Democracy or Civil Martial Law?

 Democracy or Civil Martial Law?

A good book is one that lights the candle of hope in the darkness of despair and renews the resolve of its reader.

The new book "Parliament vs. Parliament" by the famous lawyer of Pakistan, Mr. SM Zafar, is also a book that contains the solution to all the constitutional and political problems of today's Pakistan and this book is the conscience of all the members of parliament. It can also wake up those whose consciences are drowsy due to the intoxication of power. Apparently, this book is a guide for members of National and Provincial Assemblies and Senate, but it is a treasure of rare information for ordinary Pakistanis, in the light of which they can critically evaluate the performance of parliamentarians and political parties. In the beginning of the book, SM Zafar Sahib highlighted the importance of the oath of parliament members and gave the example of the founder of Pakistan, Quaid-e-Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah.

When Quaid-e-Azam was asked to take the oath as Governor General under the Government of India Act 1935, he refused to take the oath. He objected to the words of the oath that "I will remain loyal to the Crown of Great Britain as the Governor General." On the insistence of Quaid-i-Azam, the words of the oath were changed to "I will abide by the Constitution of Pakistan which will be legally in force." I will be faithful."

Going forward, the famous speech of the founder of Pakistan on August 11, 1947 in the Legislative Assembly of Pakistan is mentioned, in which he said, "In Pakistan, you are free to go to your temples, to your mosque or to any other place of worship." Belonging to any religion, caste or creed, the business of the state has nothing to do with it.

The then establishment prepared a press release to blackout this speech of Quaid-e-Azam. Dawn editor Altaf Hussain rejected this press release and threatened to take the matter to Quaid-e-Azam and thus the press release was withdrawn. To explain the details of this press release, SM Zafar has referred to the book PRESS IN CHAINS by the famous journalist Zameer Niazi. This book contains an incident which is very important regarding today's Pakistan. Zameer Niazi has written that in 1949, Sindh Chief Minister MA Khoro was disqualified, then he filed a petition against his disqualification. When the trial began in court, a young bureaucrat, Agha Shahi, was called as a witness.

Agha Shahi told the court that once he went to the Governor General Quaid-e-Azam to sign a draft of an ordinance. Under this Ordinance, the police were to be empowered to make arrests without trial. When Quaid-i-Azam read the file, he got angry and said, "I have been fighting against such black laws all my life, today you want me to sign it, no, was the same black law under which the power of arrest without trial was being given. The law rejected by Quaid-i-Azam was implemented by the first military dictator of Pakistan, General Ayub Khan, in the name of MPO, and ironically, no democratic government abolished this black law.

Today, in 2023, under this black law, political activists and journalists are being arrested and their political loyalties are being changed. "Parliament vs. Parliament" describes the powers of the three pillars of the state—legislature, executive and judiciary—as well as the responsibilities of the fourth pillar, the media, which resides in the press gallery of Parliament.

The press was called the fourth pillar by Thomas Carlyle. SM Zafar has referred to a speech of Quaid-i-Azam in the 18th chapter of his book entitled "The Fourth Pillar of the State?", in which he said, "The state should protect those journalists who discharge their duties honestly." SM Zafar has also written that since the separation of media and social media ended, the position of media as the fourth pillar is controversial. And lies have become common in the media war, so legislation is needed to stop fake news.

In this book, it is also mentioned that what is a political party? Political parties should be organized on democratic principles but unfortunately this did not happen in Pakistan. SM Zafar Sahib has pointed out several mistakes of political parties due to which non-political forces took advantage. He wrote that every political party should hold intra-party elections and provide an account of the source of its financial resources. SM Zafar was the law minister for four years in the presidential system of Field Marshal Ayub Khan, but he is a strong opponent of the presidential system in Pakistan. In his new book, he said that there is a national consensus in Pakistan on the parliamentary system under the 1973 constitution. This system can only work in countries where the provinces are small and many. A presidential system can work in America where there are 50 federal units, a presidential system cannot work in Pakistan with four units.Shah Sahib has also advised the MPs that there is a difference between blame game and abuse. Parliamentarians should not call each other "traitor", "thief" and "bandit" in their speeches and resolutions because these are unparliamentary words and the use of these words gives rise to unparliamentary attitudes. SM Zafar has also criticized those who change political loyalties, but in his opinion, this trend will not end with the decisions of the Supreme Court, so it is necessary to promote democratic culture in political parties and make all decisions with consultation. go Making leaders of political parties dictators is not the solution to the problem.