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| Will Pakistan have full democracy? | | | B L Kak
Gen. Parvez Musharraf is, of course, a ‘stalwart’ ally of the United States. But Washington has not lowered its pressure on him to introduce changes that will eventually lead to full restoration of democracy in Pakistan. And within Pakistan itself, individuals and groups have been reported to have engaged themselves in the task, risky though, of making the Army keep away from administering the civilians and tackling their problems.
True, Gen. Musharaf has already put in place a government with Shaukat Aziz as the Prime Minister. But neither the Prime Minister nor other members in his Ministry enjoy full freedom, which comes only in a true democratic system. Aziz's government completed two years in office on August 28. Aziz’s elevation to the Prime Mnistership had come in bizarre circumstances.
First Zafarullah Jamali was made to go and then Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain served as Premier for 57 days before Aziz was elected to the National Assembly. His vote of confidence was boycotted by the opposition. However, as Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz has had the advantage of ensuring continuity for the policies that he had initiated as Finance Minister. These policies have provided stability to the economy and stimulated growth. He has also been able to lend a certain civility to official discourse, and to advancing Pakistan’s case among international monetary bodies.
On the political front, despite the years spent by him abroad in democratic environments, he has not been able to make much headway. The average citizen continues to feel neglected, and swamped by market forces, by which the government sets so much store. No bridges have been built with the opposition nor has state authoritarianism in various forms shown any significant change.
Shaukat Aziz appears to have been thrown rather suddenly into the political hurly-burly, and it is not difficult to understand if he finds himself a little at a loss. He could certainly have gone slower on the religious rhetoric that every Prime Minister and President has adopted and which fails to move the mullahs and makes no impact on the people.
But in the end it is, perhaps, pointless to either blame or praise the Prime Minister in a system where the shots are called by others, notably the military. Aziz must have known the limitations imposed by an arrangement where the Army Chief is simultaneously the President and major decision-maker.
It is, therefore, on changing the system that attention in Pakistan will have to be focused. Every time the military has intervened in politics, it has tried to create a presidential form of government or a hodgepodge of its liking. In either case, it hasn’t worked and inflicted incalculable damage on democratic institutions and the federal structure. The just concluded elections to local bodies have clearly brought out both aspects.
They have also, despite the local government dispensation worked out by the military, shown that it is impossible in a highly politicized society like ours, and in this day and age, to seek to bypass political parties. Such schemes have not worked before and will not work now. The practice of seeking to circumvent established parties by floating an official party has also always proved non-productive and only helped to deepen schisms.
The next general elections are due in 2007, when the Gen. Musharaf is also scheduled to lay down his uniform. This means that Pakistanis have just about a year or so to agree on strengthening the fundamentals of a federal parliamentary system. The present political strife and confrontation need to be replaced by efforts to arrive at a broad national consensus on governance.
The military should be able to convince itself that it is not the only repository of wisdom and that input is required from accredited political parties and elected representatives. Immediately, Parliament and the opposition should be accorded the respect that they deserve in a democracy, and then the ground prepared for the widest possible consultation between all segments of political opinion to break out of a system that holds all of us prisoner. |
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