- The way to hell is paved with good intentions
For a number of years after the revival of democracy in 1988 the two party system prevailed in Pakistan. The 1990s however saw the PPP and PML-N indulge in several no-holds-barred encounters. These provided an opportunity to Gen Pervaiz Musharraf to overthrow the system. He ruled the county for the next nine years. Earlier Benazir Bhutto had been forced to go into self-exile by the PML-N government which had instituted several false cases against her. Now it was Nawaz Sharif’s turn to be forced to live abroad.
The situation forced both the leaders to undertake some soul searching. They met in London, claimed that they had learnt from their past blunders and signed the Charter of Democracy (CoD) binding both sides to implement its provisions whenever they came to power. The CoD which had a number of valuable provisions was never implemented despite both the PPP and PML-N having ruled one after another from 2008 to 2018. Both blamed each other for lack of cooperation that led to their neglecting the fulfillment of their promise. We are meanwhile back to a situation where the establishment, rather than political parties, controls the levers of power.
Bilwal Bhutto has stressed the need for a new charter of democracy to be signed by all parties. One welcomes the suggestion. But before going ahead there is a need to discover the reasons why the COD remains unimplemented. There is a perception that once in power the parties forget their idealistic principles and lessons learnt through suffering and instead opt for realpolitik
Thing have become further complicated because after the emergence of the PTI as an alternative to the ‘family based politics’ of the PPP and PML-N we no more have a two-party system in the country. Bilwal will therefore have to work hard to rope in the PTI also, which currently seems impossible. Bilawal’s words would have carried more weight had the PPP government displayed genuine concern for what he calls “ensuring the protection of fundamental and constitutional rights of the citizens” in Sindh which PPP has failed to do during a decade of its rule over the province.
