Charter of
Democracy: Another Fraud
By Siddique Malik
Louisville, KY
Conspicuous by their absence from the so-called
charter of democracy signed by Benazir Bhutto
and Nawaz Shariff, are two essential elements
of democracy, namely, a commitment by political
parties to hold frequent party leadership elections,
and a democratic method to issue political party
tickets to aspiring election candidates.
The reason for this omission should be no mystery
for anyone following these two power hungry 'establishments'
that function more like family businesses than
political parties.
If Ms. Benazir Bhutto and Mr. Nawaz Shariff truly
want to help democracy in Pakistan, as they claim,
they should relinquish the control of their parties.
The best thing a twice failed leader of any political
party can do is clear the way for new leaders
with new ideas.
Also, the process of issuing party tickets in
the PPP and the PML (and for this matter in all
political parties in Pakistan) should be democratized.
Members of the local party branches should hold
internal voting over ticket seekers instead of
this process being left to the whims of the party
leaders.
What is the difference between a politician, permanently
holding the party leadership and exercising unchallenged
control over the party tickets issuing process
and a dictator ruling the country single-handedly?
In both these cases the will of the people gets
ignored and the due process stymied.
One's ability and willingness to serve democracy
should be immune to one's being in or out of power.
A party cannot aspire to bring democracy to the
country when it cannot bring it to its cadres.
One hopes that the people of Pakistan will see
through the Bhutto-Shariff London-hatched trick,
and punish them at the next polls.
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