Pakistan and International Democracy Day

Daily Times
By Muhammad Akram

The International Democracy Day in Pakistan was marked at a time when the nation is reeling under the constant threats of natural as well as man-made disasters. The threat of militancy and extremism was ever-growing as over 20 people were killed in a day in a suicide blast in Lower Dir in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. Over 5 million people have been badly affected by monsoon rains with 2.5 million of them affected by various diseases in Sindh, while the dengue crisis is getting out of control in Punjab and insurgency in Balochistan is growing sans a healing touch.

The highlight of the day, however, remained a little ray of hope emanating from Karachi where a five-member bench of the Supreme Court concluded proceeding on suo motu about law and order situation in Karachi. It was largely been anticipated that the apex court would come out with a just solution of the crisis, without treading on the political path, as the staggering democracy would least afford a decision marred by expediencies that could further plunge the country and the city into turmoil.

The proceedings on suo motu case on Karachi situation, which concluded coincidently on the International Democracy Day, has largely been viewed as the only way to rid the city and the entire nation of the darkness of urban terrorism unleashed on the people in the name of so-called democracy.

The reported proceedings of the case and the observations made by the learned five-member bench while encompassing all aspects of the case, including political as well as administrative from all shades and colours of the society, has raised the hope that the apex court may have reached a point where it can come up with a decision that would not only help strengthen democracy in the country but also devise ways and means to help the city get out of the clutches of all mafias operating there. The apex court’s directions to the administration and the legal attorneys of the province for day-to-day reporting of the events in the city is a hint towards further stabilisation of the situation in the city as the bench had set up a monitoring system under its direct control for the time being till it pronounces its verdict in the case.

The epicentre of terrorism in the country, North and South Waziristan agencies and the adjoining areas bordering Afghanistan also echoed in the Supreme Court to narrate the intensity of violence or terrorism in the port city. However, the focus on violence in Karachi by no means allows the political parties, the real stakeholders in a democracy, to abdicate from their responsibility of dismantling the terror networks that has swayed the country like floodings. It rather emphasises on political parties to devise a more focused and multi-prong strategy to deal with the menace that keeps emanating the restive areas of north west of the country.

The ugly face of the terrorists though had long been viewed by the democratic people of Pakistan yet the new methods being applied by them, like mortar and hand grenade attack on a school bus the other day in Peshawar and attack on a funeral in Lower Dir requires all political forces to come out to condemn the forces of darkness without mincing words.

The Economic Survey of Pakistan, 2010 released last April should have served as an eye opener to many including the political forces that still attach ifs and buts to the condemnation they released following the terror acts by the occupants of Waziristan agency and adjoining areas and rooting in the democratic society at an alarming pace.

The Economic Survey of Pakistan has it to tell the people that the war on terror has cost the country more than 35,000 citizens, 3,500 security personnel, destruction of infrastructure, internal displacement of millions of people from parts of north-western Pakistan, erosion of investment climate, nose-diving of production, growing unemployment and above all it brought the economic activities to a virtual stand in many parts of the country.

The scarcity of funds to meet the natural calamities is man-made for which no heavens need to be moved, particularly for those who possessed the courage to take them head-on like the people of Pakistan. Offering prayers to end natural calamities has been a religious and cultural expression of the hapless people of this part of the world for centuries but the champions of these expressions had seldom contributed for the development of the people. In fact, they had been a source of keeping the hapless people in ignorance, illiteracy and of course had their role in decreeing the non-democratic rule in the country as permissible under their own version of interpretation of religion.

The situation in Balochistan and the denial of fundamental rights to the people there in a working democracy, where media and judiciary are considered to be ‘independent’, is nothing but travesty of democracy functioning in the country.

The cosmetic measures taken by the central government to address the problems being faced by the people of Balochistan, particularly the missing persons’ issue, could not bear fruit. This is so because the PPP-led coalition governments both in Centre and in the province had failed to fulfill their democratic responsibilities.

The situation is far from better in Balochistan despite certain steps taken by the democratic government.

The sham democracy that has been allowed to function in the country’s most populated province, Punjab, is suffering from dengue crisis because of the one-man rule of Khadam-e-Aala Shahbaz Sharif. The outbreak of dengue last year and year before that was not taken seriously and the provincial chief has no desire to appoint a team of ministers to look into the matter.

The one-man show in the province, as was evident from the fact that the Khadam-e-Aala directly controls 14 departments, including health, is not allowing anyone to handle the situation.

However, in a country where democracy is the only accepted political system despite many experiments made by the elected and un-elected individuals, all political ailments from militancy and extremism to bad governance to insurgencies and sham democracy could be cured only with more democracy.