Violation of Constitution and Arbitrary Interpretations Equivalent to Hollowing Out Foundations of State Structure: Maulana Abdul Wasey
Quetta (Daily Qudrat) — Provincial Ameer of Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam (JUI) Balochistan, Senator Maulana Abdul Wasey, and General Secretary Maulana Agha Mahmood Shah have said that self-respecting nations do not bargain over their constitutional principles, national dignity, and democratic mandate. The Constitution of Pakistan is the fundamental civic and national covenant of the state’s order, on which all units and nations of the country agree. Violating the Constitution, distorting its spirit through arbitrary interpretations, or presenting constitutional clauses twisted and bent according to the needs of power is tantamount to hollowing out the foundations of the state structure, and such unconstitutional conduct must be held accountable.
They said that the major cause of the ongoing political unrest, uncertainty, and political confrontation in the country is not the supremacy of the Constitution but political engineering, undermining of the public mandate, patronage of favored individuals in the electoral process, and attempts to arrange power through artificial representation. Installing favored individuals on the seat of power, forming artificial-majority assemblies, and then getting laws of choice passed from these assemblies is a severe blow to the spirit of parliamentary democracy and an extremely dangerous trend for the state system.
They said that the practice of rendering the public mandate weightless, elections meaningless, and Parliament a mere rubber stamp is by no means in the interest of the country. Even today there is time to make the supremacy of the Constitution, the autonomy of Parliament, a transparent electoral process, and the sanctity of the public mandate the foundation of the state system instead of political expediency and power engineering.
They said that only the impartial implementation of the national covenant can pull the country out of the political quagmire, give the state a clear constitutional direction, and become the basis for restoring trust among all units of the federation.
