Professional Documents
Culture Documents
OUTLINE
Introduction
What is democracy?
1. Government of the people, by the people, for the people (Abraham Lincoln)
2. Quaids Vision of democracy
3. Democratic states- a universal standard of human society
4. Islamic concept of democracy
Causes of failure of democracy in Pakistan
Political history of Pakistan
Democracy remained a comic relief during the military regimes
The spirit of unity evaporated after emergence of Pakistan
Selfish and egocentric politicians
Feudal cum politicians
Elected democratic leaders try to become dictators
Lack of education and awareness
Lack of economic development
Personality-driven politics
Weak independent institutions
Constitutional crisis
Many forms of Government have been tried, and will be tried in this world of sin and
woe. No one pretends that democracy is perfect or all-wise. Indeed, it has been said
that democracy is the worst form of government except all those other forms that have
been tried from time to time Sir Winston Churchill
Democracy is a political form of government in which governing power is derived
from the people. Though there is no universally accepted definition of democracy,
but eminent scholars have ensured democracy as equality, fair play and freedom. Even
the United Nations endorses the democratic form of government and has established
the United Nations Democracy Fund to strengthen democratic institutions and
practices around the world. The democratic values were highlighted in the Charter of
the United Nations, as well as in the Article 21 of Universal Declaration of Human
Rights. It has been speculated that the aforementioned trajectory followed by the
world will eventually lead this world to the point where liberal democratic nationstates will become the universal standard for human society.
Democracy is good, I say this because all other systems are worseJawaharlal
Nehru
Democracy has its origins in Ancient Greece. However other cultures have
significantly contributed to the evolution of democracy such as Ancient Rome,
Europe, and North America. The concept of representative democracy arose largely
from ideas and institutions that developed during the European Middle Ages, the Age
of Enlightenment, and in the American and French Revolutions. The right to vote has
been expanded in many Jurisdictions over time from relatively narrow electorates,
with New Zealand as the first nation to grant universal suffrage for all its citizens in
1893.
There are several facets of democracy like direct democracy, Representative,
Anticipatory, Non-partisan, Westminster, Soviet or Council democracy. Islam as we
believe is a complete code of life, in some areas it grants due freedom to its believers,
as in the political sphere the decision for choosing the form of government has been
left for the people, provided that the described requirements for vicegerancy are met
and the sovereignty lies with Allah alone. Secondly, the Islamic government is never
theocratic. It is formed by mutual consent, and conducts most of its affairs by
consensus and consultation.
It is rather more imperative to fulfill the conditions of vicegerency than contemplating
on how the government should be formed. The original concept of Islamic rule is
closer to democracy. It is an anti-thesis of monarchial, theocratic, and autocratic forms
of government. It slightly differs from the western secular democracy and lays more
stress on sovereignty of GOD, equality, justice and fair play, and does not allow any
form of exploitation. Hence, in essence and soul democracy is not un-Islamic. All are
equal but some are superior on behalf of piety.
Exploring the last 66 years of Pakistan, democracy is taken as a comic relief between
military regimes. Assassination of Liaquat Ali Khan, the first elected Prime Minister,
was in fact the demise of democracy in Pakistan. Since then, the balance of power
tilted in the favor of the military. A comparison depicts this shift. From 1951-57 India
had one Prime Minister and several army chiefs while during the same period
Pakistan had one army chief and several Prime ministers. The same army chief, Ayub
Khan promulgated the first martial law in 1958. General Ayub Khan could not
withstand a popular national movement and transferred power to General Yahya Khan
in March 1969. Under him Pakistan lost its half, which is now known as Bangladesh.
Power was then transferred to Zulfikar Ali Bhutto as the first civilian martial law
administrator. Bhutto pursued an independent policy, but he was charged for
compliance in murder, and hanged by the next martial law administrator, General Zia
UL Haq. Hanging of an elected Prime Minister perturbed the whole world. The
general died in a mysterious plane crash. Then came a ten years fad of the so-called
democracy. During this period, none of the elected government completed its term on
account of being ousted by the special discretionary powers of the president. An end
to this ten-year spell came with a new general, who ousted the incumbent elected
government. This time the Prime Minister was charged for conspiring against the state
and was expatriated from the country. Democracy was again restored in 2008 and now
it has been hijacked by the dictatorial democrats.
The spirit of unity, cohesion and commitment shown during Pakistan movement
evaporated just after the emergence of Pakistan, and self-centered politicians indulged
themselves in the malicious politics that was against the true spirit of democracy.
Having ascertained the weakness and egocentric attitude of the politicians, the
military-bureaucratic nexus crawled out of the woodwork and took the de-facto
control of the country. Since then military-bureaucratic establishment directly or
indirectly governed the country. Army generals usurp power at their own convenience
and quit only when they are forced to quit by mass political movements or by a
sudden unexpected death.
It is a dilemma that they came up to uproot corruption and social evils but actually
they weeded out the seeds of democracy. Disgruntled by the ostensible democracy, the
people started to believe in the forthcoming miracles of some incoming Messiah from
the ranks of soldiers. In the end, they always found themselves more disappointed by
the short-sighted Generals than by the corrupt politicians. In order to prolong their
rule, dictators try to establish a controlled democracy and more often, they choose the
worst lot of politicians. This covert or overt influence of army is the greatest
impediment to the evolution of a stable democratic system in Pakistan.
In addition to this, the military rulers strengthened the bureaucracy for securing their
own rule. Having established a permanent role in the establishment, the bureaucrats
and generals preferred to compromise with the feudal system. The military rulers were
thought to curb them in the beginning but instead of nipping them in the bud they also
compromised with them to prolong their own rule. Similarly, the feudal cum politician
availed opportunities to beguile the gullible masses. In such circumstances, even
universal suffrage could not be effective and non-political powers began to play a
more assertive role. Consequently, the leaders and politicians become the brainchild
of the military and bureaucratic nexus and since Quaids demise, no true leader could
rise to fill the void.
Democracy presupposes an understanding of issues. The sine qua non for a Westernstyle democratic system is education, which means that the people must be educated
to a level to understand the issues so that they can make a meaningful choice.
Unfortunately, literacy rate in Pakistan is a mere fraction, even the most optimistic
estimates believe it to be less than 50 percent. An illiterate person is like an aimless
wanderer, who lacks a clear vision, consequently fells an easy prey to the caste related
vote canvassing. Moreover, Pakistani society is divided along the fissures and faults
of caste and sects that has retarded it to act like a cohesive unit and concentrate only
on issues. Under such circumstances, caste, sect and creed sentiments are exploited by
the unscrupulous politicians.
Democracy does not guarantee equality of conditions it only guarantees
equality of opportunityIrving Kristol
The political leaders lack a clear vision and they never had the capacity to alleviate
the status of democracy and strengthen it, in fact the mutual squabbling of the political
leaders excited the other players to assume a role. Moreover, in Pakistan the politics is
more personality-driven rather than issues-driven, which has an overall negative
impact on the evolution of independent institutions and has fanned the vested
interests. Political parties are mere puppet in the hands of different families and party
elections are considered taboo and it seems that political parties have dictatorship at
their own core!
Another important cause has always been the constitutional crisis and absence of rule
of law apparatus. Similarly, the several amendments in the constitution concentrated
power in the President, which was against the democratic soul. There is still need for
intact constitution. Interruption in the democratic process has never allowed
democracy to form a base. Even with its flaws, the elected government has a right to
complete its tenure without any hurdles.
Last but not least, the current stream of extremism and terrorism has brought forth a
new ideology. The bearers of this new ideology of governance consider democracy as
non-Islamic. They only harbor the westernized concept of democracy and they
misguide people by pleading them to abandon democratic system and demand for
imposition of Sharia, they are unmindful of the fact that a democratic system can
flourish under the aegis of Sharia.
The aforementioned transgressions of different institutions, vested interests of
different stakeholders and careless attitude on part of the general masses have ruined
the state structure of Pakistan. Under the direct military rule, only the elite benefited
from the system and this gave rise to economic disparity, while no benefit was being
passed over to the general public. History is witness to the fact that Pakistan has lost
territory while under direct military rule. The dictators hawkish attitude has fanned
various separatist movements across the country. Absence of Democracy is a
significant reason for nurturing terrorism in a country. A democratic government is
supposed to represent the people and provide political means to voice grievances,
hence essentially providing a sphere where terrorism has no place. Democracy is
necessary to peace and undermining the forces of terrorismBenazir
Bhutto. For this reason, in theory, there cannot be an aggrieved group that is not
adequately represented; but absence of democracy and areas outside the realm of
democratic setup in Pakistan has proved conducive to terrorism.
Democratic setup through different checks and balances ensures transparency, fair
play and good governance. But these characteristics do not pop out with just the
imposition of democratic system rather these evolve over time. Since democratic
setup was derailed again and again, so these fruits of democracy were never seen in
Pakistan and consequently, the institutions are underdeveloped and resultantly
sporadic democratic periods were infested with bad governance. With the weak
institutions and rampant interference in other institutions portfolios have resulted in
massive corruption, which is a peculiar stigma to democracy in Pakistan. As an
outcome of these malpractices, national economy has gone virtually bankrupt and
national budget has become dependent on foreign aid.
In true democracy, political leaders derive their power from the people thus they are
courageous and assume more daring visions, consequently the respective country
forms an independent foreign policy that best suits its interests but feeble democracy
is devoid of these characteristics. Pakistan has so-far failed to furnish its independent
foreign policy, with faint support in their own country; political leaders are swayed by
the world powers, thus they undermine the national interests and sovereignty of the
country.
All the ills of democracy can be cured by more democracy- Alfred E. Smith
(42ndgovernor of New York)
Though democracy has failed many times to establish its firm roots in Pakistan,
but every dark cloud has a silver lining, all these failures actually provide us an
insight into what went wrong and how democracy can be preserved from derailing
next time. The first essential step seems to stop interruption in the democratic
process and the elected government must be allowed to complete its tenure in any
case. Secondly, a major chunk of the population wants greater Islamic character in the
democratic setup and legislation. Incorporating true Islamic injunctions will lead to a
more cohesive civil society and will foil any attempts by the extremists to paint that
democracy is antithesis to Islamic form of government. We must learn to live
together as brothers or perish together as fools Martin Luther King, Jr.
There is a need to reform the judiciary, in the presence of an independent judicial
system, the discrepancies are kept in check thus it ensures enduring democracy.
Reforming the judiciary and incorporating the Islamic laws can also soothe the
deprived and poor masses which have been manipulated by the extremists. Moving
on, corruption and selfish attitudes is eating away the institutional structure of our
country and such malpractices never allowed democracy to flourish. There is a need to
engineer an accountability mechanism, so that these wrong-doings are kept in check.
Common man was compelled by the existing setup to stay away from contesting an
election. Hitherto it was a prerogative of the affluent and feudal classes; such practices
are against the moral, democratic and Islamic principles. The necessary ingredient for
the success of democracy in Pakistan is the emancipation of the rural areas from the
clutches of the local landlords, i.e. to take steps for the abolition of Jagirdari System.
The criteria of merit; the right of freedom and equal progress for common people
should be promoted. Young and morally upright persons should come forward and
actively take part in democratic setup and elected member must be nurtured with the
notion that they have to serve the nation and they have to bail out this nation. A
leader is a dealer in hopeNapoleon Bonaparte
There is a dire need to strengthen the public institutions, in order to ensure the
supremacy of law so that rules govern the country rather than the personalities. The
glaring example of many European countries may be quoted, where institutions enjoy
the ultimate powers. Democracy in actuality can only be achieved through such
measures. Our constitution has been a source of constant controversy. Now onward,
no one in power should be allowed to change it for prolongation of rule or appeasing
any particular section. Absolute power corrupts absolutely.
The credulous masses were an easy prey to the mercenary politicians, had they been
educated, they must have asked the elected members for their rights denied,
opportunities curtailed and for defrauding the tax-payers money. Imparting education
on a national scale will galvanize the masses to form a check on political leadership.
The political energy in Pakistan is extravagantly wasted on inter-provincial
squabbling. There is a dire need to get the nation out of the rut of provincialism, so
that they feel proud on being Pakistani and strive for the cause of Pakistan thus
strengthening the institutions and democracy in the country.
In a democratic state, media has rightly been called the fourth pillar of the state. It can
play a more vibrant, positive and constructive role rather than becoming another
compromised institution. Information is the currency of democracyThomas
Jefferson
Finally, the strategic position and now the war against terror has brought Pakistan in
the limelight of the international community, so international community should help
Pakistan in establishing a workable democratic system or should at least stay away
from anointing the dictators, but it is only possible through the visionary and
sagacious approach of the media.
The world has ultimately come to a conclusion after having experimented different
forms of government like Monarchy, Oligarchy, military or civil Dictatorships etc.
These governments failed despite sincere wishes of the individual leaders who came
to the fore through any of these Processes. In line with the lessons of history and
despite all its past experiences of failure, there is no other messianic way out to lead
Pakistan toward a progressive state except to establish the roots of democracy firmly.
Democracy is not only a form of government; it is a philosophy which encompasses
all aspects of rights and freedom. In Pakistan, however, the already difficult situation
has been aggravated by constant failures which never let democracy to survive. The
positive change is still slow, but a bleak past or murky present in no way means a
foredoomed future as well. However, colossal efforts at every level are required for
democracy to take root. In all this hopelessness, there must be a desire for moving
forward. The future of democracy may be doubtful but it not at an end yet.
The road to democracy may be winding and is like the river taking many curves
but eventually the river will reach the oceanChen Shui-Bian(10th and 11thterm President of the Republic of China)
No wonder, decades of domestic political chaos and projected external vulnerability
have kept our national priorities lop-sided with more than one-third of our annual
budget being used for our defence expenditure. Fractured institutions and strong