Pakistani Flag

Outline:

1)      Quote of Abraham Lincoln

2)       Definition and elaboration of democracy?

3)      What advantage does it offer?

4)      Why failure?

5)      Brief democratic history of Pakistan

6)      Threats to democracy

i)                    Weak political institutions

ii)                   Dynastic politics

iii)                 Political scuffles

iv)                 Economic conditions

v)                  Corruption

vi)                 Lack of political awareness

vii)               Provincialism and ethnic bias

viii)              Religious misunderstandings

ix)                 Justice system

x)                  Unbridled media

xi)                 Law and order situation

xii)               Foreign interference

7)      Suggestions

8)      Has democracy any future in Pakistan?

9)      Conclusion

Former America President, Abraham Lincoln, says, “Democracy is a government of the people, by the people and for the people”.

Democracy is defined as the system in which sovereignty belongs to the people, who express it through a system of representation. This system of representation is normally a direct election after a fixed term. Democracy is not a rigid and single dimensional system rather every nation can enjoy it privileges according to their traditions and societal makeup. The democracy has a totally different structure in the United Kingdom from that of the United States of America. Similarly, the democracy that we practice in Pakistan is quite different from the western democracy in many ways.

The state of Pakistan was achieved in 1947 through a democratic struggle of the Indian Muslims. The founder of Pakistan, Muhammad Ali Jinnah, was a staunch democrat as evident from his examples during non-cooperation movement when he refused to take part in the violent protests against the British Raj. He rebuked Congress for playing with the lives of poor for mere political gains. During his speech at Kingsway Hall in London, Quaid-E-Azam said, “Democracy is in the blood of Musalmans who look upon complete equality of men”.

His democratic struggle finally achieved what could not be achieved through violent agitation. The emergence of Pakistan as the largest Muslim nation on the world map was considered the miracle of the 20th century because it was achieved through a democratic and peaceful struggle but the death of Quaid shattered all the hopes of a truly democratic system apart. The already grim situation was further deteriorated by the cold-blooded murder of Khan Liaqat Ali Khan in broad daylight. The murder of Shaheed-e-Millat can be called as the death of true democracy in the country.

After the murder of Khan Liaqat Ali, opportunistic political elite began playing musical chairs with each other. This periodic transfer of government from one politician to another politician continued for almost a decade due to lack of visionary and honest political leadership. This resulted in the imposition of martial law by the then Army chief, General Ayub Khan. He ruled for more than a decade and under severe public pressure handled over powers to the next Army Chief, General Yahya Khan. The 70s elections under the command of Yahya Khan proved to be disastrous for the country in the shape of the formation of independent Bangladesh. General Yahya then handed over his powers to Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto, who served as the civil martial law administrator.

The alleged rigging in the 1977 election brought widespread condemnation from the opposition parties and soon this opposition turned into a violent anti-Bhutto movement. General Zia ousted and hanged Bhutto after the military coup of 1978. General Zia ruled for more than a decade and his sudden death in a helicopter crash brought democracy back on its track. The so-called democratic period of the 90s ended in a bloodless coup d’état from the then Army chief, General Musharraf. This period of military rule came to end in 2007 when opposition parties won a landslide victory in the general elections. In 2013, the incumbent government was beaten the main opposition party, PMLN, and is still in the office.

The history discussed above shows that democracy in Pakistan has never been allowed to get mature due to constant military coups, Military and bureaucratic interventions in the political process, and incompetent and corrupt political leadership. Though the recent transition of one civilian government to another is a positive indication and a good precedent to follow in future still there are many threats to the democratic system. The very first threat is the fragility of the political institutions as a whole.  The basic unit of the political system is a political party, which is quite weak in our country.

Most of the political parties revolve around families with no election or democratic norms inside the party.  The dynastic politics has never allowed fresh blood to rise to the top and serve the nation. Parliament is another primary political institution, which has been weak right from the very inception in Pakistan. Heads of the state, chief executives of the country, ministers, top opposition leaders and even common members of the parliament do not bother to attend the session of the parliament. This shows the level of seriousness and confidence they have in the parliament. Apart from this, most of the political parties instead of raising their voice through the parliament opt for public demonstrations and protests in order to attain cheap popularity. These political scuffles have also degraded parliament in many ways.

The poor performance of the political governments in the past and the current severe economic problems do not give public the necessary political ownership which the developed world gives. The general public, tired of the political promises looks for some Messiah that will solve their problems in a minute. This is the reason that most of the people welcome military entrance into the politics, hoping against hope, that they will bring some change but no one has the Aladdin’s lamp which could solve problems in seconds or minutes. The massive corruption and luxurious lives of the political leadership add to the mistrust of the public and ultimately turns the popular view in the favor of military takeover.

Political awareness also plays a major role in choosing the right candidate among many contenders. In Pakistan, more than 50 percent of the total population is uneducated and they lack the political awareness to differentiate between mere slogans and concrete economic agenda. These uneducated people can also be easily deceived by creating an atmosphere of ethnic hatred and provincialism. Same goes for religion, which can be used as a tool to gain political leverage or to undermine the democratic system. Some elements in the society are spreading the notion that democracy is forbidden in Islam, creating confusions in the mind of people. Uneducated people without studying the true concept of democracy adopt their views from religious zealots and fanatics.

The justice system is the fourth pillar of the state and the key to the prevalence of the democracy in a country.  The rotten judicial system in Pakistan has not succeeded in providing justice to the common man and thus he becomes ennui of the whole democratic setup. The media is considered to be the fifth pillar of the state but instead of generating positive views about democracy, it has constantly blamed democracy for the poor condition of the public. There are no rules to hinder media from producing sensationalism for the mere financial benefits.

The poor law and order situation has also added to the miseries of the public and indeed this has increased the mistrust gap between government and its people. In such chaotic situation, people do not care for the system of governance; they need the safety of lives and thus even start following hollow slogans in the name of revolution. Foreign interference has also added to the further deterioration of the political institutions. Nearly, 70 percent of the total financial aid we have received from America was during the military regimes. This shows the lack of seriousness on the part of the international community to support democracy in Pakistan.

In order to deal with these challenges and to strengthen democracy in Pakistan, some steps are to be taken sooner than later.  The first major step will be the strengthening of the political institutions whether it is the parliament, local bodies system or political parties. Prime minister and other high officials should attend parliament sessions on regular intervals and priority should be given to the views of public representatives. The election commission of Pakistan should also bound political parties to hold intra-party elections periodically. These elections can bring an end to the dynastic rule in political parties, which will be beneficial for the democratic system in the long term.

Democratic governments instead of making money should try to focus on improving the economic conditions of the poor and the eradication of corruption. Better living standards of the poor and the elimination of corruption will raise feelings of the sense of ownership among the public. They will support democracy in the case of any threat to democracy as evident from the recent failed military coup in Turkey. Turkish people came out of the homes in support after the military tried to out the present President, Tayyeb Erdogan. The other major boost for democracy will be the presentation of leaderships as a role model for the people. Political leaders living in luxurious bungalows and traveling in bulletproof vehicles can be role models for the people.

The nation should be politically educated to raise their awareness to enable them to choose the right candidate from a list of contenders but the major change will be to educate children from the base. These children will then serve as the flag bearers of democracy and rule of law. Hollow slogans and religious propagandas will not affect their minds because of the enlightened minds that would own. The government should also repeal those anti-democracy forces that are using religion as the basis of their views with counter-narratives and spreading of true teachings of Islam.

Reforms in the justice system and a proper code of conduct for media must be introduced. The restoration of higher judiciary in wake of the protests and lawyers march against the Musharraf and Zardari government have given some hope but still, we are in dire needs of judicial reforms to meet the modern challenges. The irresponsible journalism and sensationalism of media should be brought under control because it is spreading a new image of the democracy among the public. The recent introduction of the code of conduct for media can be called as the milestone in our efforts to reach a stage where media will act responsibly but still, we are far away from that.

The democratic government should tackle the problem of terrorism and extremism strictly in order to get popular support. The launching of Zarb-e-AZab Operation against terrorist hideouts in Waziristan and combing operations in the urban centers of the country have to be proved to a deterrence against the terrorist activities but still, we need to go a long way in this fight against terrorism. The worrying sign is that the military is on the front of all the operations whereas civilian leadership is not doing its work properly. The civilian leadership has to assert their authority keeping all political apprehensions aside. The international community should also support the political process inside Pakistan by giving financial and diplomatic help. The efforts of international community to solve Kashmir issue with India will be a major boost to the democracy in Pakistan.

We have learned from the past that no Messiah or revolution can change our situation in a minute. The nascent democratic system in Pakistan has to pass through a process of evolution in order to bring substantial change in the lives of poor. The building of political institutions and the filtration of honest leaders from the corrupt lot will provide a strong base for the democracy with time. It’s time for us to think whether we want a real democracy or just a mere of a show of elections after every 2 to 3 years and I think the answer would be that we want real democracy because democracy is the best form of government practiced ever on the earth.