Democracy functioning, if not flourishing

Need for reform

Despite the instability engendered by the prime minister being away for two months in the wake of the Panama Leaks and the opposition’s concerted onslaught, the creaking ship of the Pakistani State was able to function without a major hiccup

“The United States vigorously supports Pakistan’s flourishing democracy”. So we are told by Washington’s envoy to Islamabad, David Hale. In an interview distancing his administration from US senator John McCain’s recent remarks regarding extension of tenure of COAS General Raheel Sharif, due to retire in November, he clarified that these kinds of questions were for Pakistan to answer.

It is indeed ironical that we need a certificate from the ubiquitous Uncle Sam to reassure us that democracy is good for us and that it is alive and flourishing in the Islamic Republic. Thankfully so far it has survived the onslaught of the 24/7 media pundits telling us otherwise.

Despite the instability engendered by the prime minister being away for two months in the wake of the Panama Leaks and the opposition’s concerted onslaught, the creaking ship of the Pakistani State was able to function without a major hiccup.

There are at least two examples during the past week where democratictransition has taken place smoothly. First, obviously, is the landslide victory of the PML-N in Azad Kashmir assembly elections.

The ruling party at the federal level and Punjab has managed to foist its nominee Raja Farooq Haider as the new prime minister of AJK.

Master Bilawal, whose ruling PPP was badly mauled by the PML-N in the elections, has vociferously complained about pre-poll rigging albeit without much conviction. What stopped the PPP government from doing some pre-polls rigging of its own in the form of development work and providing jobs to its constituents?

The other example of peaceful democratic transition is from Sindh. A younger Shah has replaced the province’s octogenarian forever-chief minister Syed Qaim Ali Shah.

Murad Ali Shah is not only younger but also smarter and far better educated than his predecessor. An MSc in engineering, structural engineering and economics from Stanford USA, he has ample experience of governance to boot.

But the newly inducted Sindh chief minister will have to master another kind of engineering. Perhaps he is already adept at it, being a scion of a former chef minister, Syed Abdullah Shah. Nonetheless maneuvering the labrynth of convoluted twists and turns of Sindhi politics will not be an easy feat for him.

Luckily unlike his predecessor, with whom the younger Bhutto-Zardari could not relate primarily owing to a generational gap, he enjoys the confidence of Bilawal. But will that be enough?

Ruling Pakistan is not a bed of roses. But more so Sindh, where there are competing power centers amongst a sea of backwardness, corruption and poverty.

The urban-rural divide is exacerbated by rivalries between the PPP representing poor Sindhi’s sons of the soil and the MQM keeping its stranglehold on Urdu speaking populations of Karachi, Hyderabad and Sukkur. Karachi, with a population of more than 1.5 million composed largely of Sindhis, Mohajirs, Pushtoons and Punjabis, is a mini-Pakistan; larger than many countries in terms of population.

Bilawal seems to be in a better position to assert himself now. He needs to do a lot of hard work to revive the sagging fortunes of a political party that is now, thanks to the follies of its leadership, only restricted its home base Sindh.

When his late maternal grandfather Zulfiquar Ali Bhutto founded the party in 1967 it was not merely a political party that fought against the dictatorship of his erstwhile mentor, field marshal Ayub Khan, it was a revolution of sorts. The PPP at the time stood as a champion of the teeming downtrodden of Pakistan.

Later on Bilawal’s mother Benazir Bhutto Shaheed worked very hard to revive the party. She succeeded to a large extent.

It was her sheer tenacity, hard work and spirit of sacrifice that produced the desired results. Both Zulfiquar Ali Bhutto and his daughter laid down their lives for a principal. Doing the same in a democratic Pakistan is a tall order, but still it is doable.

In the last three years, after Nawaz Sharif gave a go ahead to the Karachi operation with the consent of the ruling PPP and MQM, a modicum of peace has been restored in the mega polis. Thanks largely to the Rangers the stranglehold of the MQM on the city has been successfully broken.

The MQM’s criminal bhatta (extortion) mafias and killer squads can no longer operate with impunity in the city. The MQM supremo Altaf Husain’s hate spewing monologues, thrust down the throats of Pakistanis through slavish live coverage of his farmans (edicts) from London, are now a thing of the past. And the biggest relief is of course that the ethnic outfit is no longer in a position to shut the city at the drop of a hat.

To top this, MQM’s recently incarcerated mayor designate Waseem Akhtar has been charged with ordering the May 12, 2007 MQM sponsored and planned massacre in the city. The bloodbath in Karachi was on the express orders of the then president, General Pervez Musharraf, to stop the rally on arrival of deposed Chief Justice of Pakistan Ifthikhar Muhammad Choudhry.

Another silver lining on the horizon is the PTI chief Imran Khan refusing to be blackmailed by MPAs from KPK in the revolt against chief minister Pervez Khattak for depriving them of ‘development funds’.

Bribing elected legislators in the name of development funds was astrategy devised by the late dictator Zia ul Haq to buy their loyalties. This practice has continued since then as it suits every sitting government to keep its elected legislators in good humour by lining their pockets.

The job description of legislators is law making and development works in their respective areas are meant for local bodies. Despite a lapse of almost a year the local bodies have deliberately not been made functional.

It is high time the ruling party and the opposition should cooperate to correct this anomaly once and for all. But political will for consensus building on this vital issue is lacking on both sides of the divide.

Imran Khan is too busy organising a movement to oust Sharif through the courts and by launching a movement early next month. The prime minister, on the other hand, considerably weakened by Panamagate is not in a position to alienate his party.

In the meanwhile democracy, with all its warts, is chugging along. After the recent abortive coup in Turkey the New York Times reported that many Turks prefer even a flawed democracy to a coup.

This home truth has been tried and tested in Pakistan many times. Both our rulers and the opposition — and more so the Bonapartists if there are any left — should not put it to test again.