The Pakistan Peoples Party since its inception has struggled for the establishment of a democratic polity and the creation and protection of democratic institutions, the supremacy of the Constitution, the rule of law and the independence of the judiciary. The Party has remained in the forefront in the struggle against dictatorship and any change from the present federal parliamentary structure of the Constitution.
The Peoples Government conscious of the concern of the people of Pakistan to the issue of public accountability, besides allowing the press full freedom to agitate and report issues of public concern, firstly placed before the public a list of major loan defaulters and subsequently introduced its Accountability Bill in Parliament for removing the constitutional immunity of the President, Prime Minister, Governors and other high constitutional and government functionaries Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto offered herself for accountability under the Bill. It perhaps not unrelated that within weeks of producing the list of defaulters and the presentation of the Accountability Bill the Peoples Government was removed from office.
A. SOME MAJOR LEGISLATIVE ACHIEVEMENTS 1993-96
During its tenure of office from October, 1993 to November 1996, the Peoples Government pursuant to its economic, social and welfare commitments to the people of Pakistan started a legislative programme which attacked a number of fundamental problems facing
society. The Peoples Government also fully implemented the March 20 Supreme Court
judgment. Some of the major pieces of legislation were:
The State Bank of Pakistan (Amendment) Act, 1994 which gave greater autonomy to the State Bank of Pakistan;
The Dangerous Drugs (Amendment) Act, 1994 which made drug laws more stringent and introduced the death penalty for serious drug offences;
The Code of Criminal Procedure (Second Amendment) Act, 1994 which gave greater protection to women accused of crimes from coercive police actions;
The Islamabad Consumers Protection Act, 1995 which for the first time in Pakistan provided a law to protect consumers;
The Abolition of the Punishment of Whipping Act, 1996 which outlawed all punishments of whipping except in cases covered under Islamic law;
The West Pakistan Family Courts (Amendment) Act, 1994 and the Family Courts (Amendment) Act, 1996 which provided speedier justice to women in family matters;
The Special Courts for Speedy Trial (Repeal) Act, 1996 which finally did away with courts providing "martial law" justice.
The Women in Distress or Detention Fund Act, 1996 which for the first time provided funds and legal aid to women in distress or under arrest;
Environmental protection Act, 1996 which established the
Environment Protection Agency and provided for setting and monitoring environmental
standards.
In all 45 Acts were passed in addition to three Finance Acts during the Peoples Government tenure.
SEPARATION OF THE EXECUTIVE AND THE JUDICIARY
The Law Reforms Ordinance, 1996 which
implemented Article 175 of the Constitution and finally separated of the judiciary fro the executive. The said Ordinance was promulgated on 27th of March 1996 and passed by the National Assembly of Pakistan within two weeks. The said Ordinance is presently awaiting approval from the Senate.
CONSTITUTIONAL REFORMS
The first bill to be moved in the National Assembly of Pakistan by the Peoples Government was the Constitution (13th Amendment) Bill 1994 which sorught to restore women seats in the National Assembly and also provided special seats for women in the Senate of Pakistan. The said Bill could not be enacted as the PML-N opposition refused to support the same and the thus the required a 2/3rd majority was not available.
The Peoples Government maintained its principled stand on the 8th Amendment. As in the case of the Constitution (13th Amendment) Bill there was no support for the repeal of the 8th Amendment from
PML-N.
B. MAJOR LEGISLATIVE AGENDA 1997-2002
The Peoples Government will take steps to:
Repeal the 8th Amendment;
Restore womens reserved seats and provide for reserved seats for women in the Senate;
Appoint an independent Election Commissioner with participation of the opposition;
Ensure across board accountability with Parliament as the fountainhead;
Increase in the number of national and provincial assembly seats;
Provide for census under the supervision of the judiciary;
Provide for a certain percentage of seats in the national and provincial assemblies on proportional representation basis;
A four year term for the President, Prime Minister and Parliament and five year term for Senators;
Judicial reform for quick justice including allocation of sufficient funds from court fees to ensure adequate funding for the judiciary;
The Peoples Government also pledges itself to carry out wide-ranging electoral form to ensure fair and transparent elections and also introduce a
new local bodies law with core subjects for local government; this law will provide strict curbs on non-development expenditure.
HUMAN RIGHTS
Protection of human rights continued to be high on the Peoples Government Agenda. To monitor the human rights situation in the country a Human Rights Cell was established in the Federal Government to monitor human rights, to ensure arrests and prosecution of the human offenders and to provide relief and redress to victims.
Realizing the magnitude of the problems especially in regard to child and bonded labour, domestic violence, sex discrimination and abuses by law enforcing agencies the Peoples Government of Pakistan converted the Human Rights Cell in separate Ministry of Human Rights. Pakistan is perhaps be one of the few countries in the world , if not the only, to have a separate Ministry of Human Rights.
In addition a Tribunal headed by a former Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Pakistan was established as an independent body for Disadvantaged Persons.
VIP CULTURE
As a party of the people the Peoples Party abhors both the concept and practice of "VIP culture". The people should however, realise that the greatest exhibition of VIP culture is the use and exercise of the power of the state without accountability to the people. The Caretakers are the greatest exponents of this culture and are enjoying the benefits and salaries paid for by the citizens of Pakistan. They are, however, in no way accountable to the people. The Pakistan Peoples Party believes that the establishment and enforcement of democratic traditions where the President, Governors, Prime Minister and Ministers, Parliamentarians, Judges and other high officials are accountable to the people through free and fair elections or the application of laws to them in an equal manner, offers the best way of dealing with the problem. Cosmetic tinkering as done by the Caretakers will not in any way end real "VIP Culture".
The Peoples Government vows to take steps to ensure that VIP behaviour is suppressed. The conspicuous elements of this culture and behaviour will be curtailed.
