Whilst the European Parliament did not accept the way President Pervez Musharraf came into power, however we must recognise that his position in the country was providing stability within Pakistan and in the South East Asian region. Sajjad Karim, British-born-Pakistani Member of the European Parliament, expressed these views in response to a question regarding the West rewarding Pakistan for its support for the war against terror and accepting President General Pervez Musharraf's rule at a discussion on "Strengthening democracy in light of parliamentary experiences" here on Wednesday.
It was organised by the Pakistan Institute of Legislative Development and Transparency (PILDAT). Syed Fakhar Imam, former Speaker National Assembly of Pakistan, Sartaj Aziz, former Finance Minister, and selected members of Punjab Assembly, civil society representatives and media persons were also present on the occasion.
Sajjad was of the view that democracy and internal management of Pakistan has to be reformed only through the indigenous efforts of the people of Pakistan. "Moreover, to develop democratic process in Pakistan, it was imperative that the Pakistani political parties make itself democratic," he added.
According to him, if the western world did provide trade opportunities to Pakistan, there would be negative implications, which would not be healthy. The western democracies have to take a wider view of the situation and do not want to do anything that would create instability in the region.
The European parliament had recently set up a strategic partnership with India while they were also aware that we should not harm Pakistan's basic trade infrastructure.
A lot of queries from the participants at the discussion related to the role of EU and the European parliament in strengthening democracy in Pakistan through help and pressure to oust military from politics.
When asked what lessons should the South Asian region learn from the EU, Karim said that each country of the region has to understand that its true prosperity depends on its co-operation with its neighbours. "Europe has been able to achieve a unified status today because countries of Europe realised this and were willing to resolve their issues of a violent past through dialogue. Willingness to discuss positions helps resolve the continuing issues EU faces," he added.
Syed Fakhar Imam and Sartaj Aziz endorsed Karim's views that strengthening of democracy in Pakistan had to be achieved by indigenous efforts of the people. They further said that from the first day Pakistan faced with constitutional crisis and one-man-show in running the country's affairs has been the norm of the day, which has proven detrimental. "Free and fair elections was the only solution to political and economic stability," they added.
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