But we’ve got miles to go before we sleep
Pakistanis like to think of army generals as sinless beings who have a magic wand that would change the fate of the nation for good – this despite the fact that Pakistan has seen several military regimes where the dictators only created problems like terrorism and extremism.
People in Pakistan appear to be pessimistic about the future of the country. There is a sense of disappointment and hopelessness everywhere as the masses seem to have lost faith in the system. In Pakistan, democracy of true sense remains an illusion. People get to choose their elected representatives but they have no say in the decision-making process. Even the process of electing public representatives has become a sham as there are allegations of rigging after every small and big election.
Trust deficit between people and government:
Nothing in today’s Pakistan can be termed transparent and there is a huge trust deficit between the masses and the rulers. Perhaps this is the reason why people of Pakistan support military rule and glorify the men in uniform so much.
Recently, banners with pictures of Army Chief General Raheel Sharif were on display in major cities across Pakistan, urging him to impose martial law and take control of the country. The banners were put up in Karachi, Lahore, Quetta, Peshawar, Hyderabad, Rawalpindi, Sargodha, Faisalabad, among other cities, by the Move on Pakistan party.
Even the social media space of Pakistan is filled with demands of martial law. We are told that democracy is the best system of government that is meant to empower the common man but Pakistan’s democracy has in no way been able to empower the people of the country.
Growing disconnect between the rulers and the masses and the governments’ failure to solve common man issues can be termed as reason for people supporting martial law.
Will Pakistanis celebrate a coup?
Following the recent news of a coup attempt in Turkey, an interesting debate erupted in Pakistan over what will happen if something of that sort happens in Pakistan. Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Chairman Imran Khan who represents the opposition, made a statement saying people in Pakistan will distribute sweets to celebrate martial law. Khan faced criticism from rival parties for his statement but what he said is not entirely wrong.
Pakistanis like to think of army generals as sinless beings who have a magic wand that would change the fate of the nation for good – this despite the fact that Pakistan has seen several military regimes where the dictators only created problems like terrorism and extremism. Military dictator General Zia-ul-Haq is blamed for creating and patronisng the menace of religious extremism and paving the way for terrorism, which is still posing a threat to the stability of Pakistan. But then there were military regimes where the country saw a high rate of progress and economic development.
“Dictatorship may not be invariably bad and there may be some good dictators but you have to depend on the chance of them being good”, senior columnist Professor Aziz-ud-Din said, while talking to DNA.
If there is democracy, you choose your own leaders but when there is dictatorship you don’t get to decide who will represent you, he said, and added that in a democratic system, when there is an election, you have the freedom to remove the leaders in case you are dissatisfied with their performance but you don’t have this authority in military regimes”, he said.
“In democracy, there is a whole system to ensure better governance, better treatment of people and for that you don’t have to depend on an individual”, senior columnist Professor Aziz told DNA.
Under the dictators, even the courts are under control, so are media and the civil society. This is never the case in democracy, even if it is bad, he added.
When asked to quantify the positive aspects of democratic governments, he said that it can be expressed in terms of legislations that were helpful to the people. This is one way of quantifying it and another way is going through the proceedings of the parliament in five years, he said.
There were quite a few legislations by the parliament over the years, like the 18th amendment, but the fact is that a common man is least interested in the process of lawmaking.
Senior political analyst Rasool Buksh Rais said that democracy in Pakistan does have a future and this is the only future that can hold Pakistan together. Referring to the performance of military dictators, he said that not all military regimes were corruption-free. He said that democratic governments are not able to show performance because they have issues of opposition. They are slow and unresponsive because they have to take everyone together and cannot bypass the stakeholders, he told DNA.
Senior political analyst Rasool Buksh Rais said that democracy in Pakistan does have a future and this is the only future that can hold Pakistan together. Referring to the performance of military dictators, he said that not all military regimes were corruption-free.
The need to improve democratic system:
When asked how the democratic system of the country will improve, Rasool Buksh said that improvement will happen with the development of civic culture and genuine competition among the parties.
In Pakistan’s politics, people don’t have a lot of options to choose from. At first Pakistan Muslim League – N (PML-N) and Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) were the only two parties that were competing to come into power. Then the people found another option when Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) emerged as a national party back in 2010. But the PTI was also unable to deliver what it had promised during its election campaign.
Even the people who support democracy and believe in the process of voting for your representative say that they know that the people they are voting for are not perfect, but they regretfully vote for the lesser evil. This dilemma of Pakistan’s people is that they have to choose the ‘lesser evil’ – this sums up the problem with Pakistan’s democracy.
All three major parties have governments in the four provinces yet none of them have been able to implement their manifestoes in areas where they rule. The failure of political parties to deliver on their promises creates a sense of distrust among the people and this is why they support martial law.
The democratic system of the country needs reforms – nearly every government institution is in shambles. Reforms need to be introduced in police department, judiciary and bureaucracy to eliminate corruption and ensure transparency, but sadly there is no political party or leader that can make it happen. This absence of competent political leadership gives rise to the calls for military intervention. The sooner our political leaders get their acts together, the better we will all be.
