Take a leaf from Pak to save our democracy

The recent murderous attack on the former prime minister of Pakistan, Imran Khan at Wazirabad while he was leading a rally demanding early general elections, is quite a serious matter. The incident in which a person succumbed to the bullet injury and about a dozen and a half people suffered injuries including some serious ones, not only needs to be condemned universally but also deserves a serious introspection by all the right-thinking people.

Though it is true that in Pakistan democracy is just a tag to get legitimacy of goonda rule by whatever name you may call it, hardly any serious attempt seems to have been made since its creation in 1947 to justify the description 'democracy'. Regime after regime have competed with each other to overdo in massacring the spirit of democracy during their rule.

While the dissent is an essential element of true democracy, it is also necessary that expression of such dissent remains within a civilized limit. Dishonouring the judicial orders, inciting people to take law in their hands and disparaging the lawfully elected government cannot be tolerated by any administration however liberal it may be. But in Pakistan the trust deficit has been so huge and perhaps rightly so, that everyone in the position of power even doubts his own shadow. The history vouchsafes that menials in the military uniform shamelessly indulge in the criminal acts of violating the provisions of Constitution.

The political leadership of Pakistan has yet to mature enough to understand the difference between the politics of wire pulling and statesmanship. It is exactly due to such a myopic view of political leadership which has till today continued the blood trail in Pakistan. In any country, whether a democratic one or not whenever the political leadership becomes shortsighted, the leadership of the party suffers heavily. The loss of credibility of political leadership ultimately results into the loss of credibility of the party as a whole. And if the concerned party is a major opposition the chain of events would be disastrous.

In short, to be worthy of real democracy, the political parties have to be of a national outlook and their leaders' visionaries. Then only the amicable understanding of mutual respect between the parties will prevail. To achieve this, it is needless to say that the political leadership will have to rise above petty considerations such as religion, caste, language, region etc.

Hope, India's political leaders too, are watching with great interest the latest developments in Pakistan from this perspective. Needless to say, that democracy in a country will be 'safe' so long as its political parties behave 'responsibly' and respectfully.

SC UPHOLDS DEATH FOR RED FORT ATTACKER

A three-judge bench of the Supreme Court led by the CJI U U Lalit, upheld the death sentence awarded to LeT terrorist Mohd Arif, in the Red Fort attack case, observing that the aggravating circumstances of attacking the unity, integrity and sovereignty of the country completely outweigh the factors which may even remotely be considered as mitigating circumstances.

The bench also comprising Justice S Ravindra Bhat and Justice Bela M Trivedi which had earlier dismissed the Review petition of the condemned prisoner agreed to hear the second Review petition on the bench after a ruling by the Constitution bench that a Review petition by the petitioner sentenced to death should be heard on the bench and not in the chamber.

SC HOLDS STATE RESPONSIBLE FOR THE BREAK DOWN OF LAW AND ORDER DURING 1992-93 BOMBAY RIOTS

For the riots that ensued after the demolition of Babri structure , almost 30 years back, the Supreme Court on November 4 categorically held the State government responsible for the breakdown of law and order and issued a slew of directions for payment of compensation to the families of victims and revival of long pending criminal cases.

Holding the State government responsible for maintaining the law and order the apex court also held it accountable for its failure to protect the rights of the people under Article 21 of the Constitution of India. The verdict was delivered by a three-Judge bench comprising Justice Sanjay Kishan Kaul, Justice Abhay S. Oka and Justice Vikram Nath while disposing of a Writ Petition filed by one Shakeel Ahmed in 2001.

BOMBAY HC TO GET NEW BUILDING SOON

On November 5, the chief minister of Maharashtra said that all legal issues have been sorted out and the Bombay High Court will soon get a new building at Bandra in Bandra Kurla Complex.

Speaking on the occasion, Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis said that the soon to retire Chief Justice of India, U U Lalit will be felicitated.

ALLAHABAD HC CALLS FOR PROPOSED PREVENTIVE MEASURES TO TACKLE DENGUE

The Lucknow bench of the Allahabad High Court has sought details of the proposed measures to contain the disease of dengue in Lucknow city.

The high court has also asked the Lucknow Nagar Nigam to submit a sworn affidavit by its Commissioner indicating the steps to stop the growth of mosquitoes and for ensuring sanitation in general in the city. Justice Devendra Kumar Upadhyay and Justice Saurabh Srivatsava issued these orders in a PIL.