There are only two systems of government, which are being followed by the world at large, one is the parliamentary form in which the Prime Minister, who is the head of the government is the leader of the majority party in the parliament who happens to be the supreme boss to carry out the functions of the state. The President is also there as Head of the State with certain functions as Head of the State only, what actually happens in the parliamentary form of government is that if under the constitution the Prime Minister can muster absolute majority in the parliament he carries out amendments in that sacred document know by the name of constitution to invest himself with absolute power, as has been happening in Pakistan. Immediately after the promulgation of the constitution of1973 with almost unanimous approval of all the parties, article 1 to 6 were amended to make the President an ineffective Head of the State and reduce him to a rubber stamp, so far as his powers to approve an act passed by the parliament is concerned. Thus the poor President was reduced to a non-entity and a rubber stamp, the only function left to him was worth the name to receive credentials of foreign ambassadors and receive visiting Head of the States at the airport.
Now the prime Minister in order to enforce his writ has to rely on some sanction of force, here comes in the Chief of Staff of the army, he commands the largest manpower in the country é half a million trained manpower with arms and ammunition. Thus a troika of power base, the President, the Prime Minister and the Chief of the Army Staff is created. Under the present constitution of Pakistan, which is held in abeyance, the President is a piece of decoration as was Mr. Fazal Ellahi Chaudhry, followed by President Rafiq Tarrar. Individuals with some ability of personal intrigue became the third effective member of troika, so the functions of the power base of the troika is like this é President by virtue of his intrigues, the Prime Minister because of the constitution and the Chief of Army Staff because of the army behind him. History of Pakistan is full of these elements in politics of power in Pakistan. This is where our politicians want to reach and this is how the sycophants reap their harvest and earn their crumbs falling from the tables of the troika, and when their needs are not satisfied, they invite or pray for the army chief of staff to step in. History of Pakistan is full their misdeeds and acts of traitorism, and there is no remedy in the constitution for such acts, infact the constitution has to be re-writen for such acts to suit the genesis of the Musalmans and Pakistan.
The constitution of Pakistan also provided that the President should be elected by the Senate, National Assembly and four Provincial Assemblies, making him subservient to the political party in majority for his bread and butter. So, he is practically a stooge of the leader of the majority party kicked up in the Presidency, how can the nation expect such a President to act with conscience without any fear or favour, and with fear of God only, he can not. It would have been in the fitness of things in the interest of the nation and the country, that the President should have been elected by the popular vote of all Pakistanis and not by a electoral college of the parliament and four provincial assemblies, this idea has probably been borrowed from the United States of America.
Iran, India, Turkey, Malaysia, Egypt, France, Italy and many more do have parliamentary form but they are fortunate that they do not have traitors and there Prime Minister is not the absolute monarch, which is in Pakistan and the President as Head of the State has a political and constitutional role to play, which unfortunately the President in India and Pakistan do not have, they are just a rubber stamp. For God sake, let us not waste huge sums of taxpayer money on maintaining rubber stamps. The misuse of parliamentary system is evident in the 15th amendment of the constitution, where democracy has been buried in the debris of Islam and made the Prime Minister an Ameerul Momineen not through popular vote but through commercial votes.
Since time immemorial when the world was made, only one man has ruled to start with, it were the Prophets and later the Khalifa and then the downfall of the Muslim states came when the Khilafat was turned into Maloukiet, and the fear of God was replaced by lust for power, since then the rule of man has continued and it is always the one man who rules. Julius Caesar, Anthony, Alexander the Great, Chengez Kahn, Holague Kahn and Taimur Lung, they were all rulers with no iota of democracy in their system of government.
The first system of democracy was introduced in England and that is why British parliament is known as the mother of parliaments. Here the Prime Minister rules supreme, so much so, that during the Prime Ministership of Oliver Cromwell, the parliament passed a law to behead the King. According to law of England no law is an act, unless approved by the King, the King refused to sign the bill for his own execution; the parliament enacted another law assuming all the powers of the king. The bill became an act and King Charles I was beheaded, this is democracy and not the democracy in Pakistan, where the hoodlums of the Prime Minister raid the Supreme Court, with threat and abuses against the Honourable Judges in most filthy language. Their Lordships ran halter and skelter to their chambers wrapping their gowns around them, this is not democracy. Even in the parliamentary system of other countries the Prime Minister is a coordinator between different departments of the government and not a man Independent of the President directing the foreign policy of the government and taking vital decision even without the knowledge of the President. Had it not been left to the Prime Minister of India, who depends on the popularity of his party, Kashmir problem would have been solved long ago? Kashmir problem is the victim of parliamentary system in India.
Let us digress a little to discuss the presidential form of government, which is most suited to the genesis of Pakistan, we have one God, one Prophet, one Quran, we should have one President, who should not be subservient to an electoral college, where votes are purchased and bought, this President should be elected directly through adult franchise by the entire nation, referendum or no referendum, but this man, who is the Head of the State should be elected by the nation and not be subservient to the Prime Minister. In a presidential system the President is the Commander-in-Chief and there is no troika to conspire against him, when there is an emergency, the nation rallies around him. In a parliamentary system the petty and the drawing room politicians do not, and only get their names printed in the newspapers by opposing the man in action.
I want to ask only one question, what is the alternative to Pervez Musharraf and what is the alternative to referendum, so far as the referendum is concerned about which there is a cry by the disgruntled politicians, will of the people is always supreme. In every constitution whether presidential, parliamentary or monarchical, there is a built in clause that the will of the people is always supreme. Iranian revolution, Spanish revolution, Turkish revolution, Russian revolution, Libyan revolution are some of the few examples. History records it and the world recognizes it, no one has called it an illegal act and beyond the purview of the constitution. President Musharraf is neither indispensable nor immortal but so long he is destined to work, he will work according to his intellectual and physical capacity. My dear fellow readers name one replacement so that the nation can compare that too. Human memory is not that short, the nation still remembers the one point agenda of Pakistan National Alliance (PNA) and that was to throw Bhutto out and then they fight for the spoils of Pakistan. The end result was military rule for 11 years. Let us not lead towards that, I am no votary of General Musharraf, nor do I thrive on the bed crumbs from his table.
But just criticizing for the sake of criticism is not the answer. I would like to suggest one thing and that is, if President of Pakistan is elected on the basis of adult franchise and the entire nation is his electoral college, he does not have to have the National Security Council or the troika, he is the supreme commander of armed forces, he is the President of Pakistan, he is the head of the nation. So, let him work for five years or whatever period the nation elects him, then and only then President can survive. I would advise President Musharraf not to enter into politics at this stage and ensure that the President has enough authority to make his presence felt and see that the hoodlums of the Prime Minister do not dare to send back the Honourable Chief Justice with Honourable Judges to their chambers under threat to their lives. He should be the one man responsible to see that the policies of the government are carried out in letter and spirit and the buck must stop there.
