Daily Times

Addressing a delegation of students from south Punjab at the Parliament House, Chairman Senate Mian Raza Rabbani said that Pakistan could not afford any more experiments. Rather there was a need to ensure continuity of the democratic system. In the PPP he is one of the few politicians who have an unblemished record. Unanimous approval of his candidature by the PML-N, the party in power, and the majority of the political parties in the Senate for the coveted position of chairman of the upper house of parliament was recognition of his services rendered for the cause of democracy throughout his political life. He has been critical of the military establishment due to the imposition of martial law in the past. However, during his discourse with the students, he was all praise for the armed forces for their sacrifices while fighting the spectre of terrorism.

He was instrumental in preparing and bringing about various amendments to the Constitution. He stands for change of the exploitative system and for continuity of the democratic system. However, he must understand that democracy is a form of government in which supreme power is vested in the people and exercised directly by them or by their elected representatives under a free electoral system. Of course, good governance, participatory democracy and transparency in decision-making are the ingredients of true democracy but these are absent from our national discourse. Corruption has eaten into society and the image of most of the PPP leaders has been tarnished, especially from 2008 to 2013. Not all leaders in other parties are saints but there has been a general perception about the PPP leadership’s ineptness and corruption, which is why the party was almost routed from Punjab in the 2013 general elections.

The fact remains that capitalism emerged with the Industrial Revolution, and its super structure is democracy. Under this system, the people of the US and Europe had a new social contract with their rulers whereby the former surrendered a part of their sovereignty by casting their vote to the rulers and, in return, got guarantees for fundamental rights, equal opportunities and the promise of socio-economic justice. In Pakistan, eminences and leading lights talk about democracy, justice, rule of law and constitutionalism. However, members of the ruling elite are considered above the law and they control all the resources of the country. An ordinary person with a middle-class background cannot afford to field himself as a candidate for a provincial or national assembly seat. The people will lose faith in the system if it does not address their problems.

In entrenched democracies, focus is placed on egalitarianism, safeguarding human rights and stipulating basic need oriented policies that give priority to development and socio-economic justice in society. In Pakistan, members of the ruling elite try to concentrate powers for themselves, obvious from the 18th Amendment that gave unprecedented powers to the heads of political parties. Two clauses in the 18th Amendment have made top leaders of political parties virtual dictators. One is the deletion of sub-clause 4 of Article 17, which stated: “Every political party shall, subject to law, hold intra-party elections to elect its office-bearers and party leaders.” In fact, this article should have been further strengthened by incorporating the provision that party elections be held under the Election Commission of Pakistan’s (ECP’s) watch to put an end to sham intra-party elections held just to comply with the formalities of the Political Parties Act.

Unfortunately, Pakistan’s history has been characterised by periods of military dictators and civilian dictators. Pakistan has overwhelmingly remained a feudal society where jagirdars, vaderas, sardars and pirs (all landowners) still wield enormous power. They enjoy political clout and are in cahoots with the nouveau riche industrial class and bureaucracy, which control the state. Whenever there is a military dispensation, they join the bandwagon. They are master political strategists who ride the tide and turn the surge to their advantage. Can anybody claim that he/she has not compromised with a military dictator in one way or another? However, the hearts of patriotic Pakistanis bleed to find the nation divided on various planes destroying the very fabric of national cohesion.

Today, economic disparity, socio-economic injustice, political instability, rampant corruption, a rising crime rate, target killings, energy crisis and ineffective criminal justice system, especially in the lower courts, are the challenges facing the nation that need to be met through unity and harmony between the pillars of the state. For six and a half decades, a majority of the people has been living in the gloom of stalking poverty, squalor, want and deprivation. They have weathered storms and have suffered from manmade calamities like terrorism. But they are neither the focus of the ruling elite or anchorpersons, analysts and intellectuals who more often than not highlight the elite’s grouses rather than highlighting the grievances of the downtrodden. One can hardly ever hear discussions about finding ways and means to improve the lives of the teeming millions living in abject poverty.

During the sit-in by the PTI and PAT the rest of the political and religious parties held a joint session of parliament. Their leaders said they would resist every move against the democratic order in the country and stand by the government in such an eventuality despite differences with the ruling PML-N. In their speeches, PPP leaders said any attempt to impose dictatorship in the garb of national government would be resisted tooth and nail by the PPP. There have been a lot of discussions and polemics to find ways and means to stop the army’s intervention and promulgation of martial laws but no serious effort was ever made to identify the causes that led to the promulgation of martial laws in Pakistan. For the continuity of democracy, politicians have to practice democracy in their parties, provide the basic necessities of life and utilities at affordable prices to the people and ensure good governance.

The writer is a freelance columnist. He can be reached at mjamil1938@hotmail.com