The print media has published the full text of the much-trumpeted Charter of Democracy signed by leaders of our two mainstream political parties, PPP and PML-N. Right from the opening sentence of the document beginning with "The two elected leaders", it is in defiance of reality, no matter how sacred it may deemed to be. The two signatories, ironically, were neither 'elected' when they signed this document on 14-05-06, nor were they democratically chosen 'leaders' of their parties, their mass popularity notwithstanding. Benazir Bhutto snatched the control of PPP from her mother, while Nawaz Sharif assumed the command of Muslim League un-elected even before the rites of burial of his deceased party President had been done. The COD is, no doubt, a well-deliberated (or shall we say calculated) and well-worded document. It deals with various political, social, constitutional, economic and administrative problems being faced by the country. But so far, both parties have adhered to the clauses of the charter more in defiance than in observance. The clause 23 of the document, for instance, relates to prevention of corruption, horse-trading and floor-crossing by parliamentarians. This clause has been ruthlessly abused by both PPP and PML-N despite high-flown claims of curbing this menace. Most other clauses need deliberation and consensus of lawmakers and might consume a lot of time. But clause 19 which pertains to social problems, health care, education, job generation, price hike and curtailing extravagant spending etc has not only been a part of the PPP and PML-N manifestoes but those of all other parties within and outside the parliament. I appeal to the government to implement this non-controversial clause and provide immediate relief to the common man on priority basis. -RAJA SHAFAAT ULLAH, Islamabad, via e-mail, April 13.