Senators call for civilian supremacy, national dialogue

ISLAMABAD: The Senate Thursday echoed with calls of lawmakers in their farewell speeches for civilian supremacy and release of all political leaders, including PTI founder Imran Khan.

The leader of the house in the Senate, Ishaq Dar of PMLN, assured that all diplomatic efforts will be made for the repatriation of Dr Aafia Siddiqui from the United States.

Jamaat-i-Islami Senator Mushtaq Ahmed emphasized political parties should hold dialogue and make way for each other to ensure civilian supremacy and push back non-elected forces. He said they (political parties) must unite on the single point that the country belongs to the people who have the right to rule it through their chosen representatives. He called for civilian supremacy in line with the Constitution to bring Pakistan back on track, achieve sustainability and resolve the economic and political problems facing the country.

Referring to the army’s claim that it had nothing to do with the electoral process made through a press release after the corps commanders conference, Senator Mushtaq rejected the same. The army should prove by practical actions that it has nothing to do with politics and elections. “The solution to the issues confronting the country lies in true democracy and not in its hybrid version of it,” he maintained.

The JI lawmaker believed that civilian supremacy was the basis for the country’s salvation and that the armed forces and intelligence agencies were essential for the country’s sovereignty, security and defence, which is why they are loved by the nation. “Their intervention in politics and electoral process is against the Constitution and the oath they have taken,” he said.

Giving a piece of advice to political parties, Mushtaq emphasized that the political parties should have internal democracy, keep an eye on service delivery and also give due importance to ideological workers and avoid the distribution of offices based on DNA.

About the jailed political leaders and works, he called for the release of all political prisoners, including PTI’s founder ex-PM Imran Khan. Senator Muhammad Akram from National Party advocated the need for a system to ensure the conduct of free and fair elections, a powerful and sovereign parliament and judicious distribution of resources among the federating units. He also talked about the history of martial laws in the country and regretted that most of the elected prime ministers could not complete their constitutional terms owing to military interventions.

He referred to what he termed the tug of power between the army and political forces and said one man-one vote could not be made possible from 1948 to 1970, lamenting that the first direct election in December 1970 was followed by the country’s breakup.

Senator Akram also chose to talk about Sadiq Sanjrani’s stint as Chairman of the Senate and noted how he survived a no-trust motion moved against him by the-then joint opposition which, otherwise, was enjoying a majority in the house and had named Mir Hasil Bizenjo as its candidate in 2019. “We witnessed how the majority had been converted into a minority when 14 lawmakers had ditched their parties by either voting against their motion or deliberately wasting their votes by wrongful stamping on the ballot papers.”

Senator Akram went on to allege that the establishment managed to get their hand-picked candidates elected in the recent general elections. He called for a fair allocation of resources and said Balochistan was the future of Pakistan.

PTI’s outspoken lawmaker from Sindh Saifullah Abro rose to welcome the proposal made by Senator Mushtaq for political dialogue and emphasized that political parties should not close the door on talks. He also committed on behalf of his party that it would be ready for dialogue but asked three political parties to disown the reserved seats of Sunni Ittehad Council (SIC) distributed among them. He wondered how a political party winning seven general seats could be allotted as many as nine reserved seats for women and minorities.

Senator Abro decried the fact that the election commission was unable to make decisions on its own and was making one mistake after another. In this connection, he pointed out that under the law, the election commission was supposed to upload Form 45 on its website within 14 days after the polling day, but belatedly a ‘manipulated’ Form 45 has been displayed on its website, where overwriting can be seen.

PPP Senator Bahramand Tangi, who a few days ago withdrew a motion seeking a ban on social media platforms after facing sharp criticism, claimed he had never supported a resolution seeking the postponement of general elections. He said responsibility rests with all the political parties to work for strengthening of democracy in the country. He clarified that he had delivered a speech before Senator Dilawar Khan moved a resolution and explained that his speech had no mention of the resolution’s support or postponement of elections.

Maulana Faiz Muhammad of the JUI-Fazl contended that the country’s laws should be framed under Islamic teachings and that Balochistan should be given its share of natural resources. The house will now meet again on Friday morning.