The long journey undertaken by the democratic forces to cleanse the Constitution of distortions, introduced by the dictatorial regimes of generals Ziaul Haq and Pervez Musharraf, is almost over, only a step away from its final goal. That step is the assent that President Zardari would so willingly accord, proving wrong his detractors who never relented on accusing him of monopolising state power.
Barring a few glitches, the preparation and the passage of the 18th Amendment, proposing amendments to 97 Articles of the Constitution, some of them touching its fundamentals is nothing short of a miracle in the parliamentary history of Pakistan. Accepted, that not only did Senator Raza Rabbani provide the constitutional reforms committee able leadership and its members acted responsibly, full credit cannot be denied to the Opposition for its unquestioned co-operation. In contrast to the accepted parliamentary dictum that the Opposition opposes everything and proposes nothing. Here is an Opposition, out in the field, challenging the ruling coalition in the by-elections everywhere in the country, but joined with the government in passing the 18th Amendment in both houses of the parliament, unanimously.
But that spectacular display of unanimity, exhibited in both the houses of parliament, should lull no one to sleep; the goal arrived at, now, is just a marker for the real journey to begin from. For a full two years the people waited, with great patience, for their elected leaders to deliver. But they had not, shifting the blame on to the constitutional and legal impediments which they claimed, to some extent rightly, were in place as vestiges of the past dictatorial regimes. But that 'excuse' should no more be available now that the Constitution has been restored to its pristine glory and the Parliament made supreme. The time has come for the elected government to show its worth, which is still a clear possibility, given the dedication, commitment, clarity of thought and transparency of governance.
The rulers have to now work for the good of the people; for what they were doing, over the last years, was basically for their self-interest, to protect and preserve their authority and power while the people watched helplessly. The leaderships have to look beyond their political survival, at the people and places where poverty is deepening, law and order is crumbling and confidence, in the democratic system, is dwindling.
But the time is still on the side of the government to prove its ability and competence to run the country. Now that the budget-making is in progress in Islamabad and the provincial capitals, it is an opportune time for the elected governments to establish the rightness of their struggle for greater provincial autonomy by making, accordingly, enhanced allocations for various sectors. But it is also now the time to reflect, seriously, on the damage caused by the imbroglio of renaming the North-West Frontier Province as Khyber-Pakhtoonkhwa - because in the process, a significant segment of the population, the Hazarawals, have been alienated. This issue has to be resolved before it becomes a festering wound. Then, there are issues surrounding the surrender of the Concurrent Legislative List, which cannot be left hanging in the air. In fact, the time consumed in rectifying the wrongs done to the Constitution has to be justified, and its changes vindicated, with concrete results.