Former Pakistan Peoples Party Senator Farhatullah Babar has said that political parties in Pakistan were not internally democratic and were unable to take democratic decisions independently.
A report in Dawn quoted Farhatullah Babar as saying that the recent passing of the Pakistan Army (Amendment) Act 2020 served as a litmus test for the political parties.
He stated that PPP’s central executive committee (CEC) had rejected the bill and recommended four amendments. However, he added, these amendments were withdrawn within 24 hours without taking the committee into confidence.
Babar lamented the fact how the party leadership had taken a ‘unilateral’ decision to withdraw the amendments which desired to make the parliament supreme and empower the executive not only to grant extension to the army chief but also dismiss him.
Babar further questioned if parties had become subservient to party leaders.
The senator’s comments came a day after Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz leader Khurram Dastgir revealed during a talk at the ThinkFest that parties may have been pressured to lend support to the Army Act.