Hereditary, authoritarian democracy has inflicted deep wounds on the nation, says PAT Secretary General
We have even carried the blood-soaked bodies of our workers in the struggle for systemic change.
The political parties the Interior Minister is urging to unite are themselves the beneficiaries of the existing system.
The establishment of new provinces on administrative grounds is essential to break the concentration of power and resources.
Secretary General of Pakistan Awami Tehreek (PAT), Khurram Nawaz Gandapur, has stated that Shaykh-ul-Islam Dr. Muhammad Tahir-ul-Qadri had presented a comprehensive plan in 2013 and 2014 to free Pakistan from the current exploitative system. He emphasized that creating new provinces on an administrative basis is essential to dismantle the concentration of power and resources.
He said that PAT workers have paid a heavy price in the struggle for systemic reform, adding that they have even carried the blood-stained bodies of their fellow activists. Dr. Tahir-ul-Qadri had proposed granting provincial status to every division of the country.
Gandapur further remarked that the very political parties the Interior Minister is calling upon to sit together for reforms are the custodians and principal beneficiaries of the existing, outdated system. According to him, these parties will never willingly allow any meaningful change that could disrupt the status quo or the entrenched system of exploitation.
He stressed that if the objective is genuine systemic reform, it must be pursued through the same constitutional mechanisms by which governments are changed and amendments to the Constitution are enacted.
The PAT leader also noted that Dr. Tahir-ul-Qadri had proposed the establishment of High Court benches at the district level to ensure swift and accessible justice. In addition, he had advocated for an effective local government system to resolve citizens' problems at their doorstep.
Khurram Nawaz Gandapur said that the status quo parties currently in power have obstructed every attempt at systemic reform in the past and are likely to continue doing so in the future. "These are not people who will agree to meaningful reforms easily," he said.
He concluded that if public confidence in the state and democracy is to be strengthened, Pakistan must adopt a system of proportional representation.
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