MPs, others hail 19th Amend proposal

ISLAMABAD Stressing upon the need for political partys constitution and intra-party elections, the representatives of the mainstream political parties have welcomed the proposal of the 19th Amendment. Addressing a seminar on 'Democratic Practices Within Political Parties of Pakistan arranged by Liberal Forum Pakistan (LFP), Senator Syed Tahir Hussain Mashhadi of MQM said on Wednesday that 19th Amendment should be tabled. He added that in the 18th Amendment, elections within the party were abolished on which MQM had a clear stance and had also submitted a dissenting note. It was only to stop workers, lower and middle class persons to come up, Tahir said. 18th Amendment has also empowered party presidents as now they can sack any representative of the party. The tool is to suppress the party members and now it would be very difficult for members or legislators especially for those sitting on the treasury benches to speak on public issues, Mashhadi said. He said there was no doubt that the democracy now existed in Pakistan but it was a controlled democracy and every one used it for ones own purpose. Police, politicians and bureaucracy mostly support land mafia and Smugglers, he added. Talking about the democracy in the party, he said the representatives of MQM came from the general public and were not landlords and elites. We have a proper system, and following that system or the process the workers come up and contest elections, Mashhadi said. He said after the efforts of four or five years now MQM existed in Punjab with the same system, however it was not obvious to the people as its representatives were from common people. MQM concentrates on local body elections as according to our study, people do not vote for the freedom of judiciary or for the passage of 18th Amendment. They vote for the solutions of their problems, Senator Mashhadi said. Legislator from PML-Q (Like-minded) Kashmala Tariq, however, alleged that the some clauses of the 18th Amendment were settled after a secret deal as 63(A) was a demand of PML-Q and PPP supported it, 17(4) was PPPs demand while PML-N was demanding third time premiership. Terming 18th Amendment a flawed one, Kashmala said that 19th Amendment should be passed unanimously. She said that the new provinces should be formed for good governance and financial autonomy. The provinces should have a right to generate income through their resources while budget should equally be distributed, she added. Zafar Ali Shah of PML-N, however, said the leaders who spoke about democracy in the country did not practice it within the party. He said the workers were the real representatives of the political parties who fought dictators for democracy. Talking about 18th Amendment, he said that Parliament was a legislative body and could not amend a bundle of clauses existed in the Constitution. He added that only the constituent body could amend as many clauses as were amended through 18th Amendment. Israr Shah of PPP was of the view that the political parties should have to bring discipline, tolerance and democracy in the party. He recalled that there was a time when the leadership sat in open kutcheries and the workers were used to criticise them but now who criticised the leaders was supposed to be an enemy. He added that he was a member of Central Executive Committee of PPP but was suspended because he criticised on the party decision. Criticising 30 percent quota for women in Parliament, he was of the view that there should be a quota for labours and special persons in the Parliament. Speaking on the occasion, Ch Manzoor Hussain of PPP said that every party had its manifesto but no party had its own constitution, which should be followed in every policy of the party.