SHAFAQNA PAKISTAN (Shia News Agency)
Pakistani politicians have amazing double standards, they hate dictatorship, they loath and malign it, they praise democracy, they tend to be true democrats but when it comes to political affairs or party affairs, they become dictator, sole autocrats. Ayub Khan abrogated the 1956 constitution and then did not follow his own hand made constitution and handed over power to the Army Chief instead of the Speaker of the National Assembly. Yahya abrogated the 1962 constitution while both Zia and Musharraf defaced the unanimously adopted 1973 constitution. In his last stint in power Nawaz Sharif with the support of the right wing wanted to become Amir-ul-Mominin or Khalifa. The bill passed the assembly but was defeated in the senate, the constitution worked when the due process was followed.
The 1973 constitution is a gift of the only freely elected parliament of the country. The antagonists insist that it was the honest ballot of 1970 that dismembered Quaid’s Pakistan. Since then ten elections have been manipulated thanks to the administrative machinery and Election Monitoring Cell of ISI. Without free and fair elections there can be no democracy for the politicians or legitimacy for the dictators. A manipulated system does not work, it only chokes. Four failed dictators and ten manipulated ballots should be enough to drive the point home that democracy has its own dynamics which cannot be delivered by the manipulation of agencies, ‘Baboos’ or the ‘Qazis’.
Kaptaan is leading the charge for a democratic “Naya Pakistan” as envisioned by the founding fathers. An honest ballot is the first step in that direction. Quaid’s Pakistan was not dismembered by the free and fair election of 1970 but by the reluctance of the rulers to honour the people’s mandate. If what remains of the country has to be saved then constitutional democracy and rule of law is the only way forward.
Dictators have been disasterous for the country. Zia destroyed all civilian institutions and established the rule of the Mullahs which then led to Talibanization of the country. Musharraf tried to pull off the biggest sham of all times by getting elected in uniform. Such a stunt has never been tried even in banana republics. Last words of Baboo and Maj. General (Honorary) Iskandar Mirza as President were, that “only last night I got the blessings of the US Ambassador to continue”. Little did he know that Ayub Khan had been given the nod to take over? Generals in the Islamic world only topple their governments not counter their enemy. Capt Gohar Ayub Khan had a scooter on loan when his father took over in October 1958 but was one of the richest Pakistani when his father was toppled in March 1969 as a result of student unrest. The charade of sham democrats and fake dictators is over; it is curtain time for them. They have a choice either to gracefully bow down and leave the arena or to face the wrath of the long exploited people of Pakistan. It is either bullet or ballot but change is inevitable.
pakistan.shafaqna.com
