‘What if treason accused reaches hospital instead of court?’

ISLAMABAD: Senator Farhatullah Babar on Wednesday said that democracy would be elusive until all the institutions agreed to work within the parameters of the Constitution and abide by the principle of trichotomy of powers.

“From being merely a 'security driven state' Pakistan had over the years degenerated into a state under dual control. The driver on the steering wheel was visible but the one operating vital controls like the brake, accelerator and clutch was not visible. Such a vehicle is fated to meet an accident as it is driven along the rough road negotiating tricky social, ethnic and political bends,” he said at a seminar on the role of institutions in the continuity of democratic process organised by SDPI here Wednesday.

Senator Farhatullah Babar said that some found it was easy to lay the blame on parliament alone but parliament could only make laws but the interpretation of law and its implementation was not its responsibility.

He said parliament could and did make law to punish abrogation and subversion of the Constitution. “If someone being tried for treason under Article 6 ran away from the court and sheltered in a hospital unlawfully, how parliament can be held responsible for it,” he asked.

Elaborating, he said that parliament made law in March 2013 disallowing resurrection of banned organisations but some banned outfits had actually resurrected and asked who was responsible for this; parliament or someone else?

He said that the Senate had made unanimous recommendations to address the issue of missing persons and it was now for other institutions to take further action. “Who is responsible for their inaction?” he asked. Farhatullah Babar also called for across the board accountability of all strata of society and reversal of tendency to exercise power without responsibility.