Pakistan: The Mirage of Democracy
By K.N. Pandita
Exporting democracy to the Asian countries was a much-hyped mantra of Bush administration. Iraq was destroyed to bring her the gift of “western type democracy”. Now Afghanistan and more lately the tribal areas of Pakistan are going to be painted democratic by combined US-Pakistan army operations. This is democracy through the barrel of the gun.
Americans make loud noise about democracy in Pakistan. Under this rubric, Washington egged on Musharraf to quit. Their sponsored process for democratic Pakistan began with a warning shot, namely the assassination of one who was deemed to symbolise democracy in that country. Benazir’s assassins signalled they would implement sharia rule and not Westminster-type democracy.
However, when the exercise began, western type democratic process could not be rejected or replaced and sharia rule was not adopted. Pro-sharia champions began responding with Kalashikovs, rockets, firefight and suicide bombing. They claim creating moles in all segments of Pakistani civil society, army, intelligence agencies and higher echelons of her bureaucracy with networks all over the country and abroad.
The ”democratic” government is now locked in fierce battles with and resistance to the proliferating sharia activists who seem to be logistically on more firm ground. The state is at war with itself.
Democracy does not mean just voting by the electorate and forming the government of representatives and meeting in assembly and swearing by democratic rule. Democracy, in fact, is a culture and a way of life. That culture and that way of life are not allowed to grow in Pakistan. Therefore her democracy is only something in letters and not in spirit. Its perpetuation is not only uncertain but also assuredly impracticable.
Why did not that culture develop in Pakistan? There are solid reasons. A country cartographed on the basis of religion has to be a theocratic state, and theocracy, in whatever form and structure it is, is anti-democracy. A state that is raised on the foundation of hatred and animus against other communities and a faith other than its official religion cannot become democratic. It undercuts the element of tolerance that is crucial to the growth and perpetuation of democratic culture.
Democracy does not accept class distinction, nor does Islam, because that encourages factional rule. Three segments of Pakistan’s society have been working in tandem ever since the creation of that state. These are the Generals, landlords and the upper echelons of bureaucracy. They have common economic interests having extensively and intensively cemented the triumvirate through economic and matrimonial alliances.
Had democratic culture been part of Pakistan’s political life, Bangladesh would not have separated; Mohajirs would never have formed their separate and hostile entity, Balochis would not have needed to be bombarded, Nawwab Bugti would not have been massacred and Zilfiqar Ali never hanged.
In order to promote their vested interests, this combine stonewalls passing of political power to the masses of people. Whenever under specific circumstances or foreign pressure, a semblance of democracy is created; it ends up in a fiasco with a powerful military general overthrowing the elected government, grabbing the reins of power and justifying his action by swearing to bring in democracy. With one stroke of pen the General removes the elected ministry, the national assembly, and country’s democratic institutions and then unilaterally declares his amendments to the constitution.
A constitution is a sacred document embodying the philosophy of the state and the aspirations of its people. It is set forth after a great debate among the elected representatives of the people. The elected representatives can amend its clauses only through a great and serious debate in formal sessions of national assembly. But the General, who assumes power as a result of a coup, has the audacity to throw the wishes and aspirations of the people to winds and announce arbitrary amendments to the constitution only to suit his ambition and personal interests.
The province of Punjab dominates the entire country. A province with the largest population, manpower, agriculture and water resources has dominated all walks of life leaving other nationalities deprived of their legitimate share. The process of integration of Pakistani society has remained elusive. The Sindhis, Balochs, Mohajirs, Seraikis, Pushtoons, Swatis, Baltis and Kashmiris, all have litanies of complaints of deprivation and discrimination, very real in most cases, against the rulers in Punjab. Discrimination on the basis of nationality is a formidable impediment in the way of democracy taking roots in Pakistan.
Created on the basis of two-nations theory, and projected as the state for the Muslims of the sub-continent, Pakistan’s chance of survival has come to its logical conclusion. It is the promulgation of sharia rule. Is it not ironic that a country created on the basis of religion should have delayed implementation of cherished religious law and way of life for last sixty years of her existence? Does it not speak of a split personality? Pakistan is virtually ruled by four systems of law at one and the same time. These are the law of colonial period (in part), Pakistan Penal Code, Sharia law (in part) and now the Pakistani Taliban or puritanical Islamic law envisaging explicit Wahhabism. To add to this, the tribal laws are a class by itself in the NWFP for which local people have much more regard than any other law.. In this matrix of vast juridical contradictions and complexities, religious extremists are justified in demanding rejection of all extraneous laws and retention and full enforcement of sharia law.
Sectarian hatred and raising armed sectarian brigades is a sign of vanishing law and order and dragging society to the abyss of disaster. It cuts at the roots of democracy. In democracy, power should rest in the hands of the elected government and no group can take law into its hand.
Endemic hatred and animus against India and stupendous propaganda against her has made Pakistani rulers believe in their hypocrisy. Dreaming of grabbing Kashmir through muscle power is part of that entrenched “belief in hypocrisy.” A country that nurses rank hypocrisy is not capable of letting democracy grow and prosper as it should.
These being the reasons why democracy is not able to take roots in Pakistan, it has to be noted that that country will continue with her search for stabilised personality for another century to come. Induction of democratic culture means egalitarianism in which people become the owners of the source of production. Unless Pakistan stops her policy of maintaining religious militias as second line of defence in her fight against India, closes down the madrassashs – the breeding ground of anti-India hatred – and allows open-minded Muslim intellectuals play their role intensively and extensively in re-shaping the Pakistani mindset, not much hope remains for the Islamic Republic of Pakistan.
(The writer is the former Director, Centre of Central Asian studies at Kashmir University).