On the second day of the 16th Karachi Literature Festival (KLF) on Saturday, the experienced litigation urged people to “restore the culture of resistance.”
The panel included former Supreme Court Bar Association (SCBA) president Abid Shahid Zabri, former Senator Raza Rabbani, Senator Zamir Ghooro and renowned lawyers Sara Malikani and Salahuddin Ahmed who discussed the subject: ” We: Our Constitution and the rule of law.
Regarding the impact on the people of the constitution, Rabbani said that despite the continued discussion on the subject, practical implementation is missing.
“Gradually, the culture of resistance in stakeholders, especially civil society, has ended. The result is that the rule of law and constitutional supremacy has been affected.
Salahuddin Ahmed pointed out that the reason behind the declining culture of resistance is that “our constitutional institutions have not been able to provide constitutional rights”.
He added: “As long as our institutions – whether it is a parliament, a judiciary or executive – give and enforce the basic rights of meaningful people. [Constitution] There will be an educational concept.
Sara Malikani talked about the diminishing consistency of the constitution. “When the main structure of power and the elites of power accepts and owns the powers, the constitution is relevant. Our basic power structures do not own the constitution, which is why it has not tolerated.
Abid Zubari discussed the importance of education in this regard. “Unless education is present, the constitution and the rule of law are not related to the people,” he said.
He highlighted that education lacks: “People always accept constitutional relations.”
Referring to the 26th Amendment, he said, “The way the Constitution has been changed… the judiciary has been tampered with, which is shaking the entire country of the country. [is lamentable]”He added that the rule of law is over.
Talking about the role of the judiciary, Ghoro noted that basic rights are affected when institutions fail to play their role. “Not every organization plays its role … so, people have to struggle for their rights,” he said.
In response to a question from the moderator, Rabbani said the 26th Amendment came much later. “We have always been talking about the infrastructure of the Constitution, the Truthtomy of Power, the basic rights in philosophical terms … but we are ashamed of the basic question that is the state of Pakistan.”
When Pakistan came into existence, there was a different ideology of the leader. The state has turned into a national security state, a garrison state.
He added, “The basic question is that the civilian rise, which was imagined in 1947, has ended. Civilian climb has never been so low.
Ahmed highlighted the role of civilian leaders in failing to provide rights. He said, “When the elite of any force gets power, they have left no chance to destroy the constitution. The ‘affected story’ by the politicians is not correct.
He said that political leaders also came to power with military assistance and added, “Political parties should move beyond this story.”
Malikani concluded the meeting with suggestions for ending “crisis on constitutionalism” in the country. He described the concept of an “elite bargaining” that is practiced in different countries.
We should see other countries like India. There are constitutional crisis everywhere. The constitution also had a consensus in the power elite to ban the minimum level and to ban power sharing. This is called ‘elite bargaining’ and when it fails, you see the crisis of constitutionalism.
“Leaders will have to ban the elite bargaining,” he said.
