The Hindu : National : “Next few months will be critical for Pakistan”

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Wednesday, Sep 26, 2007
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“Next few months will be critical for Pakistan”

Special Correspondent

Commonwealth Secretary-General Don McKinnon

NEW DELHI: The Commonwealth would continue to press for return of representative and civilian democracy in Pakistan, its Secretary-General Don McKinnon said on Tuesday at the Commonwealth Parliamentary Conference.

Elaborating on the fate of democracy in the member countries, he said Pakistan witnessed dramatic developments last week. In Islamabad, right in the thick of things, Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf assured him that “if re-elected, he will relinquish his role as Chief of the Army Staff before he is sworn in President.”

Of the view that the election — due for October 6 — would not be without controversy as it had been challenged in court, Mr. McKinnon said the next few months would be critical for Pakistan “where the democratic tradition has found it difficult to take root.”

Bangladesh issue

Another country from the sub-continent which found special mention in the Secretary-General’s address was Bangladesh.

Referring to the Commonwealth Parliamentary Association’s decision to place Bangladesh’s membership in abeyance, he said: “Although Bangladesh has not flouted its Constitution, the interim government is stretching the support and the confidence of the 140 million citizens of Bangladesh.”

These two cases — along with that of Fiji, which has been suspended from the councils of the Commonwealth in the wake of the military overthrow of a democratically elected regime — were cited by the Secretary-General along with numerous “good news stories about democracy” to show how democracy within this 53-nation grouping has been both “waxing and waning” over the past year.

Later, fielding questions from delegates, Mr. McKinnon lamented the state of affairs in Zimbabwe, which has walked out of the Commonwealth after being suspended from the grouping for not adhering to its basic tenets. “All those who engaged with Zimbabwe have failed. The Commonwealth has 53 nations and we cannot afford to put all our resources into one country.”

Dwelling on healthy democratic practices, he said: “A government can only be as good as its Opposition.”

Underlining the importance of an Opposition, he expressed concern over its role being supplanted by single-issue non-governmental organisations, civil society and professional or trade groups.

“We naturally welcome more people joining the political debate. But we have to ask whether they are doing so in order to fill a vacuum left by the many restrictive measures on parliamentarians that have been imposed in some cases by governments, executives, even judiciaries,” he said.

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