Why do we have to take two steps backwards whenever we take one step forward?
I can’t believe that the returning officers are asking such ridiculous questions based on a vague law, Article 62/63 introduced by an extremist. Not only that, but they are even DISQUALIFYING people who can’t answear properly.
In reality this law is being used for personal likes and dislikes. And how unfortunate that PPP government, which is considered a liberal party, didn’t try to annul this law.
Re: Questions from returning officers are a joke to election processs l
As far as I remember, such questions have been asked before, only that this time we hear that on TV. Yes, they are stupid and idiotic.
Re: Questions from returning officers are a joke to election processs l
I totally agree with you. Totally useless questions by the ROs. Perhaps PPP, ANP and MQM were afraid of the public backlash in case they tried to amend the articles. But the way things are, somebody will have to do the tough job and take strong decisions otherwise we are heading towards a soft coup by the fundamentalists.
Re: Questions from returning officers are a joke to election processs l
What kind of questions?
Re: Questions from returning officers are a joke to election processs l
So I assume election commission, out sourced the process to local courts ?
And they are asking for bribes and asking stupid questions ??
Re: Questions from returning officers are a joke to election processs l
They have apparently taken a cue from the ECP and the SC for ruthless scrutiny of applicants. But I don't understand if the question like inquring about total number of wives has any relevance to the electoral process.
Re: Questions from returning officers are a joke to election processs l
What kind of questions?
like 14 points of Quaid-e-Azam. I used to know them by heart during my school days but can't remember most of them now
Re: Questions from returning officers are a joke to election processs l
They asked Aslam Madhyana what would you do in the National Assembly? The guy said "I would do what others do" :D
They also warned husband of a woman applicant that your house would be ruined if your wife was elected as she won't have time for your kids and home.
Re: Questions from returning officers are a joke to election processs l
On the second thought, the government probably did not do it because it was afraid of backlash from violent extremist religious section of population.
We know what happened to the governor who showed his reservations against similarly vague blasphemy law. And after that Raja Rental went berserk and banned the whole youtube website due to a third class Christian extremist's third class movie.
So may be no one would ever have courage to say anything against Zia's laws.
How unfortunate that even after going forward decades, we are still under the shadow of that man's 11 years of rule.
Re: Questions from returning officers are a joke to election processs l
What kind of questions?
I read the details of two cases so far.
In one, a candidate was asked how many rakaats are in Maghrib namaaz. He hesistated too long in answering and was disqualified by the RO for failing do demonstrate being a practising muslim.
The journalist Ayaz Amir had his papers rejected by the RO on the basis of his editorial articles allegedly encouraging the drinking of alcohol.
Re: Questions from returning officers are a joke to election processs l
Candidates in Pakistan Vote Face Oddball Questions - ABC News
By SEBASTIAN ABBOT Associated Press
ISLAMABAD April 5, 2013 (AP)
Aslam Khan Khattak passed his first — and perhaps most curious — test this week in his quest to become a member of Pakistan’s parliament: He correctly named the first person to walk on the moon.
The question was posed to Khattak by Pakistani judges, who have provoked both laughter and criticism in recent days in their vetting of potential candidates in the country’s upcoming national elections with queries that have veered between the controversial and the bizarre.
One candidate was prodded to spell the word graduation. Another was quizzed on the lyrics of the national anthem. A third was asked how she would manage to serve as a lawmaker with two young children at home.
Many candidates were forced to recite Islamic prayers to prove they were devout Muslims, and one — a prominent journalist — was disqualified because one of his newspaper columns was deemed to have ridiculed Pakistan’s ideology.
“The manner in which the exercise of screening election candidates is being conducted cannot even be termed as childis,” Pakistan’s Dawn newspaper said in an editorial Friday. “It is far worse.”
The source of the problem, according to critics, is a pair of articles in Pakistan’s constitution — 62 and 63 — introduced in the 1980s by former military dictator Gen. Zia ul-Haq that govern who is eligible to serve in parliament.
Pakistan Election.JPEG
AP
A Pakistani youth walks out his family’s tent… View Full Caption
The former dictator sought to intensify the religious nature of the majority Muslim country, and article 62 stipulates a lawmaker “has adequate knowledge of Islamic teachings and practices obligatory duties prescribed by Islam.” It also mandates a candidate must be honest and has not “worked against the integrity of the country or opposed the ideology of Pakistan.”
Although the articles have been in the constitution for years, they haven’t played a significant role in past elections. But the Supreme Court has pressed judges vetting thousands of candidates to enforce the law more strictly in the run-up to the May 11 parliamentary election in an attempt to weed out corrupt politicians and those who may have broken basic laws, such as not paying their taxes, a common abuse in Pakistan.
The election will mark the first transition between democratically-elected governments in the 65-year history of Pakistan, a country that has experienced three military coups and constant political instability.
Former military dictator Gen. Pervez Musharraf returned to Pakistan recently to contest the election in four different constituencies, which is allowed in the country. But his nomination papers were rejected in one constituency in central Punjab province Friday because he did not meet the criteria in articles 62 and 63, said lawyer Javed Kasuri, who filed a complaint against Musharraf.
Weeding out corrupt lawmakers is widely supported in Pakistan, where public graft is alleged to be rampant. But the decision by some judges to make candidates recite verses from Islam’s holy book, the Quran, to prove they are good Muslims has sparked outrage.
Officials “don’t have the right to determine who is a good Muslim and who is a bad Muslim, and they must not reject nomination papers just because someone could not recite verses from the Quran,” said Asma Jehangir, one of Pakistan’s top human rights activists.
She said the people of Pakistan should have the right to decide the fate of these candidates themselves.
The decision of a judge in Punjab on Thursday to reject the nomination papers of Ayaz Amir, a prominent journalist and national lawmaker, also generated significant controversy.
Amir said the judge told him that an article he wrote about famous newspaper columnist Ardeshir Cowasjee after the man’s death last year ridiculed Pakistan’s ideology — a hotly debated subject in a country that has many competing storylines. The judge did not mention what was specifically wrong with the article, which discussed Amir’s friendship with Cowasjee.
“It was a case of illiteracy. The judge didn’t understand what I wrote in English,” said Amir, who plans to appeal the ruling. “Nothing was against the ideology of Pakistan.”
Amir wrote in the newspaper The News on Friday that the government should repeal articles 62 and 63 because they give too much power to religious leaders in the country. Politicians have been hesitant to act for fear of appearing un-Islamic.
“Every society has its share of outright fools, holding forth as if they have a direct line to heaven, but few societies give fools such a free rein as we seem to do,” wrote Amir.
Ishtiaq Ahmad Khan, the secretary of Pakistan’s election commission, said the problem was that the judges are dealing with subjective issues that need to be standardized, likely by the Supreme Court.
Pakistan Election.JPEG
AP
Pakistani vendors fix posters of candidates… View Full Caption
“All these things need to be debated very seriously,” said Khan. “These are very serious issues that have implications for the democratic process.”
The election commission stirred a bit of controversy itself when it forwarded a proposal to the government this week to add to the ballot the choice of “none of the above” — admittedly one that many Pakistanis might support given their low opinion of the country’s politicians. Khan, the election commission secretary, said the organization was just following the Supreme Court’s order.
Some of the questions asked by the judges clearly seemed to fall outside the purview of determining a candidate’s eligibility according to the law, prompting The Express Tribune newspaper to say the process had taken “a turn for the weird.”
Zahid Iqbal, a candidate from the Sunni Tehreek party in the southern city of Karachi, was asked for the correct abbreviation of a bachelor of law degree and the spelling of the word graduation, said the party’s spokesman, Fahim Sheikh. Iqbal failed on both counts, and the judge is expected to decide his fate Friday, said Sheikh.
Former Punjab provincial lawmaker Shamshad Gohar said a judge asked her how many children she had.
“When I said I have two children, aged seven and 11, he said, ‘Your children are too young and how will you manage to look after them after becoming a lawmaker,’” said Gohar, who assured the judge she could handle it.
Perhaps the strangest question was put to Khattak in Karachi, who was asked to name the first person to step on the moon. When Khattak said it was Neil Armstrong, the judge quickly asked who next stepped on the moon. Khattak said it was also Armstrong since he was not disabled and had use of both of his legs.
Re: Questions from returning officers are a joke to election processs l
LHC has barred Returning Officers from asking irrelevant questions.
LHC bars Returning Officers from asking irrelevant questions | AAJ News
Re: Questions from returning officers are a joke to election processs l
Unfortunately SHC, KPHC, and BHC have still not barred them from asking irrelevant questions.
All this happened because supreme court asked ROs to start implementing that vague law which is totally subjective. Now it should be supreme court itself to stop them.
http://dawn.com/2013/04/05/whos-sadiq-and-ameen/
`Who’s Sadiq and Ameen?
Re: Questions from returning officers are a joke to election processs l
A typical Pakistani. “jaao bibi ghar jaao, bachhay paalo”.
In addition, election officials have also taken the opportunity to embarrass female candidates – one candidate, Tayyaba Sohail Cheema, was asked to show her face to everyone because she “seemed so much younger” than her actual age. Another candidate’s husband was told how his family life will be ruined because of his wife’s involvement in politics.
Re: Questions from returning officers are a joke to election processs l
Scrutiny should focus on a candidate's:
They should not judge people on their religious practices, whether one prays or fasts or drinks etc. These things are very subjective and should best be left to God
Re: Questions from returning officers are a joke to election processs l
Scrutiny should focus on a candidate's:
Sorry, but educational background, specially in a country like Pakistan, has nothing to do with a person's capability.
These Returning Officers are serving judges of our courts, at times deciding cases that determine life and death of people. I rest my case.
Re: Questions from returning officers are a joke to election processs l
so you're ok with angootha chaap like Raja Riaz, Aapa Firdous etc. as assembly members!!! I rest my case as well. not saying that one needs to have a masters or a Ph.D (even in western societies, the cream of students does not go into politics!) but basic education is a must, a graduation from an accredited institute. Is that asking too much of people who will be law-makers?
Re: Questions from returning officers are a joke to election processs l
Even if my lord send angels from above , they wont be qualifiying for this 62/63 yoke :D
Re: Questions from returning officers are a joke to election processs l
Sorry, but educational background, specially in a country like Pakistan, has nothing to do with a person's capability.
These Returning Officers are serving judges of our courts, at times deciding cases that determine life and death of people. I rest my case.
Do you mean that since most Pakistanis are Angootha Chaap, people who could not read or write, have never read a single book in life because they are incapable, think that their duty is only to put thumb impression on enacted laws and documents given to them by bureaucrats without even thinking or reading, as they are incapable of this exercise ... should play with future of Pakistan and Pakistani Nation?
Kahtay hain kay, andha bhie apna leader kam-say-kam aik-ankh walay, yani Kanay ko banata hay, but some retarded Pakistanis want angotha chaap illiterate Jahils to rule Pakistan.
Actually, those who say that Pakistan should be ruled by Angothaa chaap illiterate Jahils since most Pakistanis are Jahil ... they In my opinion are mentally retarded or are shrewd, corrupt and dishonest thugs. These corrupt thugs who themselves may be little educated as party leaders or have influence in party, want to see Jahil-jut retarded army of monkeys as parliamentarians, so that these people can rule and control these monkeys ... just like herd-man controls sheep ... so that these corrupt thugs can throw bananas to parliamentarian monkeys and themselves loot, plunder and abuse power in country unchecked.
Re: Questions from returning officers are a joke to election processs l
so you're ok with angootha chaap like Raja Riaz, Aapa Firdous etc. as assembly members!!! I rest my case as well
The countries with more than 90% literacy rate do not have any educational qualification requirements for members of parliament. The mentality of these 'learned' judges (Returning Officers) reflect our society and they are supposed to be highly educated (in Pakistani context).
If there are people like Raja Riaz are bad examples of uneducated politicians, we've had Oxford educated mega corrupt Prime Minister too. There is no correlation between education and political competency or between education and corruption. There is no need to take away the right of a vast majority of our population to work as representatives of people.
It should be up to the people to elect who they think represent them the best. If you believe that illiterate people are necessarily criminal and corrupt too, that's a bit unfair to a huge population of Pakistan.