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Pakistan:: End Confrontation, Go For Dialogue - say Civil Society Activists: Reports and Proposals

The Need for Meaningful Electoral Reforms: A Memorandum submitted to the Parliamentary Committee

3 September 2014

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The Express Tribune, 3 September 2014

Civil society activists want resolution through dialogue
By Our Correspodent

KARACHI: Sindh’s civil society activists urged the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) and the Pakistan Awami Tehreek to end their ongoing confrontation with the government and also asked the government to resolve the issues through dialogue in order to protect democracy.

Addressing a press conference at the Karachi Press Club on Tuesday, activists said that the violent conduct of the supporters of both the parties is intolerable. “We want all political parties that support democracy to flourish in the country,†said Pakistan Institute of Labour Education and Research (Piler) chief executive Karamat Ali.

The press conference, jointly organised by a number of organisations, was attended by Shaheed Zulfikar Ali Bhutto Institute of Science and Technology social sciences head Dr Riaz Ahmed Shaikh, trade union leaders Habibuddin Junaidi and Jai Parkash, Human Rights Commission of Pakistan’s Asad Butt, Mir Zulfiqar Ali of National Organisation for Working Communities and Ellahi Bukhsh Baloch of the Strengthening Participatory Organisation.

The speakers expressed concern over the situation emerging in Islamabad due to the violent nature of the demonstrations being staged by the two political parties. “We are of the view that this is a deliberate attempt to derail democracy,†said Ali. “It is also an attempt to put real issues on the back-burner. We appreciate the stance taken by PTI leader Javed Hashmi in order to uphold his principles. Everyone should applaud his daring stance.†Ali added that civil society organisations of Sindh will invite Hashmi and will honour him with an award for the courage that he has shown.

Ali said that mid-term elections, if they do take place, will not resolve the issues without electoral reforms. He said that the government had already constituted an electoral reform committee and felt that it needs to focus on the real issues at hand.

“It is our opinion that the real issue today is to create the conditions necessary to guarantee free, fair and transparent elections leading to the emergence of a parliament and other elected bodies that not only represent each and every section of the people of Pakistan, but also fully reflect their hopes and aspirations,†said Ali.

Pakistan: Civil Society’s Recommendations for Parliamentary Committee on Electoral Reforms

PRESS RELEASE

Civil society asks Parliamentary Committee on Electoral Reforms to ensure proper representation of all section of society

KARACHI, Sept. 3: The civil society has recommended to the Parliamentary Committee on Electoral Reforms to ensure fair and adequate representation to all the people of all the federating units and fair, adequate representation must be guaranteed to the marginalized and disadvantaged sections and groups such as: workers, peasants, women and those labeled as “minorities†or “non-Muslims†.

In a Memorandum, titled : “The Need for Meaningful Electoral Reforms: A Memorandum submitted to the Parliamentary Committee†the civil society representatives urged the committee to immediately meet and discuss the important issues of electoral reforms without wasting any time.

The civil society has suggested the steps like elections for 50 percent of the seats shall be constituency-based, which would naturally mean representation of the elite class who alone could afford to contest the constituency-based seats. The election to the remaining 50 percent seats shall be conducted on the basis of Proportionate Representation/Party List in order to facilitate the participation of persons with limited or no means - the marginalized sections of society.

The formula of 33 percent for labour-peasants and 33 percent for women in all the elections and elected bodies shall be ensured. Alternately, or till necessary constitutional, legal and administrative mechanisms are put in place, the political parties committed to a democratic political order, shall voluntarily ensure that their nominated candidates shall comprise 33 percent labour-peasants and 33% women.

Equally important is the need for all political parties to institutionalize inner party democracy within their parties by holding party elections to all tiers from bottom to top every two years in order to eliminate the existing practice of investing all party powers in the hands of the chairman-president or one or two other individuals at the top. This is all the more necessary to pre-empt favouritism and ensure fair and equitable nomination of candidates on the basis of merit for Party List in the elections.

Ensuring full and un-restrained representation of the entire people of the country in the elected bodies is the prime objective of a free and fair democratic election. They pointed that the anomaly in Pakistan that the local government system has been misused by dictatorial rulers to serve their vested interest at the cost of its defined task of serving the people at the lowest tier of the social structure. A genuine federal democratic system is incomplete without the establishment of a truly democratic local government system, empowered to address people’s problems at the local ‘grass roots’ level, free from bureaucratic meddling and red-tape.

Recent example of how democratic political leaderships in Nepal have tackled a similar situation inherited from their history, is worthy of replicating in Pakistan, with of course necessary amendments to suit our special needs. Despite being a much smaller country than Pakistan, post-monarchy Nepal established a parliament of 600 members, of whom 50 percent are elected on Party Lists, and 50 percent on constituency basis plus 10 nominations. Nepal has had two general elections under the new constitution and is in the process of consolidating a system in which all segments of the population are adequately and fairly represented.

In order to address inequality on the basis of provinces in the National Assembly, the civil society has suggested to increase the share of other provinces especially Balochistan and Sindh by reducing the number of seats from Punjab, which has currently 53.40 percent seats in the National Assembly.

Quoting two examples from Pakistan’s history, one from pre-partition and the other from post-partition period, the memorandum has pointed out that in the united Punjab, the Muslims, despite constituting 55% of the population, voluntarily settled for 45% share of seats in the legislature, in the interest of inter communal harmony in the province. It is also noteworthy that the former Punjab province (after its merger into One Unit of West Pakistan) had agreed to accept 40 percent of the total seats in the then West Pakistan Assembly.

Keeping the above past precedents in view, it is not impossible to evolve a national consensus to recognize the unique area-population ratio of Baluchistan vis a vis other federating units, and introduce a special increase in allocation of NA seats to Baluchistan. In the event this proposal is accepted, the number of National Assembly and Provincial Assembly constituencies in the province will also have to be correspondingly increased. This gesture will go a long way to help provide the people of Baluchistan a fairly balanced representation in the National Assembly and a sense of participation in Pakistan’s parliamentary democratic process. Eventually, it will help Pakistan to emerge as a vibrant, progressive, parliamentary democratic state.

To make amends for the demographic disorientation of Sindh caused by the incessant inflow of migrants from outside, which threatens to numerically over-run the Sindhi population, apart from effective measures by the government to regulate/control/restrict it, 55 percent of the seats from Sindh in the National Assembly and a similar percentage of seats in the Sindh Provincial Assembly shall remain permanently allocated to indigenous Sindhis, with iron-tight constitutional guarantees against its violation. Currently, Sindh, with 22.98 percent population and hosting around 15 percent of it hailing from Punjab and Khyber Pakahtunkhwa, has 22.3 percent (75 out of 342) seats in National Assembly.

The Memorandum has also recommended that the seats for non-Muslims should be increased in all representative bodies in the same proportion as the seats of the majority community have been increased. Non-Muslims have been raising their genuine grievances that while the total number of seats in National and Provincial Assemblies have been increased from time to time, automatically raising the number of seats of Muslims, the number of seats allocated to non-Muslims has remained static at 10. This anomaly needs to be rectified.

The following have signed the memorandum: Karamat Ali (Pakistan Institute of Labour Education and Research - PILER), Zulfiqar Shah (PILER), B. M. Kutty (Pakistan Peace Coalition), Dr. Riaz Shaikh (academician), Adam Malik (Society for Secular Pakistan), Zulfiqar Halepoto (Sindh Agriculture, Forestry Workers Coordination Organisation - SAFWCO), Suleman G. Abro (SAFWCO), Zahid Farooq (Urban Resource Centre - URC), Dr. Sonu Kanghrani (Hisaar Foundation), Asad Iqbal Butt (Human Rights Commission of Pakistan - HRCP), Muqtida Mansoor (Irtiqa Foundation), Saeed Baloch (Pakistan Fisherfolk Forum - PFF), Paryal Mari (Insaf Development Foundation - IDF), Anushae Alam (PPC), Aabida Ali (PILER), Naghma Iqditar (Active Citizens Pakistan - ACP), Atif Hayat (HRCP), Tauqeer Chugtai (Samaa TV), Momin Khan Momin (Irtiqa), Jan Kheskheli (Journalist), Latif Mughal (Peoples Labour Federation - PLF), Iqbal A. Alavi (PPC), Ishaq Mangrio (Journalist), Noman Quadri (Citizens for Democracy), Abdul Hayee (HRCP), Salam Dharejo (Journalist), Ayub Qureshi (trade union leader).

Ends

The Need for Meaningful Electoral Reforms: A Memorandum submitted to the Parliamentary Committee
[Formatted PDF] submited by Civil society groups in Pakistan

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