The late Farooq Leghari deserved kinder words

By offering less than fair commemoration to former president Sardar Farooq Ahmad Khan Leghari, the parliament has done no credit to the cause of democracy. That only Riaz Hussain Pirzada, the parliamentary leader of the PML (Q), stood up to pay tribute to the 8th president of Pakistan in the National Assembly and that Wasim Sajjad's pro-Leghari resolution remained untabled in the Senate casts a poor reflection on the openness that is the hallmark of a working democracy.
Farooq Leghari was elected to the National Assembly five times and once to the Senate; if that's not the definition of a popular politician what else is? But above all this, he was a constitutionally elected former Head of State. He was a man of law and constitution, and not a usurper.
His demise should have been deeply bereaved and commemorated as a national loss by the parliament. By giving him honour, the parliament would have set a noble tradition for the future. Even otherwise as Pirzada said, 'while mistakes are committed by every human being, only their good deeds should be remembered after their death'. And how disgusting that the only other member who took the floor of the National Assembly to speak on the subject was Romesh Lal, a PPP member from Sindh, who had the audacity to call the late Farooq Leghari a "traitor". Yes, the former president had resigned from the PPP, of which he became a member when Romesh was in diapers.
An ardent Z A Bhutto fan, Farooq Leghari had quit his coveted civil service job and joined the PPP. Elected to the Senate in 1975, he was appointed production minister in 1977. When General Ziaul Haq dismissed the Bhutto government and dissolved the parliament, Farooq Leghari was arrested and jailed for four years. Benazir Bhutto appointed him Minister for Water and Power after winning the 1988 elections and as foreign minister in her second government.
Farooq Leghari was elected as the President of Pakistan by none else, but the Pakistan People's Party. He did not come through the GHQ; he was elected under the Constitution, mainly as a PPP candidate. No one should be allowed to insult an elected president of Pakistan by calling him a traitor. We think the Speaker of the National Assembly would be well advised to expunge this word from the record of the proceedings.
That both PPP and PML(N), the two main parties in the parliament, should remain indifferent and miserly in offering tributes to late Farooq Leghari, amply proves the members' narrow and biased outlook on our constitutional history. One must never forget that the 'power' that resided with the presidencies of Ghulam Ishaq Khan and Farooq Leghari stemmed the Article 58-2B of the Constitution. In fact, the provision was so sensitive to the allegations of poor governance and corruption that the holder of the presidential office was literally held hostage to its application, even if his "opinion" was based only on perception. Neither of the two could escape their unpleasant duty to dismiss the elected governments of Nawaz Sharif and Benazir Bhutto. Now that the 18th Amendment has taken care of the 58-2B, the elected governments are secure, at least from the disapproval of the president. It would be naive to expect that every president should be in some way beholden to the goodwill of the political parties to earn posthumous parliamentary gratitude.
Of course, the president of Pakistan is elected by an electoral college, comprising elected members of the political parties, but once elected, he is the Head of State and represents the unity of the Republic. His oath asks of him to "do right to all manner of people, according to law, without fear or favour, affection or ill-will". So did Ghulam Ishaq Khan and Farooq Leghari.
By offering him a dignified commemoration, the members would have demonstrated their political maturity. Even otherwise, it was in the fitness of things that the parliament should have set a positive tradition by eulogising his service to the nation.
His constituency being civilian polity, a few good words for him from the floor of the parliament would have added to the institutional strength of the democratic process. If a usurper could be given a dignified farewell by his institution, it is sad that the National Assembly and the Senate failed to speak up for Farooq Leghari.