KARACHI:
Pakistan has faced innumerable issues because of an uncivilised political system. It has curbed the engines of growth and wreaked havoc on institutions of the country. Politics plays an inclusive role because it determines the foreign policy of a country. A major issue in our political system is that all the international treaties are ratified by the executive and not the parliament. Many countries subject such treaties to ratification by their legislatures. Several attempts have been made by various legislators to subject international treaties to ratification by parliament.
In addition, personal politics and growing animosity between politicians has created a toxic political culture. It has left people wondering whether their political representatives have any public interest issues on their agenda considering all they do is direct hate speech towards one another. This toxic culture will have a pernicious impact on the political system as it will weaken the political institutions. It is necessary to maintain a degree of mutual tolerance and restraint to ensure smooth functioning of the political system.
Ruling parties commonly criticise previous governments for the existing issues. They often use undemocratic norms and language against one another in the parliament. Our parliament has become a fish market on account of uncivilised politics. It is imperative that we stop political engineering. Institutions should run naturally so that they can grow. We should learn from our mistakes and stop further political engineering and constitutional experiments. It is important to reinstate political trust for a successful political system. All political actors need to implement democratic practices and norms in the political arena.
Yaqoob Malik
Chagai
Published in The Express Tribune, September 16th, 2021.
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