‘Giving nod to military courts a grave error by political parties’

Karachi
Political parties’ support and endorsement to the setting up of military courts is a grave mistake and against the spirit of democracy and the Constitution, Dr Syed Jaffer Ahmed, a renowned scholar and director of the University of Karachi’s Pakistan Study Centre, said on Thursday.
“All political leaders, with the exception of Barrister Aitzaz Ahsan of the Pakistan People’s Party, supported and endorsed the establishment of military courts,” he said while delivering the first Benazir Bhutto Memorial Lecture on “Imperatives of a new social contract: Building on the Charter of Democracy and the 18th Amendment” at the University of Karachi.
Dr Ahmed maintained that despite all issues and problems with the judiciary in Pakistan, its decisions were equally acceptable to all segments of the society but the establishment of military courts and their judgements were already controversial and would not be accepted by everyone in the coming days.
“Instead of creating military courts, the government and political forces should have asked the military to make all its human and technological resources at the discretion of judiciary so that it could expedite the judicial process and provide speedy justice,” he added.
“Today, having experienced so much of good and bad, we have once again been brought to crossroads, to decide if the path of political and democratic process is still valid. It rests with our political class and the political parties to demonstrate their renewed commitment to democracy.”
Paying rich tribute to three great women of Pakistan, Mohtarma Fatima Jinnah, Begum Nusrat Bhutto and Benazir Bhutto, Dr Ahmed said their role could not be ruled out when it came to the restoration of democracy in Pakistan.
“Without acknowledging the efforts of these great female leaders, the country’s history of democracy is incomplete,” he added. He said Fatima Jinnah had faced the authoritarian rule of General Ayub Khan and struggled for the restoration of democracy in the country while Nusrat Bhutto and Benazir Bhutto had spent years struggling for people’s rights and bringing an end to dictatorship.
He also described military rulers General Ayub Khan, General Zia-ul-Haq and General Pervez Musharraf as the Charles De Gaulle, Mughal emperor Aurangzeb Alamgir and Kemal Ataturk of Pakistan respectively.
He said the 18th amendment was a major step towards provincial autonomy in the country after the signing of the charter of democracy between the Pakistan People’s Party and the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz during the Musharraf era.
“If it proves successful, the historic amendment will provide more constitutional liberties and powers to the people in the coming days,” he added.
“The charter of democracy carried a vision that could correct some of the major wrong practices which had made inroads in our system and had contaminated it. Many of these proposals were accommodated in the 18th constitutional amendment. The 36 clauses of the charter of democracy affirmed the commitment of the two major parties regarding democratisation and expansion of provincial autonomy.”
Sahar Gul, the director of the Benazir Bhutto Chair at the University of Karachi, addressing the audience said the idea behind holding SMBB Memorial Lectures was not only to impart democratic education to various sections of the society, especially the youth; but also intended to construct a robust discourse on the pertinent challenges that Pakistani state and society were passing through.
“We all strongly believe that inclusive narratives and participatory discourses have always played a vital role in the developing and shaping thought process of society,” she added.
“Keeping this aim in view, we are trying to engage intelligentsia and academia of high stature in this endeavour, and I am confident that it will definitely open new windows and avenues of thought and discourse in society.”