Constitutional Proposals
The military regime last Wednesday solicited public opinion for the first batch of 29 constitutional amendments proposed by the National Reconstruction Bureau (NRB) to improve the performance of political and democratic institutions of the country. The National Security Council (NSC) and the Federal Cabinet will meet after a month to finalize the amendments in the light of suggestions received.
Nobody should have any problems with (1) reducing the term of the National Assembly (NA) and the Senate from five and six years respectively to four (2) increasing the existing 207 NA muslim seats to 357 and (3) reducing the voting age from 21 years to 18 years. It is better for the Assemblies to finish their natural terms (even though reduced) rather than having them artificially shortened by arbitrary authority. The population growth necessitated the increase in seats and the precocious nature of modern youth the decrease in age. The Provinces should be happy with the relative increases in seats, both in the NA and the Provincial Assemblies.
A Day of Reckoning
In his speech on Oct 17, 1999 the Chief Executive (CE), Gen Pervez Musharraf set one month’s deadline for loan defaulters and tax evaders to make good their commitments. Thereafter he set in motion the process of selection of like-minded people with credibility who would help him give good governance to the country while setting a workable system in place and bringing the recalcitrants to book. The one-month deadline expires on Nov 16, 1999 and given the General’s priorities, for those who do not heed the warning, Nov 17 should rank as a “day of reckoning”, or so the masses expect.
The big defaulters have already been identified, mainly in the industrial as well as in the agriculture sectors. In many cases loan default and tax evasion coincide. To make a list may not be as hard as one can imagine, however, to make a sort of a “rogue’s gallery” with cast iron evidence that will stand the scrutiny of the process of law, given the various loopholes present and the largesse available to hire the services of good lawyers, may be more difficult. The deadline has raised inordinate hopes and aspirations of the majority of the people of Pakistan, there are certainly motivated forces at work who will attempt to derail this process on one pretext or the other. On the other hand, having suffered for over five decades at the hands of the so-called elite, the masses are hungry for blood and Nov 17 has become a psychological landmark in the public expectations that is becoming scary with regard to possible consequences on either side.