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1973 Constitution: A Guiding
Light
A spectacular turnout at MMA’s Lahore million
man march shows the nation is ready for moving ahead to throw
the illegal ruler of Pakistan general Musharraf out of office.
This is a second major political gathering arranged by MMA
leadership in second largest city of Pakistan.
We may disagree with MMA’ religious political philosophy,
but the message they are passing out pierces through the heart of Pakistan’s
core issue: the supremacy of the constitution of Pakistan. They talked about
making the constitution supreme in their Karachi as well as Lahore
gathering.
We do not know how good MMA’s intentions about making the
constitution supreme are, but they are hammering the nail on the head.
The constitution of Pakistan should be respected by all
players including the armed forces. MMA should have kept the idea of
supremacy of the constitution in mind while they were negotiating 17th
amendment with the agents of illegal ruler of Pakistan. However, they claim
their intention was to give a way out to general Musharraf.
The philosophy of giving a way out to outlaw generals who
take over the country through military coup is flawed argument and the main
reason to encourage them to come back time and again. Nobody should give
way out to any outlaw general. The article 6 of the constitution must be
implemented with full force against all those who ever dare to violate the
constitution.
If MMA wants to make the 1973 constitution supreme, the
democratic forces should support their endeavor to do so. However, the
political reality points in different direction. Apparently, certain
democratic forces, disgruntled by MMA’s mistake to negotiate 17th
amendment, reluctantly want to give latitude to general Musharraf to stay in
power for a while.
This is not a right course of action. The democratic
forces should become the part of the efforts that will help restore 1973
constitution. Anything achieved with the help of the people has more
validity than anything achieved through give and take deals with
constitutionally outlaw generals.
Therefore, we suggest to all those who seriously and
sincerely want to democratize Pakistan they should look at the constitution
of Pakistan as a guiding light and join hands with those who want to make it
a supreme document. Once the writ of constitution takes place, Pakistan will
come out of woods and start moving towards becoming a state with rule of law
and functioning democratic institutions.
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