Ex-CJ asks people: Should we move to presidential system of government?

ISLAMABAD: Former Chief Justice of Pakistan Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry in an open letter to the people of Pakistan said:
“We know it well that creation of Pakistan was realization of our dreams with a promise for a bright future but it could not happen. All our dreams were broken when Quaid-i-Azam died. The fire in these broken dreams is a ray of hope.
“A Pakistani life has been made less valuable than a termite-eaten door. Aristocracy is like somebody sitting on the bank of a river who could not understand worthlessness of lives of those who have to dig a well to quench their thirst whenever they have to. Common man is like a wet paper that can neither burn nor can anything be written on it.
“Look at collective life and we see that the system has not left any semblance of joy in the lives of clerks, labourers, farmers, drivers and peons. Majority of population are living with their small wishes strangled. They don’t have facility of medical treatment for their old mothers and young children.
“Businesspersons hold control on education. The constitution denotes that education and health are state’s responsibility but these departments have gone in the hands of private sector. Education has become business. Is a welfare state like this?
“Succeeded in getting a degree in this system, talented people cannot get a job without bribe and reference. A psychological analysis can reveal how these elements are at work to promote extremism. A poor hari or farmer ploughs fields all through his life but cannot own land. The rulers have made agriculture reforms meaningless for years.
Ask from a hari and not an expert of Iqbaliat the meanings of Iqbal’s couplet: Jis Khait Se dahkan ko mayasar na ho rozi; us khet ke har khosha-e-gandum ko jala do.
“The people who feel these pains should decide if they have to live with this system or apply their energies to change it. How long will we hear tales of western society without eyes wide open? Why a society based on justice and welfare cannot be our fate?
“Writing on the wall is explicit. There are legal lacuna in the way of justice. Since accountability is not acceptable to so-called aristocracy, it has been made a joke. Constitution is confined to book and the rulers have not acted upon it. They are interested only in those articles of the constitution that can embellish shape of their rule.
“Be it democracy or dictatorship, these people remain in power. They only change their dress and not the inner self. They change their slogans but their modus operandi is the same. They have practically negated mass equality everywhere as envisaged in the constitution.
“The rights of minorities in the constitution and as per vision of Quaid-i-Azam have never been granted. They are Moahid but are being considered Zimmi. Instead of making them people friendly, police have been given profile of imperialism, running in the supervision of the rulers, whose regime stands on the crutches of this imperialistic power.
“Society is not civilized and devoid of basic facilities like gas, power, and clean drinking water. Schools are vacant or made into animal farms of the mighty. National assets are being privatized instead of taping their potential. There is hiatus everywhere, be it PIA, Steel Mills or Railways.
“We should think how long will this system go. I am not disappointed because I know I have the company of people like you. We should think how long will we carry the yoke of slavery of the aristocracy around our necks in the name of parliamentary democracy. Why should we remain slaves? Hazrat Umar has said centuries ago: “Your mothers have borne you free”. We will have this freedom.
“The basic question is search for an alternative democratic system. We have seen what happened to us in the name of parliamentary democracy. Why should not we, in the light of the teachings of Quaid-i-Azam, move towards presidential system of government and adopt high democratic values. People’s representatives should be kept to law making and power should be devolved.
“I hope that you will make me aware of your opinion on the points that I have placed before you.”