Daily Times

The government has almost caved in to the pressure of the political system designed to serve the objectives of every power and entity other than the people of Pakistan. It has abandoned its election manifesto. It has neither been successful in its austerity drive nor has its frvour for accountability yielded great results.

The budget the government has presented in the parliament places the whole burden of economic meltdown on the shoulders of the common man. The hollowness of its promise to bring back looted wealth has been exposed by the amnesty scheme for declaration of hidden assets, which appeases the tax evaders rather than penalise them.

The opposition is not entirely wrong in its assessment that it is the right time to attack the government and push the country towards another electoral exercise. They know from experience that given the chance the people will reject the incumbent government and elect its opponents: them.

Elections, even though we have had many of them, are no solution for Pakistan’s woes. They don’t make political parties wiser. They only help them devise more ways to deceive and misguide them. Frequent elections in 1990s ended up in a decade-long Musharraf rule that persuaded the PPP and the PML-N to agree to the Charter of Democracy, whereby they came up with a scheme to take turns in the corridors of power. They have not chalked out policies to take the country and the nation forward. They have made provincial government autonomous, but are too reluctant to devolve power to the grassroots level.

When a third party, the PTI, emerged on the political horizon, and wrested power from the older lot, there appeared to be little chance that it would succeed where othrs had failed for the reason that the fiscal space is too small for its agenda, particularly concerning the local governments. It is bound to compromise on its manifesto for the sake of survival, if it is not to be booted out unceremoniously.

The PTI as well as the PPP and the PML-N must join hands to make Pakistan a genuine democracy. If that is done, the economy will automatically move on to the right track

The economy is not the worst problem in the country, it is the type of democracy we have. It is too elitist. Political parties have no democratic decision-making structures and no mechanism to chalk out policies and programmes for the socio-economic uplift of the country. They are not concerned with how the state will earn or collect its revenues, and where the money will be spent. All they are concerned with are the privileges of the class they represent. The rich contribute the least to the national exchequer.

How can a democracy with such a system serve as an engine of socio-economic growth? Experience of the last two decades has been that the elitist model of democracy has weakened the state to the point that its survival has become a big question mark. A regressive taxation system and rising debt and defence expenditure speak volumes about the quality of democracy that we have.

Forget about people and take care of the state that has gone in the wrong hands. The political system, built on colonial norms and traditions, needs a complete overhaul. Though 70-plus years have passed since it came into being, it has yet to begin anew by breaking with the colonial heritage.

If we have to stay democratic, and experience economic growth as well, relationship between the state and the people has to be redefined, and administrative structure overhauled accordingly. People have to be treated like citizens and not subjects. If the state can’t guarantee equality and freedom for its people, duly reflected by its constitution and penal codes, it can’t make democracy an engine of socio-economic growth.

Democracy has always been taken for granted by the elite in Pakistan. Ignoring the advice Mohammad Ali Jinnah had for the first Constituent Assembly, mullahs were given an undue space in politics. The so-called consensus Constitution of 1973, modelled on the Legal Framework Order of General Yahya Khan, simply distorts the idea of citizenship. It consolidates contradictions in society, and promotes parochialism rather than national unity.

There are forces that will swear to die for the political system, which the Constitution codifies, but it is the state that has to be taken care of at the end of the day. If the law of the land is not to be changed altogether, it needs to be revised as per the Quaid’s vision. What deserves to be a preamble of the Constitution other than his August 11 address to the first Constituent Assembly?

The co-chairperson of the PPP and the president of the PML-N are talking about yet another charter, this time on economy, to check the economic meltdown, but they appear to be ignoring the link between democracy and liberal economy. If they are serious to revive economy, which is, of course, a must to cater to the needs of an increasing population and a fast changing strategic scenario, they will have to agree on ending the role of mullahs in politics; they will have to embrace the universal concept of citizenship, and engage in serious efforts to model the constitution and the administrative structure as per the vision of the Quaid.

The PTI, the PPP and the PML-N must join hands to make Pakistan a genuine democracy. If that is done, the economy will automatically move on to the right track. There is nothing for anyone in confrontation. We have had enough of that. The more the government and the opposition tread this path, the worse the situation will be in terms of security and stability of Pakistan.

The writer is a freelancer