Military dictators, politicians equally responsible: Senators

Repeated suspension of Constitution

Praise Indian politicians for giving military no chance to interfere

ISLAMABAD: The military dictators and politicians were equally blamed in the Senate on Monday for repeated suspension and subversion of the Constitution while the Indian politicians were praised for  giving no chance to the military to intervene even once.

Senators on both the sides of the aisle shared unanimity that the Senate should have equal powers with the National Assembly, being the voice and House of the federating units. They insisted the main objective of having the Upper House of Parliament was to give due representation to the federating units. As a part of the Constitution Day celebrations, senators spoke on the national document: speaking on the occasion, MQM’s Senator Maulana Tanvirul Haq Thanvi gave credit to Indian politicians for conducting themselves in such a way that the Constitution could not be suspended. He called for strictly adhering to the Constitution, ‘which if implemented, would hugely benefit Pakistan for it was Islamic in nature.

Taking part in the discussion, PPP Senator Farhatullah Babar said that Constitution should be a compulsory subject in academic institutions particularly in the military academies to inculcate respect for the Constitution.

“Historically, the mindset of the establishment knows little respect for Constitution, he said and recalled the Quaid's address to the officers in June 1948 in Quetta,” he noted. The Quaid, he said, had deplored that in his conversation with senior military officers when he noticed that they did not fully appreciate the importance of Constitution and the oath they had taken. The Quaid then had read out the oath to them to emphasise importance of the words in the oath, he said.

“There is mindset that believes that a uniformed person is a greater patriot than a civilian and an elected prime minister is a 'security risk'. Such a mindset does not readily come to terms with the Constitution made by elected representatives of the people,” he said.

Senator Babar maintained that days of abrogation of the Constitution and the imposition of PCOs and the LFOs might be over. But the day when all state institutions would willingly accept the supremacy of the Constitution was still far away.

“Were all institutions willingly submitted to the Constitution it would not have been possible for a dictator being tried for treason to escape trial by just barging into a hospital in Rawalpindi leaving the courts and the Parliament bewildered,” he said.

“With such disrespect being shown to the Constitution clearly there is need for teaching Constitution in the military academies,” he said. However, he contended that the abrogators of the Constitution were individuals and not the institutions and their supporters were politicians, who wanted to become premier or ministers. “This was a great injustice on the part of such politicians and this is a black stigma on them,” he said.

Senator Khalid Parveen of PPP from southern Punjab proposed creation of a separate province, as Punjab province consisted of 62 per cent of the area, which forms southern Punjab, having a separate identity. She alleged that bulk of the provincial budget was spent on central Punjab.

He emphasised it was more incumbent upon political parties to act strictly in accordance with the Constitution, shutting the doors to NROs. Senator Abbasi also called for addressing the disconnect between masses and the Parliament by mitigating their sufferings.

PML-Q Senator Mushahid Hussain Sayed said the Constitution was a way forward to making the country democratically strong. He appreciated Bhutto for evolving consensus on the national document but noted there were some lacunas and at the top was that the Senate should have more powers, giving semblance of equal powers   ’Pakistan is a federation and all provinces are equal’.

“Giving red carpet send off to Musharraf shows that the Constitution is still in some sort of cage and there is a need to free it and all should follow it,” he said. At the start of the proceedings, the House offered Fateha for martyrs of Parachinar blast incident. Afterwards, four bills were introduced in the House and they are: "The Defamation (Amendment) Bill, 2017", "The Islamabad Capital Territory Shops, Business and Industrial Establishments (Security) (Amendment) Bill, 2017", "The National Health Care Bill, 2017" and "The Islamabad Consumers Protection (Amendment) Bill, 2017". The bills were moved by Muhammad Azam Khan Swati of PTI and were referred to the standing committees concerned for deliberations and report.