KARACHI: Senator Mian Raza Rabbani on Saturday stressed the need for restoring the 1970s- and ‘80s-like culture of political and social resistance to uphold democracy and social justice in the country.
He was addressing the launching ceremony of former diplomat and cabinet secretary Dr Masuma Hassan’s memoirs titled “Pakistan in an age of turbulence” in the library of the Pakistan Institute of International Affairs (PIIA).
Raza Rabbani said that all the political forces, including his own Pakistan People’s Party (PPP), are looking up to the establishment [to get into power].
He said the ‘middle generation’ leaders, especially those leading the famous Movement for the Restoration of Democracy (MRD), were purely democratic, tolerant and loyal to the public. They used to do politics of ideology, whereas in the contemporary politics, we see intolerance, disrespect, scarcity of political ideology, and less democratic culture.
He said that during Ayub and Zia regimes, the voices of dissent were subjected to torture, and persecutions through military courts, so that the democratic culture may not flourish in the country.
The state banned student and labour unions which had played a tremendous role to restore democracy, eliminated the coffee house culture in Lahore and Karachi wherefrom a ‘counter-narrative’ was being effectively developed against the state’s policy of suppression, designed by civil-military bureaucracy.
“As long as we do not correct the internal fault lines, federalism will continue to face threats, amid a separatist movement in Balochistan, and a strong social movement in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP),” he said and added that the government has also shunned dialogues with Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP).
The senator said that during the MRD days there was a monopoly of the establishment, but today it has a creeping dominance in each and every sphere of the country. Today, some people are talking about peaceful and bloody revolutions. “I read history; the political revolutions have not been bloody ones.”
He went on to say that revolutions turn bloody when the state fails to protect socio-economic and political rights of the masses and they are left hand to mouth. In order to ensure peace in the country, he said all institutions should work under their defined constitutional jurisdictions.
Later, talking to media personnel, Raza Rabbani said that every Pakistani has a right to criticise in a constructive manner the policies and actions of the institutions, but this criticism should not be unnecessarily personalised. “Sanity must prevail,” he said in a veiled reference to PTI chairman and former prime minister Imran Khan’s recent statements against key institutions and some individuals.
He said the portfolio of the president of Pakistan is the symbol of the federation. To a query he said if PTI has proposed Dr Arif Alvi’s name for negotiation on its behalf, it will be unacceptable for other political forces in the country, because the incumbent president has ‘violated the constitution’ on several occasions; his character is partisan towards a political party.
He said the present coalition government is a democratically elected one, and elections will be held on time as defined in the constitution.
Senator Rabbani also called for a grand national dialogue to protect both democracy and federalism.
The ongoing political instability is not good for Pakistan. Political stakeholders must abandon politics of hatred, and begin peaceful negotiations to resolve the issues.
Masuma Hassan said it took five years for her to research the material for her book, which is a detailed and graphic personal and family history within a national and international context.
In the memoirs, Masuma Hassan said she has touched upon the aspects of modern and contemporary history of the subcontinent, the partition, her personal family and professional life – the distinguished state service, cruel extremism of the Zia-ul-Haq regime, and the struggle for the return to democracy in Pakistan.
Journalist Zubeida Mustafa and lawyer Shahab Sarki also spoke on the occasion. Shahab asked people to start challenging the status quo to bring about change in the country. The event was moderated by Nausheen Wasi, Assistant Professor, Department of International Relations, University of Karachi.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2022