The dream of change

The dream of change

Synopsis

Can rumours turn into serious debate about abandoning the parliamentary form of government

The dream of change
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Imran Khan’s suspicious smile on the question about reverting to a presidential form of government during a recent programme called “Aap Ka Wazir-e-Azam, Aap Kay Saath”, a televised conversation with public over telephone, has triggered a long forgotten debate. When a caller asked where he stands on the debate on presidential form of government for the country, the PM ducked the question and kept on smiling.

Khan’s non-committal attitude has started irritating the minds of the political analysts and many of them believe that behind the mysterious smile there‘s a longstanding desire of Imran Khan to become a de facto president.

As we know attraction is only intense when mystery is involved. So while speculation of presidential system is running rife in the social media, the news channels have started conducting surveys and columnists have started writing comments though in a state of confusion. Had Imran Khan rejected or confirmed the speculation in clear terms the debate could have been initiated on solid grounds to achieve the benefits of a healthy debate.

The survey carried out by a local news channel revealed that people were fed-up with the so called democracy and the parliamentary system. Now they believe that the salvation of the country lies in the introduction of the presidential form of government. However, contrary to the belief of the common people, the intelligentsia has rejected the very idea as trash. But then there’s also a group which has termed ongoing debate on the issue a plot by the powerful?

People were confused while participating in the survey conducted by a local TV channel. All those individuals interviewed by the channel rejected the parliamentary form of the government as a failure of democracy and as such they wanted presidential form of government. They were in fact, comparing decade-long peaceful tenure of Gen. Ayub Khan, Gen. Zia-ul-Haq and Gen. Pervez Musharraf. This notion is not correct for the form of government was in question and not democracy.

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But ironically, all the three generals who were very powerful presidents of the country experienced abrupt and unceremonious departure. This proved that experience of presidential form of government also proved to be a failure. The question is; why does the idea of presidential system find such traction in powerful quarters when it lacks both evidential base and political feasibility

Minister of State for Parliamentary Affairs Ali Muhammad Khan while speaking about the “Islamic” Presidential System in detail, said the country has never experienced the presidential system in true sense and spirit. His comment is being taken as PTI’s or precisely Imran Khan’s concerted effort to revert to the presidential form of government. Under this system Imran Khan would be in much better position to root out corruption and confidently implement the rule of law.

The intelligentsia is however, of the view that the country has experienced the implementation of the presidential system four times, during the rules of General President Ayub Khan, General President Yahya Khan, General President Zia-ul-Haq and General President Pervez Musharraf. And yet, a PTI minister is saying that “the correct presidential system of government has not yet been implemented in Pakistan.” This revelation has shocked and disturbed us all.

Further analysing the words of Ali Mohammad Khan, they argue that it is clear that the desire to implement the presidential system in the country is beating in his heart. The same is true of many other federal ministers. This unconstitutional demand also includes some retired personalities. But since both the government and other stakeholders are still tightlipped on the issue, some political analysts argue that we won’t hear anything from the real decision makers unless the ground is fully prepared for a public announcement.

According to opposition parties in the assembly the presidential system proposal has been floated very cleverly to get a ‘feel’ of the public before any practical movement is launched by the opposition against Imran Khan. Addressing a press conference at the Sindh House, Information Secretary PPP Parliamentarians Shazia Marri said, “Pakistan has suffered immensely due to the four ‘presidents in uniform’ and particularly due to the policies of late dictator Ziaul Haq. Those interested in the presidential system must bring the issue under discussion in the parliament. The Constitution of Pakistan does not allow presidential system. Hence the ongoing discussion of presidential system is a ridiculous idea and a drama to hide the government’s failure, there is no room for the presidential system in the Constitution and such an experiment cannot be allowed.”

Ali Mohammad Khan recently stated, “In a parliamentary democracy, whichever party has the government, it gets less votes than the total votes of other parties. Whereas, in Islamic presidential system every vote I get will count.” There is a general impression that Imran Khan is keen to replace the parliamentary system with a presidential system and his ministers are harping on the same tune.

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Responding to the statement the PPP leader and former Governor of Punjab, Latif Khosa, said, “It is true that in a parliamentary system a minority government is formed. The one who gets 30,000 votes in the election wins while the total votes of the opposing candidates can be as much as one lakh. But in a presidential system, if the president has to behave like a rogue elephant, then such a presidential system cannot work.”

It may be mentioned here that a number of developed states have presidential form of government. The prime example is the United States, Russia, China and France. Keeping in view the example of particularly US where the cabinet members are chosen for the job because they’re experts in that area. But in the parliamentary system like British Cabinet, the Ministers don’t always know much about the area they’re assigned to. That’s why, Imran Khan probably prefers a presidential system to pick the candidates of his choice to run the ministries and have larger executive powers.

Here it’s pertinent to mention that in 2015, the majority of Supreme Court judges – while hearing the 21st Constitutional Amendment case – had held that the parliamentary form of government was one of the most important feature of the Constitution which could not be amended through a constitutional amendment. Justice Sheikh Azmat Saeed who authored the verdict which was endorsed by eight judges. The ruling very clearly read, “In an effort to discover such salient features, material outside the Constitution cannot be safely relied upon. The salient features are ascertainable from the Constitution including democracy, the parliamentary form of government and independence of the judiciary.”

In short the only way to introduce a presidential system is by making required amendments in the constitution but the PTI-led government does not have the required number in the parliament to bring any amendments in the constitution. On the other hand, referendum, according to legal experts, is not an option to change the system. So far officially, the PTI has also not supported any change in the form of government.

To legal experts the debate seems to be a waste of time an energy as the move to introduce a presidential system in the country might be shot down by the apex court as the top court has already declared that the salient features of the constitution could not be amended and the parliamentary form of government was one of them.

“Presidential system is neither in the interest of the country nor will the federation and all democratic forces resist any such move. The presidential form of government had failed wherever it had been enforced. There is no provision in our laws for conducting referendum. It would not be in the interest of democracy by any means”

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General (retd) Amjad Shoaib

“Imran Khan is one of the honest politicians in the existing lot and there will be no harm if he is made president of Pakistan. However, who will guarantee that his successor will also be honest like him. It will be too risky to assign absolute powers under the presidential form of democracy to a corrupt person. I think it is not possible for the present set-up to introduce the presidential form of government as it lacks the required mandate.”

 

Gen (retd) Ijaz Awan

“We have to think whether a country like Pakistan which is at the verge of default wants to move forward with the burden of 1,500 MPAs and MNAs or it wants to go ahead with the presidential system. All the major powers have presidential form of government because this system makes the decision making process much easy.”

 

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Col Mukhtar Butt, Defence Analyst

“In any coalition government the smaller parties blackmail the PM and threaten to leave the government therefore to save the government all illegal demands are accepted. In democracy there is no stability and no check on corruption but when there is presidential form, it allows him to complete his term of office provides stability and the continuity of the policies and projects undertaken. He can pick up the best people as ministers, with proper check and balances no one can indulge in corruption. Ministers can be fired at any time who fails to deliver. He can use his discretion and over rule anybody in the larger interest of state. Overall expense will reduce tremendously as there will be no fleet of ministers and advisers at the centre as well as in the provinces.”

 

Shakir Lakhani, political analyst

“A democracy, whether under a presidential or parliamentary system, can succeed only where the populace is literate, which is not the case in Pakistan. In our region, only Sri Lanka has a presidential system, which has succeeded because of the high literacy rate of its people. Another factor which should be considered is the number of provinces in the country. A presidential system would have a chance of success if the country were divided into twenty small provinces, as in Switzerland (which has twenty two cantonments despite its population being less than that of Karachi). But it can be argued that the parliamentary system in Pakistan has failed due to its having only four provinces.”

 

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Justice (retd) Rashid Rizvi

We had a horrible experience of Presidential form of Government when Constitution 1962 was imposed by military dictator Gen. Ayub Khan. It hardly worked from 5-6 years when through popular movement Gen. Ayub Khan was forced to hand over his government to another military ruler Gen. Yahya Khan which resulted in dismemberment of the country. On the other hand, there is a Parliamentary From of government in Pakistan since 1973 when the present Constitution was imposed. Twice, this was interrupted when Gen. Zia-ul-Haq in 1977 and Gen. Pervez Musharraf in 1999 overthrew the elected governments and now history is witness to the result of one man rule. Now a days, much emphasis is placed on the “Rule of Law” and “the Constitutional Rule”.

It is integrated with the independence of judiciary, good and transparent governance and popular decisions by the ruling authority. Now, it is the Constitution which rules the country and not the President or the Prime Minister. Any voice for change of present system or the introduction for the Presidential form of government is for the purpose of diverting masses from the real problems which this country is suffering, like, high rate of inflation, increase in the foreign aids, poverty, unemployment and corruption. It is suggested that now President will be able to solve all these problems and not the Parliament.

European countries are the best example of the parliamentary system; their economic growth was because of this system. For Pakistan as well the parliamentary system is an ideal system. The only change we need is good and transparent governance and the rule of Law. Our problems lie in lack of these principles.

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