A view on Jamaat-e-Islami’s referendum on the Kerry-Lugar Bill
PML-Q backs JI in ‘referendum’
ISLAMABAD: The PML-Q extended support to the Jamaat-e-Islami (JI) in a “referendum” the latter held against the Kerry-Lugar legislation. PML-Q leaders Kamil Ali Aga and Marvi Memon also voted against the US legislation at a JI “polling station” in Sector I-10/1. Talking to Daily Times, Aga said the PML-Q president had asked them to express solidarity with the JI in its efforts to gather public support against the US assistance package. To a question, he said, “We are against this legislation. We will join hands with parties who will take to streets against it.” To a question about the party’s tilt towards extreme right parties, Aga said, “The Kerry-Lugar law is a national issue and we will join hands with all parties which oppose it.” irfan ghauri (Daily Times)
98 pc reject KLL in JI referendum | |||||
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Sunday, October 25, 2009 By By Our Correspondent |
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LAHORE
JAMAAT-e-Islami Ameer Syed Munawwar Hasan on Saturday said that over 98 percent people, who participated in the JI referendum on the Kerry-Lugar Law, rejected the document and the increasing US interference in the country’s affairs. Announcing the result of referendum at a press conference, the JI leader said 21,979,287 people participated in the referendum and 21,761,691 voted against the KLL whereas 1,337,943 supported it and 79,653 votes were rejected. He said as many as 13,264,718 votes were cast in Punjab of which 13,158,394 rejected the KLL, 4,416,262 votes were cast in Sindh and 4,381,274 rejected the law, 2,941,040 votes were cast in the NWFP of which 2,924,100 rejected the US aid law and in Balochistan, 310,646 votes were cast out of which 296,484 rejected the KLL. He said the KLL was a treaty of surrender and a cause of humiliation for the entire nation. He appreciated the spirit shown by the masses in rejecting the US aid. Munawwar demanded the government to present a balance sheet on the terrorism prior to the start of the military operation to indicate if the menace was reduced or increased. Meanwhile, Jamaat–e-Islami Secretary General Liaqat Baloch has said that the United Nations has failed in implementing its charter and it has ruined its position because of unilateral decisions on the dictation of big powers. In a statement issued in connection with the United Nations Day on Saturday, he said the UN was set up to promote ties among different countries and for resolving disputes among states on an impartial basis. He said, the whole world was witnessing the atrocities of Israel in Palestine, the Indian occupation of Kashmir and the US aggression in Iraq and Afghanistan. He said Muslims’ were being killed in various parts of the world while the UN was just a silent spectator. (The News)
Some ‘referendum’ thoughts The Jama’at-e Islami, which had boycotted the 2008 general election in the country, on Friday put the nation through its own “referendum” on the acceptance or non-acceptance of the Kerry-Lugar legislation. Although it scores modestly in normal polls, it had the satisfaction of polling nearly a hundred percent votes in favour of its rejection of the American aid. According to reports, JI distributed 4 million ballot papers in 5,000 polling stations across the country. In Lahore, JI chief Syed Munawwar Hasan likened the American enabling law to a “document of surrender” and named Asif Zardari and Altaf Hussain as culprits who had “swum out of the ocean of corruption”. The city of Lahore, whose real leader Mr Nawaz Sharif had already announced himself “not convinced” on the Kerry-Lugar law, saw everyone lunging for the ballot box to vote “namanzoor”. This is not the first time. The JI had reached for the referendum device on the possible signing of the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty (CTBT) in the 1990s to “test” the waters of its popularity. The result was ditto because everyone and his uncle thought that Pakistan should test and declare the nation a nuclear power. This time too the JI has been “passed” as the most popular party in the country on an issue on which the media had brainwashed the population beforehand. Referendums can be held under the Constitution but that is done through a majority in parliament, not by any extra-parliamentary opposition. Strangely, wherever referendums have been held, they have proved less politically desirable than elections. In fact, in the recent history of the European Union, referendums have yielded results damaging to the collective advantage of what can be called history’s most meaningful confederation aspiring to a federal decision-making process. The visionary mind in Europe regrets that the people have been roped in to express emotion over something that is intellectually and politically unassailable. What happened after JI came out with flying colours over its referendum on the CTBT? The country “tested” in 1998 and immediately went bankrupt. The government that had thought the test would make its rule permanent was abandoned by the people when it went out asking for their savings to replace the funds affected by anti-test sanctions. Its act of “patriotically” freezing the dollar accounts of the people was never forgiven. JI should have apologised for holding the “test” referendum, but it didn’t, because someone else fell from power in 1999. In Pakistan, referendums don’t have a good reputation. Their results were claimed to be genuine soundings of the popular mind but in practice they were rejected by the very electorate on which the rulers had based their case. Strangely, referendums always yield “hundred percent” results in favour of the authority that stages them. General Zia-ul Haq thought he had almost a hundred percent people saying he should continue his martial rule. General Musharraf polled so heavily that he was apologetic about it later on. One “referendummed” general was killed; the other has escaped being killed under Article 6 for treason by leaving Pakistan. Jurisprudence against referendums is accumulating in measure with the frequency with which JI is staging them on the basis of its cadre strength. The European Union is discovering how the politicians cover their tracks by leaning on these “knee-jerk” popular reflexes and damaging democracy in the process. The United Kingdom, which shuns the device, has become the new beacon. If the EU needs any negative evidence, it should refer to the tradition of referendums in Pakistan where the “staging” dictators have suffered and the “staging” opposition has simply ended up damaging the “nationalist interest” of the country. The most important sense in which referendums offend against democracy is their “supersession” of the mandated general election in the country. They hint at mid-term change of government and thus undermine the normal five-year mandate handed down by the Constitution. Reference to a single issue in the referendum also negates the “indirect” nature of democratic governance enshrined in the Constitution. * (Editorial, Daily Times) Letters to the editor:
‘اے بسا آرزو کہ خاک شدہ۔۔۔’عبدالحئی کاکڑ | 2009-10-26 ،11:38 جماعت اسلامی کی جانب سے کیری لوگر بل پر ‘صاف و شفاف’ ریفرنڈم کے انعقاد پر پارٹی کے سربراہ منور حسن صاحب کو دل کی گہرائیوں سے مبارک باد دینے کو دل چاہتا ہے۔ عوام اور سیاستدانوں پر ہمیشہ شک کرنے والی پاکستانی فوج کے ساتھ یکجہتی کا اس سے بڑا ثبوت اور کیا ہو سکتا ہے۔ اِدھر کور کمانڈروں نے اجلاس کے بعد محض چند جملوں کا پالیسی بیان جاری کیا اُدھر مسلم لیگ نواز سمیت کئی جماعتوں نےاس پر لبیک کہا۔ بہرحال سب سے زیادہ وفادری کا کریڈٹ جماعت اسلامی کو ہی جاتا ہے جس نے دن رات ایک کر کے اس ایشو پر بقولِ شخصے انجینئرڈ ریفرنڈم کروایا۔ شفافیت کا اندازہ اس بات سے لگایا جا سکتا ہے کہ چیف الیکشن کمشنر غالباً منور حسن صاحب تھے اور پولنگ ایجنٹس جماعت اسلامی کے ہی مقامی رہنماء تھے۔ ووٹوں کی گنتی بھی جماعت اسلامی کے منظم ذمہ داروں کے مبارک اور مقدس ہاتھوں سے کچھ اس طرح انجام پائی کہ دوسرے ہاتھ کو خبر تک نہیں ہوئی۔ ریفرنڈم میں اٹھاونوے فیصد افراد کا کیری لوگر بِل کے خلاف ووٹ دینے سے نہ صرف فوج کی منشاء پوری اور ساکھ بہتر ہوئی بلکہ اس سے جماعت اسلامی کا سیاسی موقف بھی ‘برحق فوج’ ثابت ہوا۔ کیری لوگر بل پر ریفرنڈم اعداد وشمار کے لحاظ سے جنرل ریٹائرڈ پرویز مشرف اور ایشو کے حوالے سے جنرل ضیاءالحق کے ساتھ مماثلت رکھتا ہے۔ لیکن کیا ہی اچھا ہوتا کہ جماعت اسلامی خودکش حملوں کے حلال یا حرام ہونے، مساجد میں بم دھماکوں، طالبان کو ‘دہشت گرد’ یا ‘مجاہد’ قرار دینے، چینی اور دیگر روزمرہ اشیاء کی عدم دستیابی اور بڑھتی ہوئی قیمتوں پر کوئی ریفرنڈم کرواتی، لیکن اے بسا آرزو کہ خاک شدہ۔۔۔ Munno Bhai: Asadullah Ghalib: |
The article “Some ‘referendum’ thoughts”
Quote:
“This time too the JI has been “passed” as the most popular party in the country on an issue on which the media had brainwashed the population beforehand.”
Comment:
Referendum was to collect public opinion on a national political issue and not to measure the strength of the political party conducting it.
Quote:
“What happened after JI came out with flying colours over its referendum on the CTBT? The country “tested” in 1998 and immediately went bankrupt.”
Comment:
Excuse me, referendum results are just public opinion and not legal binding. Decision about CTBT was taken by the government through a legal process.
Quote:
“The government that had thought the test would make its rule permanent was abandoned by the people when it went out asking for their savings to replace the funds affected by anti-test sanctions. Its act of “patriotically” freezing the dollar accounts of the people was never forgiven. JI should have apologised for holding the “test” referendum, but it didn’t, because someone else fell from power in 1999.”
Comment:
Actually the nuclear test was a milestone achievement in Pakistan's history and the govt did gain public applause for it and responded with open heart to “Qarz Utaro Mulk Sawaro”. Everyone accepted the sactions as the cost of achieving nuclear capability.
Nawaz Sharif's govt. went down for corruption and not for bringing about sanctions. People abandoned his govt when people saw that not only the remaining govt. fund including “Qarz Utaro Mulk Sawaro” fund in which poor people contributed their saving for the country's sake was misused for personal luxury.