PANA Convention Mobilizes
Support for Pakistani Judiciary
By Hazem Kira
PANA members address a press
conference in Washington, DC |
Washington, DC: Echoes of
the press conference organized by the Pakistan American
National Alliance (PANA) at the Capitol Building on Friday
and a US-wide convention in Springfield, VA on Saturday
were clearly heard in Pakistan during subsequent conversations
with pro-democracy activists in Pakistan. Most notable was
Dr. Muhammad Ashraf Toor’s phone conversation with
Mr. Javed Hashmi, who has been incarcerated by the Musharraf
regime for the last six years. “I have been reading
report after report of your convention,” Mr. Hashmi,
who was obviously exhilarated by the news of the convention,
confided to Dr. Toor.
Both events were organized to “inform, involve and
galvanize the Pakistani-
American community, develop a consensual action plan, provide
a united platform for action, and to work to rebuild the
democracy in Pakistan.
The upshot of both these events was enthusiastic support
for the judiciary and forceful demands for the reinstatement
of Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry.
“Finally the Pakistani-American community has accepted
its responsibility in helping with the restoration of democracy
in Pakistan. This turn of events has also clearly separated
pro-democracy Pakistani American groups from pro-military
Pakistani-American groups,” veteran community leader
Saleem Akhtar said. “The latter are conspicuous by
their total silence.”
At the convention, PANA issued a major position paper titled
“Pak-American Contract with the People of Pakistan”.
Group
picture of some of the PANA members who attended the
Washington Convention |
“We have decided to
issue this ‘Contract with the People of Pakistan’
to spell out our commitment and to share our vision based
on our learning and experiences in relatively advanced democracy.
This document comprises of three parts: a) Charter of Pakistani-American
obligations, b) Support for structural, procedural and constitutional
changes recommended by Pakistani political parties, and
c) Code of Conduct for Pakistani political parties.”
Looking at it as a sequel to the “Charter of Democracy”
jointly issued by PPP and PML-N, a number of commentators
have observed that PANA’s “Contract with the
People of Pakistan” rectifies some of the obvious
omissions in the Charter.
PANA has received enthusiastic response from all quarter
including some members of PPP and PML (N), in particular
to Articles 23 and 24 of its Contract. These Articles urge
Pakistan political parties to improve their own conduct
as well. These two articles read:
23. Civilian rule preceding Gen Musharraf’s coup has
left behind an unfortunate legacy of distrust based on impressions
of debilitating incompetence, gross negligence and massive
corruption. It remains the primary responsibility of major
electoral parties to acknowledge, fix and prevent these
problems with aim of healing the political society. Political
parties must institute formal systems to purge themselves
of their outlaw members and officers.
24. We hold all political parties, the two major parties
in particular, accountable in terms of their public commitment
to the people of Pakistan stipulated in Article 22 of the
Charter of Democracy: “We shall not join a military
regime or any military sponsored government.” We also
hold accountable for their commitment that “No party
shall solicit the support of military to come into power
or to dislodge a democratic government.”
Although its press conference was organized in Room C-5
of Capitol Building, PANA had self-consciously declined
to involve the US government. “We are against Pakistan
getting involved in the internal affairs of the United States.
Similarly, we are opposed to the US government getting involved
in the internal affairs of Pakistan,” PANA Coordinator
Dr. Agha Saeed told more than a dozen TV, radio and print
journalists covering the event. “We are trying to
involve the Carter Center and other civil society institutions
but not any government entity”, he said.
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