deny any citizen of pakistn to enter pakistan….
Its seems that case has already decided in Nawaz and Shahbaz side …and inshallh they soon land inLahore with million sof people welcomming them..inshallah…
5 minutes ..he took from entring the National Assembly of Pakistan …to reach hisn seat…
about 280 memebers ..both of Opposition or government….baeted the desks with full force…when he steeped into NA ..after 4 years of jail…..
The whole NA bursted to salute this lion…who resisted to bow down in front of a Dictator…
Claps..and sounds lasted for about 5 min….then he started his historical speech …in NA….
he said to NA Speaker…Syed Ameer Hussain(Sialkot) that..i respect you..but i will only bow in front of a Lord almighty….
This NA did nothing for me..in 4 years… i was arrested bearfooted…not even a single production order was issued by Speaker NA …He neglected 500,000 people of Multan..to whom which i repersent in this NA…
He further said that…i will necver accept the rule of generals in thsi land…16 Corp Commanders are leading the 16 crore peop[le..they are so shameful tthat..that they are famous in bad habbits all over the country..Pakistan will not accept the military rule at all…this country was made by Jinnah for people not booted generals..let them kick out of Politics ..and cage then in thier barraks….
He also criticized BB for dealing with Dictator when his ship is about to drown..inshallah…
He said that …i am ready to go 6 more years to free 160 millions people from these booted Generals…
A strange thing happened when he said his last sentence that…this head will never bow..instead of Allah…immediately..the Maghrib Azans started ..outside ….with words Allah Hu Akbar…
and whole NA dazed on that !!!!!!!!!!!
See the conquering heroes come
Play the trumpets ..beat the drums…
you people cannot imagine..in 50 celsius ..in Adyala Jail..Miawali Jail(the hell jail of Pakistan ./.52 C)..and Kot Lakhpat Jail…his whole body covered with red pimples due to only old fan..he had there..Jail administration refused to gave him Air Cooler although he was a fisrt class prisoner..and of politics…
Zardari enjoed split units in jail…..
But this brave men refused to apply for air cooler….
his eyes got a serious infection..due to heat….
his teeth…started bleeding ….
in first few days…his whole back was so bitterly torchurted that …it started bleeding…..
he wrote that…in his book ” HA Mai Baghi HOO ” that ..on one night..whole Hamood ur Rahman Commission repoer was written on my back….
But he refused to bow down in front of a Dictator …..
You people think…4 years Qaida-i-Tanhai is a joke…..the most horrible punishment this Qaidai Tanhai is…many people prefer an attempt of suicide ..over Qaidai Tanhai …..
But after heat ..the gold become Kundan..and yes..he was jailed because he said that Army shoyuld go to its duty..whats wrong it was…but Dictator put him behind the bars..to broke him….
but LANAT on him..Hashmi came out like a lion..and Ahle Lahore welcomed him..in such a way…that he will never forget it…lakho log …nikal aai sarko par when he came out of jail…..
http://www.paklinks.com/gs/showthread.php?t=252965 &page=2
http://www.paklinks.com/gs/showthread.php?t=241568 &page=3
Well said!
Charity after all begins at home. It’s ironical how parties which claim to be champions of democracy, fail to apply the same ethos in their own way of functioning. That goes on to explain how much of a democracy they are going to usher when they come to power.
The idea sounds nice. But I am not sure if you can mandate this. This pressure has to come from within the party ranks itself. Not from outside and not from govt. That woudl be interference.
I suggest a TV debate by topic amongst the parties, for example what will each party do about land reform, health provision, education at different levels and much more, I hope ATP readers can fill in the blanks.
I would like Geo, ARY, Aaj and others all to play their part by agreeing amongst themselves in the spirit of national service to choose debates so as many topics are covered. Furthermore each party should only be allowed to have the same spokesman speaking as per a preset agreement.
The net benefit will be that Pakistanis can see what each party promised in front of the nation. This is much better than a page on health in their manifesto since most of our awaam never see such documents. Thus each party will have almost had an address to the nation on each topic and this will represent a covenant with the people of Pakistan for which they will be assessed by.
I will soon be detailing this in further detail, but ATP legends please pass judgement and even better suggest better alternatives at http://www.otherpakistan.org and see http://www.otherpakistan.org/today2.html for my most recent post.
Feimanallah
Wasim
http://www.otherpakistan.org