Dr Abdul Wahid Soomro (MNA Pakistan Peoples Party)

ISLAMABAD: President Asif Ali Zardari declared on Wednesday that any attempt to derail democracy would be foiled.

“We have achieved democracy after a long struggle and we know how to defend it,” he said at a joint press conference with Afghan President Hamid Karzai.

“The entire nation has contributed in restoration of democracy and there is no doubt that it will sustain,” he said in reply to a question regarding rumours about the future of the democratic set-up.

President Zardari said democracy was the only way to cope with the current crisis.

He said it was the beauty of democracy that the flood crisis had been handled by diverting floodwaters to unpopulated areas with the help of people’s representatives. Otherwise, no-one would have allowed to make breaches in embankments in their areas.

“Democracy has worked everywhere and is crucial. It is democracy which is holding the country even at the time of the worst catastrophe,” he said.

Amin Ahmed adds: In his message on the International Democracy Day observed on Wednesday, the president said he was confident that parliament, in keeping with democratic traditions, would ensure that the Constitution was not subverted by anyone.

“Our people may have endured spells of dictatorship due to coercion but they have neither accepted nor accorded legitimacy to dictatorship.

“They have not accepted any adventurer sabotaging the democratic process. That is why all Bonapartist and undemocratic adventures in Pakistan finally ended up as footnotes in history.”

President Zardari said the greatest threat to democracy was from extremists and militants who wanted to foist their political agenda on the people by bullet rather than ballot, and also from intolerance to dissent and disagreement.

“Despite sacrifices, democracy has yet to gain strength. For democracy to gain strength, we need to work in a spirit of harmony and reconciliation,” he added.
Sources