RAWALPINDI: The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) has released to the press and public some of the important features of the final draft of the Electoral Reforms Bill approved by it. It is an excellent effort to make the elections as much free and fair as possible and I wish the ECP well in its mission and undertakings.
At the same time, I cannot help wonder over our misfortune that potential leaders would need to be subjected to so much scrutiny to ensure that the fraudsters, fake degree-holders, bank loan defaulters, tax evaders, utility bills defaulters and other cheats amongst them, are not allowed to find their way to the polls. In other words, it is assumed — rather, taken for granted — that there will be cheats who will submit their nomination papers knowing them to be false, forged or defective and that there will be political parties who would also field such persons of dubious character to represent their constituencies.
Since we cannot entirely get rid of this menace and have to put up with the cheats, the ECP should take measures to not only check the fraudsters from entering the contest but also introduce a culture whereby such people do not come forward to contest the elections themselves. Any man with a conscience cannot knowingly do anything wrong or unjust, least of all an honourable leader. To introduce such a culture of self-imposed ethics and morality, the only way I can think of is that very strict penal and punitive action(s) be taken against such persons — debarring them and their immediate family members for life and imposing heavy fines on them and their political party for nominating such persons. Only such strong actions would usher in a culture of enforced honesty and self-respect among our politicians, who feel no qualms in doing anything wrong. They know that they can either buy their way out or g0 scot-free due to their political prowess. So, Mr Justice Fakhruddin G Ebrahim, sir, do carry out the scrutiny but try to inculcate the culture of honesty amongst politicians so that they themselves think a hundred times before submitting their false nomination papers that could be rejected.
Col (retd) Riaz Jafri
Published in The Express Tribune, February 4th, 2013.
