A change in system?

This refers to the news report, ‘Ex-CJ asks people: should we move to presidential system of government?’ (November 28). The former chief justice’s call for implementing a presidential form of government sounds logical. The present system has failed to meet the essentials of parliamentary democracy. Our parliamentarians, the federal ministers in particular, hardly take an interest in the proceedings of the National Assembly and Senate. We have barely seen parliament debating issues like privatisation, the CPEC, progress on the National Action Plan or foreign policy.
Unfortunately, the performance of the opposition is even worse. The PPP and the MQM habitually use parliament as a platform to voice grievances over the maltreatment meted out to their colleagues at the hands of security agencies. The PTI is also not bothered in parliamentary affairs and favours politics of agitation. Thus, as predicted, our parliament has failed to fulfil its constitutional role. Will a presidential system, that is more centralised and authoritative in nature, provide a solution for bad governance?
Engr Sayyad Alam Khan
Peshawar
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This refers to the news report, ‘Ex-CJ asks people: should we move to presidential system of government?’ (November 28). The issues the former chief justice has referred to in his ‘open letter’ concern the lives of every Pakistani. But where are the solutions to resolve these issues?
To make the parliamentary system work in our country, it is important that the constitution is restored to the July 4, 1977 position. Then, a second constituent assembly should be elected on the basis of elections as laid down in the original document. This will ensure that the necessary amendments can be made to fill the gap of 42 years and make the constitution more suitable to current circumstances. Also, we cannot remove the lacunae in the justice system unless we accept the people’s prerogative to legislate through their representatives. These representatives will be elected according to the procedure laid down by the constitution they created and not the one that was imposed on them by usurpers.
Muhammad Aslam Badar
Faisalabad