For democracy

This refers to the article, ‘The elected vs the selected’ (Jun 17), by Dr Naazir Mahmood. The writer has rightly described the 70 years history of Pakistan and said, “Probably the best description of the history of Pakistan may be the history of the struggle between the elected and the selected .The elected being the politicians and the selected being the civil and military bureaucracy”.

It is well known that there have been gross follies from both the elected and the selected ones during the 70 years history of the country. It is said that one has to learn from one’s mistakes and not to repeat them. For example, the socio economic conditions and prosperity in the Western Europe except Greece and Portugal have been far better compared to the Eastern Europe and these have been attributed to democratic set ups. Elected rather than selected. Therefore the slogan for the country’s future should be ‘give democracy a chance’.

Dr Sher Mohammad Khan

Peshawar