Bleak ahead
THE future of democracy in Pakistan is bleak.It is blatantly depressing and unoptimistic to attribute such an assertion with the future of democracy in this society, but this is a reality.
Assertion above, so stark in nature, duly needs supporting evidence to stand credible.Political parties are the backbone of a democratic setup.Existence of true culture of democracy is undeniably the basic and the founding block over which the party should exist.
Existing structure and the culture that exist in the political parties are nowhere close to democratic norms.
Majority of political parties are dynastic in nature and strongly personality centric.
Whoever lays the foundation of a political party, he and his generation, hold the headship of the party.
No other party member can ever think of becoming the party head (JI is an exception).
Even thinking so amounts to committing a sin, and the party member, if he makes his intention public, is considered a traitor in the party.
This behavior of dominance by party leader and submission of party workers have roots in our two hundred years slave history.
We, as a nation, are still not independent.A person is truly independent when he holds on to his conviction without any fear or favour.Keeping this criterion of an independent person, readers are now requested to recall the last Senate election.
How brazenly and shamefully the Senate election votes were bought and sold.This story of buying and selling is a story of almost all political dealings in Pakistan.
Political workers change party loyalty overnight.Frequent change of party membership unmistakably makes two things clear, either political workers are not mature enough to understand the importance of party’s founding ideology and manifesto, or they are tempted by petty material benefits.
In the existing democratic set-up of Pakistan, state institutions are well in place.Their functions and responsibilities are well defined to ensure democracy to flourish and be strong.
The most important institution in this regard is Election Commission of Pakistan.
A quick glance at the performance of ECP will help understand the reason for the appalling state of democracy that currently exists in the country.
According to the Constitution of Pakistan, every election candidate has to be righteous and sagacious to take part in the election contest.
Stiff and strict measures to ensure the eligibility of the electoral candidates is the prime pre-poll responsibility of ECP.
Ironic recall of the widespread ridicule that took place throughout Pakistan at the hands of ECP’s scrutiny officers not only brought shame to Pakistan, it also questioned the credibility of the entire election process.
Instead of scrutinizing the assets in possession, tax, utility bill payment record, loan payment/default record, authenticity of the academic credentials and police record, candidates were asked to name five fruits, or to name the capital city of a certain country.
A process of sifting which had to be extremely strict, clean and robust was openly mocked.ECP’s out of the planet logic to allow electoral candidates to participate in the election process without scrutinizing all the essential parameters and to disqualify those found in violation of selection criteria after election process is over, is beyond the comprehension of a sane, rational and logical mind.
State of justice in courts of law is another big factor that forces one to feel dark future ahead.
Different standards of justice exist for different sections of the society.Rich, resourceful and powerful are above the law.Weak, poor and helpless take the grind of justice with full force.Judiciary is an institution where in lies the hope of every oppressed to find justice for himself.
Evident, innumerable number of cases of preferential treatment have caused total erosion of confidence of a common citizen in the judicial system and the institution of judiciary of Pakistan.
Honest, impartial, efficient and fair judicial system in a country is almost a guarantee for the social system, whatever it is, to be a well liked system by its people.
Existence and role of the electronic media is no less in weight and cannot be ignored for current state of affairs in the country.
Absence of effective check over private channels TV anchorpersons for their adherence to internationally accepted norms of journalism has generally resulted in the form of lopsided faulty reporting and unethical journalism, thus causing ultimate damage to democracy.
Under fluttering flag of democracy, being fed at tax payer’s money, role and conduct of parliamentarians is centric to understand the theme of this article, i.e, future of democracy in Pakistan is bleak.
How much lawmaking, for education, health, police, judicial and tax reforms has been done by parliamentarians during an uninterrupted span of thirteen years of democracy.
Lawmaking is only possible when lawmakers attend parliament sessions regularly and behave in a civilized, sober, responsible and dutiful manner.
Every parliament session is marred by ruckus, jeering and brawling amongst ruling and opposition party members.
Nation has barely witnessed any parliament session which concluded peacefully with some positive output.
Without entangling further, with whatever described above, if someone still thinks that democracy will nurture and become strong under prevailing circumstances, then he is simply called extremely naïve.
—The writer is contributing columnist, based in Rawalpindi.
