The evolution of politics

If this process continues there is a genuine chance of transition from a hard state to a strong, more responsible one.

Pakistan has no dearth of wise souls. So clever are some among us that when a pied piper with redoubtable credentials came charging to Islamabad to dictate his terms, they lost all volition and came along marching like puppets on a string. Even wiser were our media and political pundits who took no time in declaring this painfully long march culminating into a sit-in, an unprecedented revolution. The women who exposed their infants to extreme cold and the risk of pneumonia as their leader sat pontificating in his cozy bullet-proof box were lauded as our great liberators. They, after all, had come to the federal capital to put an end to a corrupt system based on the cults of personality. Nobody had time to relent and reflect as to how on earth the blind followers of a leader were supposed to offer the cure to the very disease that afflicted them.

Many of my esteemed colleagues, too, lost all sense of perspective. Everything wrong in this country had to be democracy’s fault. The troubles that the incumbents inherited and those they invented through their bad governance were to be used to build a case against democracy. But when has this system ever been allowed to operate? Mind you, in 65 years of our existence, this is the time that the people are being offered a true chance to bring change in government. They elected this lot, they suffered because of their misconduct and for the first time they get the chance to sack them. But some among us still want to behave as if democracy is something broken that needs fixing.

But what else do you expect from a country where you have boundless freedom of expression but no tolerance for imagination. A continued process will empower the masses, sensitise them, educate them and give them hitherto absent sense of ownership that will enable them to take their duties towards the state more seriously. If this process continues there is a genuine chance of transition from a hard state to a strong and more responsible one in Pakistan.

Let me be honest here. I am no apologist for the incumbents. They have brought this country to a grinding halt through their ineptness, lack of preparedness and moral courage. There is no gainsaying that our national debt, inflation and corruption in the society have all risen to new heights in the last five years. But what a peculiar time have we chosen to voice our concerns. We are barely months away from elections. And while small bits might be failing to work in tandem, the superstructure of the state is evolving.

There are three things worth noting here. First, that the class of politicians that some of us are so weary of was groomed not by a democratic dispensation but by generations of dictators. By blaming this class you blame not democracy but dictatorship. Second, unlike dictatorship, democracy gives you a chance to sack an inefficient government every five years, a privilege constantly denied to the people of this country. In contrast, even if a truly enlightened despot rules the country with maximum efficiency, there is no method to guarantee smooth succession to an equally benevolent dictator. Third, democracy is not merely the name of a process to elect a government. Everything from a free media, a vigilant judiciary, an independent election commission and a boisterous civil society are an inherent part of democracy. Together they work to ensure that the future rulers show even more deference to the wishes of their constituents and rule of law. Already the Supreme Court sent an elected prime minister home and despite all its defiance, the ruling coalition had to respect the court’s verdict.

It is an evolutionary process and without it, we would still have been Neanderthals. We have wasted 65 years in trying to bring about overnight change. And we have failed miserably every time we tried. It is about time that we start showing some patience, for there are no shortcuts in evolution.

Published in The Express Tribune, February 13^th, 2013.