ISLAMABAD: Senate Chairman Raza Rabbani said on Tuesday that the people of Pakistan had rejected the presidential form of government.
He made these remarks while speaking as chief guest at a seminar at the Parliament House in connection with the Constitution Day celebrations.
Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Chief Minister Pervez Khattak, Sindh Chief Minister Syed Qaim Ali Shah, Punjab Governor Malik Rafique Rajwana and National Assembly Member Mehmood Khan Achakzai attended the seminar titled “Concept of Parliamentary Democracy, Federalism and Constitution”. This was the first step towards developing linkages between Senate and its electoral colleges i.e. the provinces.
Rabbani said the 1973 Constitution laid the foundation of a parliamentary democracy and Pakistan’s political workers and civil society waged a long struggle to achieve this consensus document. He said that a strong centre proved to be the reason for the split of Pakistan. He said that denying provincial autonomy was the gravest of all mistakes. He said that politicians today had the moral courage to admit bad governance and corruption. He said that Pakistan was at a critical juncture of history and all major stakeholders must admit their follies — misuse of resources and promotion of corruption.
The Leader of the House in the Senate said that supremacy of the constitution ensured social integration. He said that celebrating the constitution was one of the many noble initiatives of Rabbani.
Addressing the seminar, Senator Aitzaz Ahsan said the 18th Amendment restored the constitution to its original form of democracy, federalism and the concept of one man one vote and abolished the Article 58-2 (b) and restored the supremacy of the constitution. “We need to continue our efforts for supremacy of the parliament and the constitution,” he said.
Representing Balochistan, Achakzai said that this historic consensus document should have been debated at a joint sitting of the parliament keeping in view its significance. He underscored the need to give due recognition to regional languages and cultures.
Khattak said the Constitution of Pakistan had given equal rights to all citizens. He said that people of all provinces should be given their rights regardless of the size of their province. He said that Rabbani made the Constitution Day a day of remembrance.
Shah also addressed the seminar and received a grand applause from the audience for being a member of the constitution drafting committee back in 1973.
Prominent journalists Hamid Mir and I. A. Rehman were also invited to the seminar. Addressing the ceremony, Mir said that this was the right time to celebrate the Constitution Day because a debate on the presidential form of government in Pakistan was currently underway in the country. When the Senate chairman calls for removal of Article 6 from the Constitution, he said, he does not mean it. The Senate chairman, he said, was in fact trying to wake up the people of Pakistan.
Rehman gave a detailed account of the Pakistan’s constitutional history and said that Pakistan’s parliamentary democracy was still in the making.
The Senate secretary said that Senate celebrated the Constitution Day last year with the slogan of “Unity Through Diversity” and this year the focus was on the prospects of a strong parliamentary democracy. He said the state and the government needed to mould all their activities according to the Constitution, which united the public and the state.
Members of the Senate, civil society, students of various universities and colleges and media persons attended the event.
