The Quaid-e-Azam envisioned a totally independent and supreme parliament but the kind of democracy enforced in Pakistan did not synchronise with the concept.
These views were expressed by noted journalist and social activist I A Rehman on Friday evening while speaking on the topic ‘Pakistan and Democracy’ at the Jinnah Medical and Dental College’s Mairaj Muhammad Khan memorial lecture. The event was held to mark the first death anniversary of veteran politician Mairaj Muhammad Khan, leader of the Qaumi Mahaz-e-Azadi.
Rehman said the first and foremost edict of democracy was the guarantee of safety of life and property but, unfortunately, that was nowhere visible.
The journalist referred to military dictator General Ziaul Haq’s move whereby he made a solemn promise to the nation to quit after three months and restore democracy but his three months “dragged into 11 years”.
In 1971, he said, the elected representatives were also deprived of power. Delving further into history, he talked about the dictatorial rule of Ayub Khan and said that on account of his suppression, it was found at the end of his rule that the unity of East and West Pakistan had gone very fragile and just a couple of years later “we saw the tragic outcome”.
Rehman said conditions for democracy were not rife from the very beginning. In this, he laid part of the blame on the Objectives Resolution of 1948 which made a demand for a theocratic state. While recognising the merits of both democracy and religion, he said, various aspects of the two often came into a clash with each other.
From day one, he said, successive governments had meted out step-motherly treatment to leftist movements, treating the leftists as lesser citizens, or even as outcasts, and it was these leftist forces that had been crusading for genuine democracy.
“Democracy comes from fair elections,” he reminded the gathering. Another thing from which democracy sprang was complete adherence to human rights, he added.
“Democracy cannot function in a selective, elitist set-up where the workers, peasants, women, and the marginalised groups are treated as lesser citizens,” he said.
The speaker said the fact that there were no elections for 24 years after the establishment of Pakistan was a very big drawback. On account of this factor, he said, the democratic culture could not be cultivated among the masses.
However, he cautioned that imposition of democracy was an endeavour that could not be left wholly and solely to the politicians.
His talk was followed by an animated question-answer session. In reply to one of the questions, he cursed the feudal social set-up and the curse of a classed society which was where those at the top rung of the social ladder were just not interested in the democratic persuasion. In fact, democracy ran counter to their whims, he said.
Winding up, Dr Jaffer Ahmed, former director of the Karachi University’s Pakistan Study Centre, said that at the time of Partition, “we had the critical mass that could power the engine of democracy in the persons of people like like Ghaffar Khan, Wali Khan, and GM Syed but owing to the whims of the governments in those days, they were treated as traitors and anti-state elements, while the religious parties that opposed the creation of Pakistan were given all the importance.”
Theocracy, he said, did not in any way, benefited the masses.
“Pakistan must accept the reality of secularism and revise the Constitution accordingly.
“As long as there’s feudalism in the country, neither the parliamentary system nor the presidential system will be successful,” he said.
Professor Anis Zaidi compered the proceedings. He paid rich tributes to the late Mairaj Muhammad Khan and eulogised his services to the cause of democracy.