The people of Pakistan are proud of the faith they reposed in the democratic setup of the country for five long years. Their confidence in the current political system has given a real boost to the future of democracy in the country.
Despite the judicial coup, the previous government led by the Pakistan’s Peoples Party successfully completed its five-year term. The arduous democratic journey of Pakistan had a long and painful process during the last five years, despite criticisms over lack of governance and a string of corruption cases.
Meanwhile, the EU has been invited by the Election Commission of Pakistan to observe the forthcoming general elections so that whole process can be carried out in an impartial and transparent way.
Free and fair elections are the essence of democracy.
They provide general masses an opportunity to exercise their choice in running the affairs of the country.
The criticism of Articles 62 and 63 of constitution by ex-members of the Parliament is absurdly inconsistent with their eagerness to take oath under the same constitution after winning the polls.
If these election hopefuls believe that the raison d'état for the creation of Pakistan was other than Islam, then they should refrain from running for these elections and taking oath under the country’s current Islamic constitution.
The manner in which Pakistan’s Dawn newspaper in its editorial condemned the exercise of screening election candidates was completely uncalled for.
The integrity of many intellectuals whose remarkable hypocrisy has been demonstrated by their perpetual assaults on the Islamic articles of the constitution make us think that they are firm believers in the international standards of constitutional democracy but not on the Islamic premise of Pakistani Constitution, which is at the heart country’s foundation. — Israrul Haque, Jeddah
Pakistan’s elections
