Since the dawn of independence in 1947 Pakistan has been ruled by elected governments and military rulers time and again. The first constitution of Pakistan was discarded in 1958 and then the second constitution of 1962 enacted by a military ruler was again thrown in the dust bin by another dictator in 1969. The third constitution enacted in 1973 by the first elected Prime Minister Z.A. Bhutto fortunately has withstood the test of time and along with many amendments has survived to this day. For most of its existence the country has been ruled directly or indirectly by the military and as the nation has just elected a new govt. after the 8th February elections we are again faced with hopes, fears and hurdles in the way of democracy in Pakistan.
Martial law or rule of the military does not seem possible now and it is now believed that our political leaders are now more sensible and mature, Democratic governments have performed relatively well and have managed an orderly and smooth transfer of power as well. The Election Commission has performed in a very professional and constitutional manner and the general public is now more aware of their rights and responsibilities. All these recent happenings augur well for the future of democracy in Pakistan while at the same time political engineering, feudal system, corruption of political leaders, low rates of literacy and poverty can prove to be impediments in the way of our democratic journey so we can expect a lot of hopes, barriers hurdles and difficulties in future.
The founding fathers of Pakistan led by Mohd. Ali Jinnah introduced secular democracy in Pakistan but the sudden death of Jinnah impeded the progress of democracy and then Liaquat Ali Khan could not implement the vision of Jinnah before he met a tragic end at the hands of an assassin. Ayub Khan derailed democracy in 1958 and then Bhutto appeared on the scene with renewed hopes for democracy. Yahiya Khan held the 1970 elections in which Sheikh Mujeeb-ur- Rehman won the majority in West Pakistan yet he was decided to rule and that resulted in the tragedy of the 1971 war and the breakup of the country. The Bhutto regime was short-lived when general Zia clamped martial law and Bhutto was sent to the gallows. After the death of Zia Pakistan again witnessed the spectacle of political musical chairs and the rule of the PMLN and PPP one after the other until the Nawaz Sharif Govt. was sent packing by General Musharraf and Pakistan was once again under military rule. Fortunately during the Zia and Musharraf regimes the 1977 constitution was not abrogated and has survived to this day.
Fortunately for the country democracy can move forward and flourish because the powerful military establishment will not impose direct military rule and dismantle the edifice of democracy. In the present times and age the international community of today is in no mood to accept military rule they would rather impose sanctions on any country under military rule. Pakistan today is in an advanced stage of developments with projects like CPEC going full steam and the establishment is fully aware of the ground realities. Pakistan’s relations with the sole superpower the USA are now rather strained and we have hostile neighbors in the East and West also namely India and Afghanistan so the idea of martial law is now obsolete and Pakistan has to be governed by a democratic govt. Fortunately for us the senior political leaders are now more sensible and mature unlike the past when one democratic party conspired against the party in power and derailed democracy. In 1977 the PNA launched a protest movement against the ruling Govt. of Z A Bhutto after the 1977 elections and instead of solving the issue through dialogue the demanded the ouster of the Bhutto Govt. facilitating the second martial law of general Zia Ul Haque that lasted for eleven long years. Nawaz Sharif as CM Punjab was daggers drawn with the Federal Govt. led by Benazir Bhutto and tried his best to topple her govt.Consequently Benazir adopted the same tactics to remove Nawaz Sharif in 1993. Both Nawaz and Benazir expressed joy and glee and distributed sweets at the misfortune of the other. Political leaders of today have perhaps learnt their lesson and they do not adopt such tactics against their political rivals. In 2008 during the rule of the PPP Nawaz and Zardari were engaged in a verbal battle but did not resort to the tactics of the old days and democracy was not derailed at that time. On the other hand, Zardari got an opportunity to remove Nawaz government during Imran Khan continuous protest in Islamabad. However, he realized that it would play in the hand of anti-democratic elements. Thus, the democratic leaders have now turned mature and avoiding taking any step that could harm the civilian rule.
Fortunately during the recent past successive democratic Governments in the country have performed fairly well and that augers well for the future of democracy. Every existing govt. has by and large been better than the previous govt. by performance and the next one will prove to be even better. The democratically elected govt. of the PPP from 2008 to 2013 faced the multiple horrors religious extremism, obscurantism and intolerance and the next elected govt. was able to meet these challenges and restore peace in the land. Thus the performance of many governments has proved that the country can be governed by elected govt. ironically democracy in Pakistan is still in a fragile state and it is imperative for our political leaders to show maturity and political wisdom. Leaders have to strive for improving the socio economic conditions of the people they represent and to win their trust cooperation and love. Democracy in Pakistan faces both hopes and impediments and it is vital to remove such hurdles to ensure civilian rule and the long life of democracy in the country.
views expressed are writer’s own.
