Pakistan towards the presidential system? Powerful forces now want to use
Last year, a constitutional petition was filed in the Supreme Court, asking the Prime Minister to hold a referendum on the establishment of the President’s rule.
Is Pakistan moving from the current parliamentary system to a presidential system?
Such things are being said that the parliamentary system has not helped in strengthening democracy in this country and this system has given rise to corruption, which is taking the country backwards.
In 1958 Shaheed Ali Patwari, a Bengali politician, was a member of the provincial assembly in East Pakistan, who was also the deputy speaker.
The assembly soon turned into a battlefield with members fighting amongst themselves over a motion during the uproar in the proceedings of the assembly session. They started throwing away what had come in the hands of the violent members.
A member picked up a paperweight and threw it, which unfortunately hit Shaheed Ali Patwari in the head and he was so badly injured that he eventually died two days later.
Now in 2021 too, this sight was repeated in the National Assembly this week, but fortunately, no one died. The political tension between the government and the two main opposition parties – the Pakistan Muslim League (Nawaz) and the Pakistan People’s Party – has been going on for the past two years.
Leader of the House Imran Khan rarely attends the meetings of the National Assembly or the Senate. He has complained that he is constantly harassed by the opposition members.
This week, Information Minister Fawad Chaudhry made a ridiculous proposal that Leader of Opposition Shehbaz Sharif will be heard with respect in the House if the opposition parties give an assurance in writing that they will not disturb the setting of the lower house.
The opposition parties naturally rejected it. When Finance Minister Shaukat Tarin stood up to present the annual budget, the opposition members created such a ruckus that even those sitting in the press gallery could not hear the Finance Minister’s speech.
Then when Leader of Opposition Shahbaz Sharif stood up to speak on behalf of the opposition, the ruling party decided to take revenge and made so much noise that no one could hear Shahbaz Sharif. This happened for three consecutive days and on the third day, the House turned into a battlefield.
The MPs were throwing thick copies of the budget at each other like a missile. Such abusive words were heard in Punjabi that the woman MP went to Sharma.
The worst and unforgivable conduct was that of senior ministers who were behaving like goons. Instead of stopping his members, he stood at the table and started abusing and beating the opposition members.
The next day, National Assembly Speaker Asad Qaiser barred seven members of the ruling PTI, PPP and PML(N) from entering Parliament.
He said that the members who have been barred from coming to Parliament cannot be pardoned for their unparliamentary and unfair behaviour.
Did the ruling party make this drama as a plan to move away from the parliamentary system and move towards the presidential system?
For some time now, there has been a whisper in Islamabad that the powerful forces now want to experiment with a new system of politics.
Last year, a constitutional petition was filed in the Supreme Court, asking the Prime Minister to hold a referendum on the establishment of the President’s rule.
It is too early to say whether the effort towards a presidential system will be successful or not. But many in Pakistan agree with the constitutional petition that, ‘Our parliamentary system has a habit of converting MPs to loyalty and blackmailing and pressurizing the government to promote their personal interests.’
It has been said in the petition that the people are tired of the parliamentary system of governance and the President wants to adopt the system of government.
The plight of the people of Pakistan directly reflects the system of government and it has been established that the parliamentary system of governance in the country is a complete failure.
