The fog of democracy

Making sense of Pakistan’s politics and how the civilian leadership is coping with the conduct of Operation Zarb-e-Azb and the National Action Plan is a tough assignment. The Sharif that is rising and shining is not Nawaz. And the ordinary people, the ultimate guardians of a democratic dispensation, are applauding this shift in focus.
Conversations with well-informed people in select gatherings have left me with the impression that the present arrangement is increasingly becoming untenable. Even defying reason or logic at times, fears – or expectations – about intervention of some kind are gaining ground. Meanwhile, the hype created around the fiftieth anniversary of the September 1965 war is still reverberating in the media, though its pace has slackened.
Against this backdrop, the International Day of Democracy was marked on Tuesday, September 15. The UN General Assembly had designated this day in 2007 and member countries are expected to celebrate it as a vindication of democracy and its values. But there are ‘Days’ that are observed every week or with a higher frequency. They provide useful pegs to column and editorial writers. Otherwise, almost no one takes any notice of them.
But democracy, with all its mystifications, is a subject of prime concern in Pakistan at this time. Or it has always been because of the abiding civil-military imbalance. A debate was held in the Senate on Tuesday to commemorate the Day of Democracy and Chairman Raza Rabbani articulated the concerns of men of conscience when he said that weaknesses of the politicians had made Article 6 redundant. PML leader Iqbal Zafar Jhagra claimed that there was “no challenge to the democratic system due to the civil-military relationship”.
On the other hand, the PPP senators argued that there was a “disconnect” between the civil and the military leaderships and they were not on the same page. Obviously, there was a note of alarm in what Raza Rabbani had to say. The impression you get is that the military is stepping into civilian territory and there is nothing that the constitutional guarantees can do to check this incursion. The pity of it is that democracy, as it has been practiced by our present and previous political regimes, has not earned the support of the people.
On Tuesday, Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif addressed the Farmers’ Convention in Islamabad. He announced a huge – Rs341 billion – package for small farmers. This is what politicians do to win support but such stratagems bring no profit. On the International Day of Democracy, he declared September 15 as Youm-e-Kissan.
Nawaz Sharif spoke at length. Some remarks that he made allowed this newspaper to have this headline as its lead on Wednesday: ‘Some people want to take over by removing me: PM’. It may understandably have raised some eyebrows. Is he becoming a bit insecure? Or was it an observation that was not specific in any respect? Be that as it may, the political temperature is beginning to rise.
So far as democracy is concerned, it would be instructive to look at the state of the Pakistani society in the context of the daily lives of the people. We know, and we are constantly reminded, that elections per se do not a democracy make. Our problem is that even elections are usually not credible. But the larger issue is the inability of the elected governments to govern in a judicious manner. Some of our political leaders have inexplicably been corrupt to the bone. Karachi provides a good example of what unchecked plunder by inefficient officials can do to an urban settlement.
Talking of democracy, it was fitting for the United National Democracy Fund to hold a gathering in Athens to celebrate the Day. Prince Karim Aga Khan presented the keynote address and the reports that I have read have underlined an essential component of democracy: the quality of life of the people. The spiritual leader of the Ismaili community said: “I believe that the progress of a democracy in our world is fundamentally linked to improving the quality of human life”.
He cited the ability to understand constitutional systems, independent and pluralistic media, strong civil society and commitment to diversity and social dialogue as key elements in achieving the goal of improving quality of life. “Democracy can only survive if it demonstrates, across the years and across the planet, that it is the best way to achieve that goal”, he added.
Can democracy survive in Pakistan? Perhaps the more pertinent question will be if democracy can take roots in a society like ours, afflicted with extreme social inequality and injustice. There has been some focus on education with the protest launched by parents against rising cost of education in private schools. But the entire system is faulty and the only legitimate means for social mobility on the basis of merit and competence has become the primary source of inequality.
An initiative on the scale of the National Action Plan should ideally serve as an instrument for democratising society. After all, combating terrorism, extremism, crime and corruption should promote conditions in which democracy can flourish. But this does not happen when the military presides over the campaign.
When we contemplate Pakistan’s calamitous encounters with democracy, India emerges as a valid point of reference. Irrespective of its quality and achievements, democracy in India has not been under threat. Elections remain credible and there have been frequent transfers of power. Why?
Here is a somewhat longish quote from Strobe Talbott’s ‘Engaging India’ that recounts a dialogue between the US and India after the nuclear tests of May 1998: “Indian democracy has always been a mystery bordering on a miracle, not so much because of how it works as because it works at all. In many respects, India seemed destined, even designed, never to become a democracy, or to fail if it ever tried to become one.
“For centuries it was a victim of invasion from north-west. Then it was the large colony of a small island off the coast of Europe. Its independence coincided with a bloody and divisive conflict over partition. Its hierarchical, caste-based social order was – and will be as long as it lasts – at odds with the very idea of political equality. Its economic order permits the acquisition of fabulous wealth alongside abject poverty on a massive scale.
“Add to these factors the uninspiring record of other countries that broke free of colonialism after World War II, only to wallow in authoritarianism for decades afterwards, and Indian democracy would have seemed far from a sure bet in 1947”. So, why is India a democracy and Pakistan, effectively, is not?
The writer is a staff member.
Email: ghazi_salahuddin@ hotmail.com