ISLAMABAD: Sharing his observations on jolts to democracy in Pakistan, Senate chairman Raza Rabbani on Friday said it was a walk-up call for the government to learn from its past mistakes and give parliament its due position.

The Constitution provided for a trichotomy of powers and the provision must be respected by all state organs, he stressed. All institutions must stay within the boundaries of the roles assigned to them under the Constitution, he said, adding that any institution that transgressed its ambit damaged the democratic process.

Senator Rabbani urged the government to empower parliament so it could fulfil its duty of oversight of the executive, and provide policy guidelines.

Senators stress respect for Constitution while marking International Day of Democracy

These remarks came during the course of Senate proceedings on Friday after Senator Farhatullah Babar of the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) pointed out that Sept 15 was the International Day of Democracy. Senator Babar had called for a deeper reflection on new emerging threats to democracy and highlighted the need to contain those threats.

Direct assault on democracy and outright abrogation of the Constitution had paved the way for use of instruments like the doctrine of necessity, the Legal Framework Order, the Provi­si­onal Constitution Order and the suspension of the Constitution to undermine democratic institutions in the past, he said, noting that recently a new kind of threat had reared its head.

“This new threat is the back-seat-driving-syndrome which accompanies exercise of power without responsibility or accountability,” he said, adding that under this model, the person in the driving seat got outmanoeuvred by controllers in the rear seat who had the vehicle’s vital levers in hand. Warning that such a vehicle was fated to meet with a disastrous accident, he urged all institutions to respect their limits and not tread into the domain of other institutions.

The PPP senator also drew the House’s attention towards the expulsion of an international NGO — Doctors Without Borders — from the Federally Administered Tribal Areas and demanded a reversal of the decision. He said that Fata had already been turned into a black hole and was closed to visitors. Even the human rights committee had been discouraged from visiting the area on one pretext or the other, he said.

He added that the team of doctors operating in the tribal areas included several Pakistani doctors who were engaged in purely humanitarian work. If a member of the organisation was found guilty of any wrongdoing, he should have been investigated, charged and prosecuted under the law, the senator said. But expelling the entire team without providing cogent reasons or charges pressed against them only reinforced the perception that the state wished to keep the area a black hole for some undisclosed reasons, he added.

“At a time when the global community is deeply concerned about the cross-border movement of militants between Pak­istan and Afghanistan, and ope­nly accuse Pakistan...the reinforcement of such perceptions will undermine us and only inc­r­ease our difficulties,” he said.

Senator Usman Kakar of the Pakhtunkhwa Milli Awami Party (PkMAP) said the judiciary and the bureaucracy were not ready to accept the supremacy of parliament. He was of the view that democracy must not be compromised for the sake of prolonging rule and political parties should stand united to promote and strengthen democracy.

Senator Javed Abbasi of the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz added to the discussion by underscoring the need for change in attitudes in order to strengthen democracy. He added that the masses would become the greatest guardians of democracy if its fruits reached them.

He regretted that the local government system, meant to transfer powers to the lowest tier, was not working well as provincial governments had not devolved powers, even to the district level. He said that local government elections had taken place only under pressure from the judiciary, and noted that it should have been done by a democratic government of its volition.

Earlier, while discussing the president’s address to a joint sitting of parliament, Senator retired General Abdul Qayyum of the PML-N called for immediate finalisation of judicial reforms. He stressed the need to revamp healthcare facilities across the country — most of which he noted were currently in pathetic condition. He said the government must focus its attention to enhance the literacy rate in Pakistan and to promote technical, scientific and higher education.

Senator Qayyum said that Pakistan had made progress but mistakes made in the last 70 years could not be undone overnight. He said visible improvement had been made in curbing militancy and an acute power crisis had been effectively addressed in record time. He said the census exercise had been conducted after 18 years, while Fata and electoral reforms had been finalised and Pakistan’s soft image had been promoted.

Interior Minister Ahsan Iqbal was supposed to make a policy statement on a disclosure by his predecessor, Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan, about an alleged threat to the country. He did not show up in the Senate on Friday and Senator Rabbani gave him time till Tuesday to deliver the statement, even though the interior minister had not requested additional time. This has led many to believe that a request for additional time might have been sought behind the scenes.

Leader of the House Raja Muhammad Zafarul Haq told the senators that the government had decided not to import onions and potatoes. The issue of the import of onions had been raised in the House a few days ago by senators who had termed the move an ‘economic strangulation’ of farmers in the country.

Published in Dawn, September 16th, 2017