KARACHI: In light of the current political climate, a seminar titled “Democratic Transition in the Country – An Overview” was organised by the Karachi Gymkhana Library and Literary Sub-Committee in collaboration with the South Asia Women in Media (SAWM), an association of South Asian women working in the media.

Dr Hamida Khuhro, Javed Jabbar, Nargis Rahman and Babar Ayaz spoke at the seminar held on Thursday evening at Karachi Gymkhana.

Addressing the audience, Babar Ayaz, a renowned senior journalist, said bad governance was the failure of a particular government as opposed to a failure of democracy as a system. Democracy is an ‘evolutionary process’ instead of a ‘revolutionary’ one and it develops constantly, Ayaz said.

During the session, Javed Jabbar, former federal minister and renowned intellectual, proposed six steps to help ensure the continued evolution of the democratic process in Pakistan.

He said Pakistan was currently an electoral democracy but that it must eventually develop into a representative democracy.

In order to achieve the said objective, Jabbar said a cut-off point could be set during the voting so that the winning candidate received at least 51 per cent, adding that there should be more than one rounds of voting in order to have the most representative candidate as the winner.

Moreover, Jabbar said the current federation was “asymmetric” and thus was weakening itself.

Jabbar added that the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) should be mandated to oblige the political parties to hold intra-party elections and supervise the process.

The state should provide partial funding to political parties as it would alleviate the corrupt financial activities within these parties and inculcate a sense of transparency in the parties’ financial transactions, the former minister recommended.

In the end, Jabbar called for the planning and implementation of an accountability process to hold governments responsible for their actions in real time instead of at the end of their tenures.

Nargis Rahman, a renowned educationist and peace activist, reiterated that the democratic process in Pakistan needed to maintain its momentum.

”It is imperative to have faith in this country and its people,” Rahman said. The point was further elaborated by eminent historian and former Sindh education minister Dr Hamida Khuhro who said there was no substitute for the collective wisdom of the people which should be trusted.

Dr Khuhro hailed the democratic spirit of the public, saying that despite the deteriorating law and order situation, people continue to demand that elections be held.

Referring to the question of representation raised by Jabbar, Dr Khuhro said the dearth in party tickets awarded to women further affected the representation of the Pakistani people in the Parliament.

Imtiaz Alam, secretary of the South Asian Free Media Association (Safma), concluded the session by thanking the speakers.