On verge of make or break!
Tuesday, January 15, 2013 - As the country is plagued with bomb blasts and firings at public spots, in markets, buses and mosques, battles with the Taleban, long spells of load shedding of electricity and gas, price-hike, high-priced justice, increasing joblessness, rampant corruption, nepotism, cronyism, Minhajul Quran chief Dr Tahirul Qadri, a dual Pak-Canadian national and a self-proclaimed revolutionary, is up for an uphill task of electoral reforms and a neutral and credible caretaker government before the coming elections in the country giving the government an ultimatum of a Long March of four million people to Islamabad.
It is very rare that a poor honest and competent person gets elected in the current corrupt electoral system, which has hardly stopped manipulative tactics and corruption. Political parties sell their tickets for millions of rupees and then the same candidates easily get elected by exercising various corrupt practices. Dr Qadri has vowed to stop such tactics and simultaneously help build a new real democratic Pakistan. A recent report issued by State Bank of Pakistan revealed an alarmingly increasing poverty in the country, where there is a massive gap between the poor and the rich.
Almost half the population in Pakistan gets by on just one meal a day, according to the United Nations. Although Pakistan has lost billions of rupees in the war on terror, it has received a significant amount in the form of aid, loans and debt rescheduling from international community, which has not gone to the poor. Politicians and generals have been accused of amassing the national exchequer, which has made the life of the poor miserable.
In pursuit of his electoral reforms agenda, he has done nothing unconstitutional so far, but political parties of status quo (chiefly the two mainstream political parties, namely PPP and PML-N which take turns) are up in arms against him, stating that Qadri is working for a hidden agenda, and that he is trying to enable a delay in elections on the pretext of electoral reforms or to derail democracy, which he denies categorically. He assured the people that his mission was to uphold the Constitution of Pakistan and restore Quaid-e-Azam’s true democracy. The opposing parties see little need for electoral reforms at this stage. Moreover, the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) has not implemented the Supreme Court verdict on electoral reforms in true letter and spirit so far.
The ECP’s slow pace in this matter is also coupled with its ignoring tax-evaders. According to a recently published report, nearly two-third members of the current parliament did not file their Tax returns in 2011,which is a clear violation of the law, but ECP is tight-lipped on this issue whether it will block the re-enty of such elected representatives into parliament keeping in view Article 62 of the Constitution of Pakistan or not. If the long march materialises and his demands are met and free and fair elections are held, there will be a hope for a real democratic Pakistan, which will certainly make him a hero; and if he fails there may be a chaos resulting in a crisis that may draw the army into the fray.
Hell-bent upon unleashing a wave of terror in the country terrorists, like the Taliban, can cause bloodshed on vast scale. The Zardari government should realise the situation and accommodate Qadri’s demands that lead to greater public confidence towards genuinely free and fair polls. If it does not happen and bloodshed takes place, the government having incompetent and inefficient police will have to call military to restore law and order and consequently elections may get postponed. If the situation continued, the military might take over or install a Bangladesh model technocratic government for some time (though judiciary has already opposed any such likely scenario) assigning them a task of ruthless accountability and political reforms before announcing elections in the country. Most political parties and pro-military religious groups who have supported the military rule in the past may come across another opportunity of enjoying power and the judiciary might support the military because of chaotic situation in the country; so the result will be fiasco for the people once again who had a ray of hope for a real democracy in the country. Let’s wait and see whether Dr Tahirul Qadri is able to achieve his goal of electoral reforms and a caretaker government of squeaky clean technocrats, or the country sinks further in anarchy with the same old faces of exploitation and corruption.
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