Mr. Justice (r) Fakharuddin G Ibrahim while talking to the news reporters on a private TV channel this evening said that if the coming elections were not free and fair that will be the end of Pakistan. The free and fair elections are a must but more important than that is to have honest and truthful candidates to elect from. It is quite likely that most political parties shall nominate the same hereditary and professional ‘electables’ who are gifted with the skill to beat any election process howsoever free and fair it may be.
And, if the same lot of the corrupt politicians is returned to power again then that would be God forbid the end of Pakistan. The honourable justice must, therefore, ensure that only those who qualify under the Articles 62 and 63 of the constitution are allowed to contest the elections. Also, in order to force the political parties to elect the right kind of candidates, a law should be enacted to debar the political party as a whole from taking part in the elections if the ECP finds the nomination papers of more than 25 percent of its candidates unacceptable. Only then the party chiefs will give the party tickets to the honest and ameen people instead of the professional electables.
COL. RIAZ JAFRI (RETD),
Rawalpindi, January 23.