Beckoned by public spigots promising free, pure drinking water, tourists lined up last week to refresh themselves along the main drag in Murree.
They soon discovered that the taps were dry. “We’ve gotten nothing,” said one thirsty visitor, Abdul Sattar, 47. And he wasn’t just talking about water, which hasn’t reached Murree for weeks because severe power shortages have shut down pumping stations in the valley below.
Nothing has come from democracy, either, a frustrated Sattar said — at least not as it is practiced by the barely functioning federal government in Islamabad. A report in The Washington Post says the economy is bad enough to make Sattar and others nostalgic for military rule, when the generals at least kept the nation’s lights on.
“The military is better,” said Amir Iqbal, who co-owns Mr Food, a small eatery which had just two lunchtime customers. At 44, he recalls fondly the relative prosperity and higher economic growth rates that marked the nine-year regime of Gen Pervez Musharraf. And, although he was young at the time, he speaks positively of the era of an earlier strongman, Gen Muhammad Ziaul Haq.
“When the army is in government they keep inflation low,” Iqbal said. “They are good at governance and better organised.”
Such yearnings for order are certainly not new in Pakistan’s 64-year history, says the report in The Washington Post. The army, generally with popular support, has stepped in three times to topple weak governments and impose martial law. Judicial obeisance to the generals used to be the norm. But, styling itself as a corruption-battling people’s advocate, the current Supreme Court has inverted the narrative. It has spearheaded investigations into misdeeds of the executive branch and the military.
Some experts call Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry the country’s most powerful man. Critics accuse him of mounting a “judicial coup” in the name of the rule of law. His court picked off long-serving prime minister Yousuf Raza Gilani last month for refusing to follow its orders and is poised to oust his successor for the same thing. “A power struggle among the judiciary, the executive branch and, to a lesser extent, the army, threatens to destabilise the nuclear-armed nation at a time when its counterterrorism partnership with the United States has essentially fallen apart.”
Whatever its shortcomings, the coalition government has prevailed for four-and-a-half years without a coup, assassination or execution of a top leader and is on track to become the longest-serving civilian government in the country’s history. But nobody knows how long the country can continue its slow stumble toward actual democracy: Pakistan, battling an insurgency, now faces a constitutional crisis during an economic meltdown coupled with devolving public order, as power-outage protests turn into deadly riots.
Darkness: “Democracy has brought darkness to the country, that’s it,” said political analyst and columnist Farrukh Saleem. He noted that since the end of Musharraf’s rule, the price of milk has tripled and electricity has risen 500 percent.
No doubt that democracy brought darkness, sectarian and communal killings, targeted killings, massive corruption etc. To find a solution we need to go back to the era of Military rule. Then under pressure we will return to democracy which is called the best revenge and this musical chair of power and increasing problems will continue with no solution. Without proper education and values no system works and education is not a priority.
Khalid, well said.
The crux of it all comes to education. Zardari, may he burn forever in hellfire, has reduced the education budget & its their own self-interest which sees them making all out efforts to convert Pakistan into an illiterate country.
Yes. The Military is better at ruling.
Yet these people now moaning about democracy and nostalgic for the Generals, were the same mindless idiots who screamed for democracy.
I supported Musharraf although I have no links to the Military and was sorry when he got into bed with the politicians (nudged by who?) and was heart broken when he stepped down. Like Ayub Khan before him, he went with honour.
All you who marched against him, deserve what you have now, nothing worth having.
I also supported Musharraf, but he made some of the biggest blunders in the history of blunders.
We continue to suffer because of NRO. We continue to suffer because he didnt hang Nawaz. We continue to suffer because he didnt create the changes needed.
His intentions were good but his execution was selfishly flawed.
It is not just education, its about responsibility, faith and sincerity. Benazir was not less educated, nor is Nawaz Sherif, yet what they did for their own country??? Nothing except for making their own fortune.
The purpose of any state system is to serve the masses. Unfortunately in Pakistan we have started believing in system as an end in itself. Democracy is just a system to serve the people but it has turned up to be a faith for most of us.
Unfortunately, in Pakistan neither democracy has served the masses nor dictatorship.
Not only was Musharraf's era a million times better then what we have today; Pakistanis must realise that he still remains the only tested and viable leader today who can pull us out of this mess and put the country back on the road to economic progress and prosperity. There is no time for more experiments.
All I can say is
Hore Chuppoo
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