Speakers stress radical reforms for true democracy

The prospects of real democracy will remain bleak in Pakistan without radical constitutional, political, agricultural and religious reforms to address the major issues of devolving powers to the grassroots, achieving political and religious harmony and granting rights to the destitutes.
Present system needs curative treatment. Political parities have to adopt a policy of reconciliation instead of confrontation; agriculture reforms have to be brought about to do away with feudalism and religious extremism has to be shunned for achieving harmonious society.
These views were expressed by the politicians belonging to all major political parties here on Thursday at a roundtable discussion on "Outcome of the Local government Elections and Future Political Scenario", organised by International Republican Institute (IRI).
Sherry Rehman of Pakistan Peoples Party Parliamentarians said that massive rigging has taken place in the local government elections. As a result, both the people and political parties have lost faith in the system.
Muttahida Qaumi Movement's Farooq Sattar said that the future prospect of the democracy could become bright only when political parties would pledge not to resort to confrontation. He called for making local bodies system more independent and responsive at grassroots level by devolving fiscal and financial powers to the local governments.
"Local governments have to be given the power of legislation enabling them to make policies and take decisions according to their needs," Farooq Sattar added.
Human Rights Commission of Pakistan chairman Syed Iqbal Haider said that present laws and procedures of local government system are full of flaws, paradoxes and dichotomies and asked the government to remove them if it really wants effective functioning of the system.
Otherwise, he added, the perception that local bodies' elections were held with the objective to only give some sort of legitimacy to the unconstitutional rule.
Iqbal Haider said that more than 100 sections of the local government ordinance 2001 have been amended. Moreover the areas controlled by various cantonments were denied the right to vote and governed by the local governments.
He also mentioned some of the illegal, undemocratic and immoral actions taken by the chief ministers, particularly of Sindh during the LB polls.
Danyial Aziz held the political parties responsible for weak local government system in the country. "Political parties do not have good history of electoral process within their ranks." He said that the system was functioning effectively in every nook and corner of the country.