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Politics : Idea Of The Day -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: IQBAL LATIF who wrote (49957)	10/1/2006 4:53:09 AM
From: IQBAL LATIF	Respond to of 50167

IEW: Sovereign speaks —Mubashir Hasan I make and abrogate constitutions. I may do so in your name or I may make some of you do it in your name. I make laws. I hold elections and referendums. I do all these things at my pleasure, independently or through the bodies I get elected — and all for your good My subjects, I am pleased to speak to you. I am your Sovereign. I am a self-governing, self-sustaining and self-perpetuating Combine of State Power. I am one integrated whole, through laws, rules and regulations, comprising the military, the police, the prisons, the secret services and the tax collecting and bureaucratic appurtenances. I am the successor of Imperial Britain. I wield precisely the same powers that the Emperor of India wielded over you before independence. I am an unadulterated coercive power, motivated solely by a web of national and self-interests. I am supreme, answerable to none. I can do no wrong. What I say is right, what I do is right. Call me Pakistan if you like! I make and abrogate constitutions. I may do so in your name or I may make some of you do it in your name. I make laws. I hold elections and referendums. I do all these things at my pleasure, independently or through the bodies I get elected — and all for your good. I install the president as head of the state and prime minister as head of the government. I keep them in great pomp and splendour but I suspect them of tending to become too big for their boots. So I keep a close watch over them. I let you believe that president, prime minister, ministers and chief ministers rule over you. However, I have not conferred any executive authority on them just as the British Crown had not conferred any executive authority on the Governor-General in Council, Governors in Council or ministers. I can do without them, if I like. They are only titular heads. They can write on files that I present to them and say in public what they like and may even transfer officers, from one post to another but they lack the authority to sign a legally binding order. I find president, prime minister, chief ministers and their cabinets useful as they serve as a shield against the criticism and condemnation hurled against me. I remove them from their office when you reject them or if they intrigue against me. I may even arrest them, prosecute and execute them, expel them from the country or simply send them home. My subjects: loyalty to me is your basic duty. I am your need. I protect you from foreign invasions. If a foreign powers conquers my territory, it will loot your property, it will take away all the freedoms I have given you, you will become slaves once again. I am your need also to maintain law and order in my land. If I am not there you will fight civil wars and totally destroy yourself. I catch and punish thieves, dacoits and murderers among you. I maintain peace and give you security of life so that you can go to work, make a living and bring up you families. I have conferred upon you the right to acquire and own unlimited amount of wealth. I give you the security of your property. I assign police and magistrates to protect you and your property. I approve of people of wealth such as landlords, industrialists, big khans, sardars, traders and media barons, top lawyers and professionals and the politically inclined ulema. I also like wealthy political leaders. I know that they are a self-seeking and selfish lot and it is their wealth that makes them swear loyalty to me. I associate them in ruling over you. From them I choose prime ministers, chief ministers and ministers. I prefer that the members of the National and Provincial Assemblies and Senate, are also chosen from these classes. I take advantage of hurtful disagreements they nurse among themselves and I make the minority among them sit on the opposition benches. That is how I make my order work, which I proclaim as democracy. I keep a close vigil over the masses. There are mischief-makers among them and they can sway you by political and religious demagogy to rise against me. To maintain law and order, to keep the masses under control and to perform other policing and administrative functions I have bestowed all my executive authority on my officers at the district level and below just as the British Raj had done. I expect district officers to work independently without fear or favour as empowered by me under the laws. Some of them fall prey to temptations. In collusion with the politicos, senior officers and my rich subjects they misuse authority, fleece my poor subjects as well as my treasury and fill their pockets. I let them do so as a reward for admirably protecting me against the machinations of some political, religious and criminal elements. I give you full freedom, my subjects, to criticise me and to bring to my notice the violations of the law of the land. I appreciate the role played by the elite, intellectuals, and the media and by the major political parties in strengthening me. I appreciate the voices of dissent as long as they are peaceful. However, I shall come with a heavy hand on the growth of fissiparous tendencies in the polity. My loyal subjects should not forget that my primary duties are to ensure the security of my realm and the stability of my Raj. Dr Mubashir Hasan is a former finance minister dailytimes.com.pk\10\01\story_1-10-2006_pg3_5