Democracy or mockery?

A fight for democracy where few understand what it really means

“Where laws do not rule, there is no constitution”- Aristotle

While the whole country is on a standstill due to the massive protests in the capital city headed by two leaders, only few get the complexity of this situation. Social media and newspapers are full of debates whether Imran Khan and Dr Tahirul Qadri are constitutionally and legally allowed to protest in this manner or whether hungry for power they are trying to derail democracy? All these arguments are futile when the intelligentsia fails to comprehend the primary argument, i.e., what is democracy?

Democracy is a form of government where all eligible citizens partake equally (either directly or, through elected representatives, indirectly in the proposal) in the development and establishment of the laws by which their society is run. This is the crudest way of describing democracy. However, a true democratic state is where rule of law is upheld, there is a significant separation of powers if not completely, presence of political pluralism, the existence of collective and ministerial responsibility and the utmost importance of guarantying fundamental human rights.

Unfortunately, while mentioning democracy, constitutionalism is far from where Pakistan stands today. Our beloved country never got a chance to relish true democracy. The system ostensibly given by various constitutions of Pakistan, due to several hurdles has never been allowed to function effectively. The governments in power have been destabilised by conspiracies and treacheries. The opposition has never been given the chance to perform its role. Members of the opposition have been bullied by coercive mechanisms of state institutions. Successive governments have thus prevaricated about corruption and mal administration.

Imran Khan should be given the credit of pointing out that the prevalent system is kleptocratic and oligarchical instead of the misused term of ‘democratic’.

The real problem Pakistan has faced since its birth is the power which lay in the possession of a handful uneducated so called élite, senior civil servants, military officers and landowners who at the sight of crumbling and decayed systems treated it as the best opportunity to strengthen their hold on power. Over the past 60 years the political parties which have emerged are the dominant families who pass on the power to their legal heirs instead of democratically electing the next head within the particular party. For example, Zulfikar Ali Bhutto was succeeded by his daughter Benazir Bhutto after whose assassination her husband Asif Ali Zardari took over her office treating it as his legal right. The replication could be seen in Pakistan Muslim League (N) who’s President Nawaz Sharif, who currently is the prime minister for the third time, has his own children politically trained to take over his office as soon as he resigns. No erudite society has kleptocracy shrouded in the name of democracy.

Imran Khan should be given the credit of pointing out that the prevalent system is kleptocratic and oligarchical instead of the misused term of ‘democratic’. Kleptocracyis a form of political system where corruption is committed by a government and exists with the intentions to increase the personal wealth and political power of its officials and the ruling class at the expense of the wider population, often with pretense of honest service. This type of government corruption is often achieved by the embezzlement of state funds. Whereas the general population is committing suicide due to increasing prices of basic necessities the government officials arrange lavish feasts consisting of at least 70 dishes. Nawaz Sharif government has long been accused for ‘mal administration, nepotism and corruption’ due to which he was asked to resign from his designation in 1993. Nawaz Sharif at this moment is repeating the same mistakes which he made back in the day, overlooking all constitutional doctrines and amalgamating the powers of state institutions in order to remain in power.

Another constitutional challenge faced by Pakistan is the implementation of separation of powers. While there should be a system of checks and balances where each institution should be kept within its given parameters and to be checked by the other institution as to whether if they are acting ultra vires or not, the parliament and the executive could not be distinguished from one another. Currently while the media and the politicians are treating the parliament as the supreme body, the general public is oblivious about the fundamental function of a parliament. It is the supreme law making body. Then a question comes to one’s mind. What laws has the parliament successfully passed in the last 14 months? The fact that the parliament in this time period has managed to pass only three acts is mind boggling. The constant rants of a few commentators and politicians about democracy being derailed should ask themselves that in which western democratic society the parliament is this ineffective? The legislature has failed to perform their paramount duty of law making, reducing themselves to the pawns on the chessboard of power politics. While the majority in the parliament agreed upon the massive rigging in the 2013 elections, they have refused to come up with a possible ‘democratic’ solution to this problem.

The widespread corruption in subordinate and superior courts have further undermined the confidence of the masses in the judicial process and is perceived as an instrument regulated by only the powerful and the rich.

This leaves us with the third institution of the state: the Judiciary. Favourably, the judiciary is supposed to be independent of both the parliament and the executive. It is the feature of judicial independence which is of prime importance both in relation to government according to law and in the protection of liberty the citizen against the executive. However, the judicial organ has been emaciated and subordinated to the executive as a result of repeated interference with its smooth working by making judicial appointments on considerations instead of merit. The widespread corruption in subordinate and superior courts have further undermined the confidence of the masses in the judicial process and is perceived as an instrument regulated by only the powerful and the rich. The extreme involvement of each state institution into the other has led to a complete constitutional deadlock. Failure of the judiciary to provide the people with justice has further added in the apathy towards the governments along with the political systems.

Whilst many today oppose Imran Khan and his call of civil disobedience, the matter is far more complicated than ground realities indicate. The argument whether he has succeeded or not is irrelevant. He has opened the can of worms and unveiled the abhorrent practices of the people in power. He has successfully convinced the masses that this government is all a façade in the name of ‘democracy’ when true democracy has never been practiced. These few weeks have divulged that the state institutions are rotten to the very foundations and are disintegrating. The public has also lost faith in the electoral process as the political regime used the administrative machinery to manipulate elections in its favour. This calls for an immediate restoration of the state systems in an orderly manner for the evolution of democracy and law and order in Pakistan which has not been achieved since Partition in 1947.