Political Parties in Pakistan Disabled by Design Zafarullah Khan Political Parties in Pakistan - DISABLED BY DESIGN Author will welcome reproduction and dissemination of the contents of this report with proper acknowledgement. Author: Zafarullah Khan First edition: October 2004 Price: Rs. 150 Number of copies: 1000 ISBN: Freedom Publishers 21, I & T Centre, G-6/1, Islamabad, Pakistan Ph: 00-92-51-2822692/696 Fax: 00-92-51-2826621 E-mail: [email protected] Acknowledgement: Friedrich Naumann Foundation, Pakistan, has supported the research and publication of this report. However the contents of this report do not necessarily express the views of the Foundation. Special thanks to Peter Andreas Bochmann, Gulmina Bilal and Muhammad Anwar for continued encouragement, support and suggestions. Disclaimer: Every effort has been made to ensure the accuracy of this publication. The author does not accept responsibility of any omission, as it is not deliberate. Nevertheless we will appreciate provision of accurate information to improve the next edition. ii Political Parties in Pakistan - DISABLED BY DESIGN Right of Association v Preface vii Prologue:: Political parties in Pakistan: disabled by design ix Chapter-1 Can integrity and influence co-exist? 1 Chapter-2 Talk-show Democracy 13 Chapter-3 Party Law: instrument of political engineering 17 Chapter-4 Peep into Political parties secretariats: 20 Chapter-5 Failing to empower the youth 23 Chapter-6 What should be done? 29 Annex: 1 Political Parties Order-2002 32 Annex: II Political Parties Rules 2002 40 iii BLANK Political Parties in Pakistan - DISABLED BY DESIGN Right of Association (1) Every citizen shall have the right to form associations or unions, subject to any reasonable restrictions imposed by law in the interest of sovereignty or integrity of Pakistan, public order or morality. (2) Every citizen, not being in the service of Pakistan, shall have the right to form or be a member of a political party, subject to any reasonable restriction imposed by law in the interest of the sovereignty or integrity of Pakistan or public order and such law shall provide that where the Federal Government declares that any political party has been formed or is operating in a manner prejudicial to the sovereignty or integrity of Pakistan or public order, the Federal Government shall, within fifteen days of such declaration, refer the matter to the Supreme Court whose decision on such reference shall be final. Provided that no political party shall promote sectarian, ethnic, regional hatred or animosity, or be tilted or constituted as a militant group or section. (3) Every political party shall account for the source of its funds in accordance with law. (4) Every political party shall, subject to law, hold intra-party elections to elect its office- bearers and party leaders. Article 17, Chapter 1-Fundamental Rights, Constitution of Islamic Republic of Pakistan- 1973: (Of all the Fundamental Rights, the Right of Association has faced rather frequent re- adjustments and modifications. Article 17, resultantly, has been amended thrice. The first amendment in May 1974 excluded the citizens in service of Pakistan from joining or forming a political party. Simultaneously, it bound the political parties to reveal sources of their funds. The second amendment in November 1975 added some restrictive clauses to conform operation of political parties to "sovereignty or integrity of Pakistan" in addition to public order and morality. The second amendment followed the ban on the National Awami Party which was quickly re-organized as National Democratic Party and later re-named as Awami National Party. The third amendment has been made through the controversial Legal Framework Order (LFO)-2002 incorporated in the 17th Amendment which is strongly contested by the democratic forces. Beside further reinforcing restrictive clauses about public order it added a new clause to check sectarian, ethnic and regional tendencies and militancy in the post 9-11 world. Through the same amendment yet another clause has been added to make it mandatory to hold intra-party elections.) v BLANK Political Parties in Pakistan - DISABLED BY DESIGN Preface “Every mother wants her son to be the President but no mother wants to see him as a politician.” One is reminded of this quote while going through this report that documents the state of political parties and of politics in Pakistan. A political party, as an important primary democratic structure, is the vehicle through which an individual’s political aspirations can find expression. Political parties bring like minded people together and enable them to organize themselves and their political thoughts. However, all this needs enabling circumstances, as the writer has repeatedly pointed out. Some of these ``enabling circumstances, in my view are: s Public funding of political parties as it in the interest of the public to have political parties. s Parties should be internally democratic s A mechanism of upward movement within the party should be in place. And most importantly s Political parties should be allowed to operate freely without coercion. It is not surprising that the political parties are ``disabled.” as Mr. Khan points out in the report. For if political parties are constantly struggling for their own survival, if they have to be constantly on the defensive, if they have to be constantly apologetic for their very existence…. It is no wonder that parties have not taken the time to invest in themselves and their workers. Banning political parties or political figures without any legal framework is a move that will never put a country on the democratic path. The world of politics is like a public market….. parties set up their stalls, men and women present themselves before the public as the best person for the job and the public should be left to determine who to assign the job to. It is only when people are given this freedom that political parties would feel inclined towards investing in their internal capacity building and it is only then that democracy would shine on the country in all its glory. In the meantime, the Foundation is happy to support such initiatives like that of Mr. Zafarullah Khan. I wish him all the best but hope that next time he documents the state of political parties they would be ``able” and not ``disabled.’ Peter Andreas Bochmann Resident Representative Friedrich Naumann Foundation Pakistan. vii BLANK Political Parties in Pakistan - DISABLED BY DESIGN Prologue: Political parties in Pakistan: disabled by design “Those who are more closely acquainted with politics are only too well aware of the amount of work that actually goes into it. Due respect for this nation-preserving, state building activity!” Friedrich Naumann-German political thinker Political party is a forum of freedom and equality, reason and logic. There is no democracy without political parties. Emerging out of the socio-economic and cultural realities of the society, political parties tend to aggregate and articulate public concerns and mediate between the citizens and the state. Every political party is out to influence public opinion to earn the trust of the electorate and win power to govern. That is the only way to implement their vision. The metaphor of a train best explains a political party. The leadership serves as the strong engine pulling a variety of carriages ranging from the cozy and comfortable saloons to the modest with bare minimum facilities yet sharing the same track and direction. People with different social backgrounds and resources embark (and disembark) for different reasons and destinations. Those left on the platform, obviously, reach nowhere. Like a train, a party has to trudge ahead and cross a variety of terrains, bridges and tunnels, and duly abide by the signals en-route. It has to pass through dark underpasses that look like an abyss taking its passengers along. As an addendum to these external challenges, the train also faces frequent interruptions by its passengers pulling the emergency chain, both with or without reason. Leadership in Pakistan is a matter of resources than organizational talent. In the street- cricket, as ever, the skipper is the boy who owns the bat or the sports gear. His skills don't count in the game. He happily declares himself as the captain, often without challenge, and insists to bat first regardless of the toss. In the political arena, there are too few clubs that offer equal opportunities to all. On our political crease, too, the self-styled skippers of political parties, often the feudal lords and neo-riches, love to bat than to field and stay at the wicket as long as possible. For that they don't mind switching teams and crossing floor of the parliament. Ordinary public can participate but only as placard holders. Success in the carefully designed ‘sustainable democracy’ depends on one's understanding with the referee. Matches are fixed. Anyone challenging the credentials of the referee is immediately shown the red card. Derived from Latin word pars, meaning "part, direction", the term Party is generally used to describe an association of like-minded people with regard to politics, social issues, economic policy and world view. They form a party to influence politics. In this sense parties have existed, as loose groupings, since the Ancient city-states in Greece and in republican Rome as well as during the political and religious movements of the 16th and 17th century. ix Political Parties in Pakistan - DISABLED BY DESIGN The political parties of modern times began to shape up during the 18th and 19th centuries. England was the trend setter of this process where, during the 18th century, the Tories and Whigs established themselves as permanent bodies with distinct characteristics. They strictly followed party policy when making comments in public.