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Purging the System
During the 4th Annual General Meeting of the Thinkers Forum of Pakistan (www.thinkersforumpakistan.org), while discussing the present sad state of governance in the country the forum arrived at the conclusion that unless the system is changed mere change of faces won’t do any good to the country. There is no chance for anyone from the middle or lower middle classes to be elected in any election as long as the moneyed class – whether from amongst the feudals or the industrialists exited. It is only they who would be returned to the power again and again and they will only take care of themselves rather than that of the masses. Hence it was imperative to get rid of the feudal system for bringing in any worthwhile change in the country. Mr. Akram Zaki – ex Foreign Secretary – opined that to expect the legislators to enact a bill to deprive themselves of their land holdings is asking for the impossible. Any other course of action would be undemocratic. According to him that left only one option and that is a sou moto action by the Chief Justice of Pakistan. On taking over the reigns of the government from the East India Company the British Raj took away all jagirs from the Subedars, Ta’aluqdars, Punj and Haft Hazaris etc. of the time. Why can’t the present Supreme Court reinstate and restore all jagirs bestowed by the British upon the feudals and jagirdars back to the Islamic Republic of Pakistan with effect from and as on 14 August 1947? That will end the feudal system in the country and with it a big scourge that doesn’t let the true democracy take its roots in Pakistan.
Is there any legal lacunae preventing doing so?
Col. Riaz Jafri (Retd)
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