Pakistan

For the people: Nawaz, Zardari mark UN Democracy Day

Deliver inspirational messages lauding democratic process within the country

Our Correspondent September 16, 2015

Deliver inspirational messages lauding democratic process within the country. PHOTO: REUTERS

ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Muhammad Nawaz Sharif on the eve of United Nations International Democracy Day declared that Pakistan’s future lies in continuation of democracy. In his message he added, “In democracy, lies our ideology, survival and identity”.

PM Nawaz further stated that democracy was getting a strong foothold in Pakistan and had resulted in remarkable improvement at social and economic levels, adding that the general election was declared fair and independent by the judiciary—an important milestone towards a strong democracy.

The premier added that for the first time in country’s history, the local governments would be in place side by side with the federal and provincial governments and with functional local governments, the common man would enjoy the right of taking his own decisions in a democratic way.

He concluded his message by saying that democracy ensured connectivity with the global world and that Pakistan would continue to uphold democratic norms and express solidarity with democracy.

PPP co-chairman’s message

Former President Asif Ali Zardari, also delivered a message in honour of UN International Democracy Day saying that democracy demands all institutions respect the limits imposed on them by the Constitution.

The PPP co-chairman said that democracy was much more than merely holding elections periodically to distribute political power among parties and individuals according to their electoral strength.

Rule of law, restraining oneself within the constitutional limits, transparent and across the board accountability and tolerance to dissent are also critical elements of democracy, he said.

The former President also cautioned against threats to democracy from the militant mindset seeking to impose their extremist agenda through force.

Published in The Express Tribune, September 16^th, 2015.

COMMENTS (3)

Javaid | 9 years ago | Reply the news is" Nawaz,Zardari mark the united nation democracy day" it should be "Nawaz, Zardari marked the Pakistan pocket loot mar centenary day" shame on these two ,they should learn the democracy lessons from Austrailia where Labour Party removed their prime minister through internal party convention for not implementing the party manifesto which was promised to the people during election campaign . This is democracy.

S.R.H. Hashmi | 9 years ago | Reply On the eve of United Nations International Democracy Day, Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif declared that Pakistan’s future lies in continuation of democracy. In his message he added, “In democracy, lies our ideology, survival and identity”. So far so good However, as for his assertions that democracy was getting a strong foothold in Pakistan and had resulted in remarkable improvement at social and economic levels, adding that the general election was declared fair and independent by the judiciary— an important milestone towards a strong democracy, one has to take them with a pinch of salt. The PM also said “For the first time in country’s history, the local governments would be in place side by side with the federal and provincial governments and with functional local governments, the common man would enjoy the right of taking his own decisions in a democratic way”. An important milestone towards a strong democracy, he added. However, I would add that the military dictator Pervez Musharraf had given us strong local governments. So much so, that the one in Karachi had done such massive development work in Karachi which earned its young and able City Nazim Syed Mustafa Kamal the honour of being declared the Second Best Mayor in the world. However, both the provincial governments of Punjab and Sindh, while securing additional powers due to much-talked-about devolution from the Federal government, failed to do necessary devolution to the lower, local government level. And going a step further, and working in the spirit of a power-grabber, deprived the local governments of much of their power and financial resources by hacking down the Local Government Acts. And additionally, did not hold local government elections even for the local bodies stripped of nearly all powers and financial resources. And the local government elections are being held now because of the Supreme Court pressure, for which both Nawaz Sharif and Asif Ali Zardari are unduly taking credit. As for the Punjab government, during its last tenure, it had even passed resolutions for the creation of South Punjab province along with Bahawalpur province but with PML-N government both at the centre and in Punjab now, instead of speedy creation of these two provinces, the two Sharif brothers have forgotten the issue altogether, which lends credence to the view that they had passed these resolutions only as a vote-catching exercise before the last general resolutions, and having achieved their objective, they feel no obligation to honour their commitment. So much for their interest in serving the common man and taking democracy to the grass roots level. And the Punjab government has just announced a massive relief package for farmers while Sindh government has announce one for the development of Karachi, as part of their pre-poll rigging exercise for the forthcoming local government elections. Karachi.

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