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Thursday March 28, 2024

Pakistani democracy and the rule of law

By Ayaz Amir
June 28, 2016

Islamabad diary

Pakistani champions of democracy, and sometimes it’s hard to figure out whether there is anyone more confused than them, often confuse two things: democracy and the rule of law. The distinction escapes their subtle minds that you can have the rule of law without democracy – as in Europe before democracy became common – but you can’t have democracy without the rule of law.

In absolute European monarchies such as Prussia and Austria there was the rule of law but no democracy. In Britain there was freedom and democracy but it was a class-based democracy in which power mostly resided in the hands of the feudal aristocracy. And there was the rule of law – in the municipal affairs of London, for instance, the monarch could not interfere, nor indeed could the first minister. And courts acted according to the law (even if it meant ordering the hanging of prisoners for petty theft…such being the majesty of English law).

In Dubai today there is no democracy but there is respect for the law. There is more political freedom in Pakistan than in Dubai but there is more social freedom in Dubai than in our Fortress of Islam. And the minor and major corruption – in all matters related to the functioning of the administration – which is the norm here, the accepted way of transacting everyday business, is largely absent in Dubai.

There was democracy in Russia after the death of communism but instead of anything resembling the rule of law there was widespread loot and plunder of state assets, this carried out under the banner of freedom and democracy. Here in Pakistan we have elections, the other trappings of democracy and a media that would be the envy of most of the Islamic world. We have the law meticulously laid out in the law-books. But where is the observance of the letter and spirit of the law?

Indeed, there is a law about everything in Pakistan – corruption, bribery, adulteration, you name it. If anything we have an excess of law. But the observance or implementation of it is a different matter. As far as that is concerned we are closer to being an anarchic than a regulated society.

The law says don’t vandalise trees. The law lays down respect for the environment and our common heritage. Do governments care a fig about these strictures? High courts pass orders and governments ignore them or go around them. Contempt of court petitions are filed. They have not the slightest effect on anyone.

The Supreme Court itself is stormed by a mob and the then chief justice has to gather his robes about him and make a hurried exit from his august court. A commission headed by a retired judicial luminary is set up to investigate the matter. Lengthy hearings are conducted and an army of witnesses examined but the real culprits remain unidentified – jaane na jaane gul hee na jaane, bagh toh saara jaane hai.

The Supreme Court declares the 1990 elections to have been fraudulently conducted as evidence comes to light of a government agency, indeed the mother of all agencies, the ISI, distributing large sums of money among a set of politicians to help them get elected. After this grand conclusion made with a flourish no headway is made in reaching out to the culprits.

Fourteen people are gunned down in the heart of Lahore by the police over something as momentous as removing a few traffic barriers and the wheels of justice are unable to move, as if a figure out of mythology has placed a giant roadblock before them.

The constitution says local governments are a must but provincial governments are not pushed and it takes repeated efforts by the Supreme Court before, very reluctantly, local elections are held. Months pass and they are still not allowed to function. In our democracy such is the rule of law.

And such is the confidence that various standard-bearers of democracy have in this democracy that from one end of the political spectrum to the other they see to it that their assets and money are kept in safe havens abroad. They derive their political importance from this hapless land. Who would otherwise recognise them in the streets of London or New York? Their political stage, the scene of their glory, is the dear homeland. But their safety lockers are elsewhere.

Yet they are not satisfied. They must rub salt into the nation’s wounds by reading out lectures in patriotism and moral responsibility. Thievery is one thing. You take it as a fact of life. But accompanied by heavy doses of self-righteousness it becomes pretty hard to swallow.

Point out lapses and shortcomings of government and the cry goes up that this is a conspiracy against democracy. Governments are supposed to come under scrutiny in a democracy. That’s what freedom of expression is about. But here even normal criticism runs the danger of being equated with conspiracy.

Granted, democracy is a fragile commodity in a climate such as ours. Governments time and again have been overthrown by the army, constitutions torn up or put into cold storage, judges, inspired by self-serving definitions of necessity, endorsing such takeovers. What conclusion to draw from this fraught history? The foremost is that democrats have not the margin of latitude or error enjoyed by usurping generals. Given the lie of the land, they have to be extra careful.

With us a different logic prevails. Far from treading carefully, some of our politicians take democracy as a licence to lose no time in breaking all previous records of corruption. Far from acting as a spur to better performance, democracy becomes an excuse for the abuse of power.

This is what makes for democratic uncertainty in Pakistan: not just scheming or over-ambitious generals – which is a problem of course – but scheming generals and unscrupulous politicians, which makes for a fatal combination. Mossadegh was overthrown in a CIA-inspired coup in 1953. To this day his memory is revered in Iran. Once upon a time we had personally honest leaders, even if in other respects they were flawed. Muhammad Khan Junejo was no great political figure but he was personally honest and did not suffer corruption under him. What about today? Standards of personal conduct are not what they used to be.

This is the real threat to democracy. An outsized military casting a long shadow over everything is a fact of our national existence. Where so much is dysfunctional the military, by comparison, is a smooth-running institution. For this imbalance to be corrected, the political class has to give a better account of itself. It would also help if political parties brought some democracy into their own ranks. It is incongruous to preside over family fiefdoms and talk of popular representation. It looks odder still when you are seen to be grabbing with both hands and are then heard giving moral lessons to the nation.

All hope, however, is not lost. Gen Raheel Sharif has been good for Pakistan, fulfilling his responsibilities with great ability and panache. His would not be an easy act to follow but let’s hope his successor keeps his example before him. Meanwhile, Justice Mansoor Ali Shah who has given some outstanding judgements is all set to become chief justice of the Lahore High Court. The kudos for this goes to My Lord the Chief Justice…and it shows that good things can still happen in Pakistan.

Email: bhagwal63@gmail.com