Charter of democracy

Since the day the Charter of Democracy was signed by Nawaz Sharif and Benazir Bhutto in London, the government and opposition have been ferociously engaged in attack and counter-attack. The signing parties claim it to be the most sacred document after the constitution of 1973 while the government side repudiates this claim and declares it to be an attempt to hoodwink the people and to grab the power with the connivance of each other in order to loot and plunder the state once again and it has got nothing to do with democracy.

Columnists also joined this debate of supporting or opposing this charter but no one has given any answers. All these statements are being propagated from large drawing rooms in or out Pakistan but they forget that there is another party, which is the silent majority comprising the common man who is bewildered and hesitant to buy the idea of a charter of democracy until and unless they get the reply of the following questions perturbing them:

1. Why didn't Mr Sharif and Ms Bhutto introduce this system when they were in power themselves and why are they now demanding from the present government to have a caretaker government to conduct the election?

2. Ms Bhutto is quiet on the manhandling of Mian Sharif (late) and Shahbaz Sharif and their arrest by her government. Does that mean that this was legal and she is not sorry about what she did?

3. Similarly Nawaz Sharif is mum on the corruption cases his government had filed against Ms Bhutto and he has not apologised, which means these cases are genuine. If so, how can he justify or demand for a fair and honest politics by joining hands with corrupt people. The majority will be too happy if both Mr Sharif and Ms Bhutto clarify their positions publicly enabling common men to decide whom to vote for in the next election or they will be right to deduce that the charter is simply nothing but a "marriage of convenience" to achieve personal selfish ends.