KARACHI:
The PML-N’s decision to nominate Hamza Shehbaz as Punjab’s Chief Minister and the appointment of Ishaq Dar as Finance Minister reflect poorly on the government. Such practices reek of dynasticism and family monarchies. In a democracy, there is no place for ruling families, nor cults and fascism. Individuals holding elected constitutional offices can only serve if they enjoy the support of majority members in parliament and can be removed if they fail to hold numerical strength.
According to the Constitution of Pakistan and the law, a Prime Minister can be removed through a vote of no-confidence. No individual seeking elected public office can claim it as their divine right to rule. In Islam, individual sovereignty is solely the divine domain of Almighty Allah (SWT), and not of any individual. It is because of this that collective wisdom by chosen representatives of the people, as is the practice in true parliamentary democracy, has more in common with the Islamic system of governance and jurisprudence. When an elected prime minister fails to attend sessions of parliament, he displays his undemocratic credentials and dictatorial straits. Muhammad Asad, a renowned Islamic scholar, says that undiluted parliamentary democracy is more akin to the Islamic concept of governance. In Islam, there is no place for monarchy or dictatorship.
Pakistan, created through a political struggle to function as a modern democracy, disintegrated and faced the humiliation of defeat and surrender under a ruler who enjoyed absolute power. This country can no longer sustain any more experimentations and must revert to Quaid’s vision and rule of law. The country must rid itself of politicians who abandon it once out of power.
Malik Tariq Ali
Lahore
Published in The Express Tribune, December 25th, 2022.
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