Daily Times

The constitution of 1973 was forged from a national assembly after the fall of East Pakistan in 1971.

The national assembly had 313 seats in 1970, 144 seats belonged to West Pakistan, whereas 169 belonged to East Pakistan including 13 reserved seats for women (six were from West Pakistan and seven from East Pakistan). East Pakistan accounted for 55 per cent of Pakistan’s population, while West Pakistan accounted for 45 per cent. As a result, when East Pakistan split, a fresh reorganization of constituencies was required in the remaining (West) Pakistan. It was never done, and the reason was simple: West Pakistan’s establishment (bureaucracy and army) did not want East Pakistan to remain united with West Pakistan otherwise East Pakistan politics always controlled (West) Pakistan in perpetuity.

This was the reason when the 1970 election concluded and Sheikh Mujeeb ur Rehman’s Awami league received a landmark victory to form a democratic government, the chief martial law administrator, General Yahya Khan, instead of calling the national assembly to form a democratic government, handed over the power of the state to Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto as the civilian martial law administrator – the first time in the history of the world’s governance system.

The young generation of Pakistanis must know that Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto won only 81 seats out of 313 seats in the 1970 elections, so he wasn’t deserving of becoming Pakistan’s Prime Minister. Despite this, Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto and the West Pakistani establishment betrayed the people of East Pakistan, their leader Sheikh Mujeeb ur Rehman, and his majority-winning party, the Awami League.

Today, human rights abuses, killings, and abductions of journalists, TV anchors, and writers in Pakistan are the headlines in the international media.

Then, only the remaining members of West Pakistan were called to the national assembly, which was an unfair and unjust process to rule (remaining) Pakistan. Remember, in 1973, the constitution was passed by an assembly composed only of 144 members remaining in West Pakistan.

After the fall of East Pakistan, which changed Pakistan’s territories, population, and political shape, a fresh census, a reorganization of constituencies, a fair allocation of seats to the four provinces (Punjab, Sindh, NWFP and Baluchistan), and a fair election in Pakistan were essential to maintaining the fair democratic system in (remaining) Pakistan.

All acts, rules, and proceedings of this fraudulently composed parliament since it was formed in 1972 is a sham governing system in the name of the democratic system.

Under the banner of a democratic system, the government has been systematically destroying every government institute since 1971. Corruption has taken hold. The judicial system is dysfunctional, and law enforcement agencies are controlled by the establishment. The country is run by the most corrupt nexus of corrupt bureaucracy, law enforcement, and judiciary with the full support of anti-Pakistan internal and external foreign forces. Foreign powers back the top brass of the armed forces, intelligence agencies, and bureaucracy to run the state in their vested interest.

Pakistan’s common people are dying from poverty, unemployment, lawlessness, and all sorts of criminal activities committed by criminal groups protected by the corrupt judiciary and law informant agencies. People are unable to purchase necessary daily-use items to live due to skyrocketing inflation.

Economically, politically, and socially, Pakistan is now on the verge of collapse. Currently, Pakistan is broke and under immense pressure from billions of dollars in loans from international financial institutions including the IMF and World Bank. Unless they control Pakistan’s major assets and fully control its financial institutions, they are unwilling to pay further loans.

It is the most corrupt elements of society that are running the country with the backing of the establishment, including those who are accused of money laundering, bribery, and corruption. To fully control Pakistan’s nuclear assets and defence capabilities by foreign powers, there is a plan to create chaos in the country, leading to civil war.

Today, human rights abuses, killings, and abducting of journalists, TV anchors, and writers in Pakistan are the headlines in the international media. Freedom of speech has been suppressed journalist are disappeared and been killed, many renowned journalists left Pakistan to save their lives.

There is a constant exodus of skilled and honest people from Pakistan. In the last 12 months, approximately 700,000 people have left Pakistan. The highly growing value of US dollars against the Pakistani rupee is causing Pakistani industries to shut down as imports and exports have collapsed.Pakistan cannot be saved unless the people of Pakistan can take responsibility to save Pakistan.

The writer is a Sydney-based journalist. He can be reached at: shassan@tribune-intl.com.