Waiting for democracy

While we wait for elections to be held – with bated breath, perhaps – there are matters of greater significance that trouble the minds of people who genuinely care about the future and the well-being of this country.

No one knows where it is headed, given the moves that are being made on the political chessboard. And the use of force against Baloch protesters by the federal capital police has greatly added to the prevailing sense of anxiety and distress.

Though the electoral process is still in its initial phase, it is becoming evident that it is not fair and transparent. Pakistan has had a sad history of electoral calamities in the context of how the elections were conducted and what their consequences have been. The will of the people has almost never prevailed, mainly because the supreme power exists elsewhere.

Against this perspective, the present situation is exceptionally critical. Essentially, the kind of political activity that paves the way for free and fair elections is not in evidence. Ideally, an electoral process would be a political festival, allowing the people to rejoice in the power they hold as the arbiters of power that their rulers would exercise. As it is, this opportunity is presented to the electorate only once in five years.

This time, there are no signs yet of any popular mobilization and because of the tensions that have darkened the political horizon, there is no clarity about the ideological and policy leanings of particular parties. Real issues that relate to the needs and aspirations of the people have not attracted the attention of the media and the parties.

A number of perceptive observers of Pakistan’s politics seem convinced that the February 8 elections will not lead to political stability. This impression is created by the administration’s concerted efforts to keep the PTI out of the race. A lot of dust has been raised in post-May 9 developments, resulting in the fragmentation of the original party. But the cult following of the leader is said to have been energized as a response to the suppression of the party. What this means is not very clear, though the commotion caused in the social media is formidable.

Many issues have landed in the superior courts and there are judgments that appear to have only a partial impact on proceedings that are conducted in the political domain. Some developments are seen to be in the PTI’s favour while others clearly constitute setbacks.

On Friday, the Supreme Court approved the post-arrest bail of former prime minister Imran Khan and ex-foreign minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi in the cipher case. Both are incarcerated in Adiala Jail. However, Imran Khan was not expected to be released because he has also been arrested in other cases.

Also on Friday, the Election Commission of Pakistan announced its judgment to deny the PTI the election symbol of ‘bat’ for its members to contest the forthcoming elections. This judgment came just a few hours after the PTI met the ECP, following the Supreme Court order, with its concerns regarding the lack of a level playing field for the party in the run up to the elections.

Meanwhile, an event that took place on the outskirts of Islamabad late on Wednesday is seen as a measure of the present rulers’ disdain for rule of law, due process, and democratic values. It has stunned civil society. Obviously, there is no excuse for the kind of violence that the Islamabad police used against Baloch protesters, mainly women and children, who had marched from Turbat, suffering considerable hardships in their long journey. In Islamabad’s winter, water cannons were also used against the protesters.

The long march to Islamabad was in protest against the alleged extrajudicial killing of Balach Baloch and others in Turbat. They are also protesting against enforced disappearances.

Condemning the violent state crackdown on Baloch citizens who had led the long march, the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP) said that the “obdurate state” had shed its constitutional and moral responsibility for protecting and fulfilling the rights of all citizens.

In response to the shock and grief that the use of unwarranted force against the Baloch protesters has caused, there has been some damage control on the part of the government. On Friday, President Arif Alvi and caretaker Prime Minister Anwarul Haq Kakar held a telephonic conversation to express their concern over Wednesday night’s police action.

When you try to grasp the entire picture, the dominant impression you get is that Pakistan is not about to move into a phase in its history that may be described as democracy. That immortal yearning of the people for a just society that ensures democratic freedoms for all its citizens remains unrealized.

Are we then, simply, ‘Waiting for Godot’? I am resorting to this allusion because we do need parables to illustrate our state of affairs when the reality that exists on the ground becomes hard to describe or interpret. Hence, I am leaning on this classic play by Samuel Beckett that is considered to be the most significant English language play of the 20th century.

Actually, it left critics bewildered as to what it says because we just have two characters on the stage who are constantly and desperately waiting for ‘Godot’. The identity of ‘Godot’ remains a mystery. But he never arrives. For some critics, it is a ‘tragicomedy’. Mostly, it is believed to be about the meaning of life and the absurdity of existence. Some critics have identified its themes as the passing of time and suffering.

There may not be all that mystery in our waiting for democracy. But will democracy come? And when? Besides, will it deliver in the context of what it is supposed to be?

Be that as it may, we are condemned to play the waiting game. That this wait seems endless would not bring our expectations – or apprehensions – to an end. There is little that we can do, except waiting.

The writer is a senior journalist. He can be reached at: ghazi_salahuddin@hotmail.com