LAHORE:
In a democracy, political adversaries function within the confines set by laws and the Constitution. Everyone has a right to project his opinion or ideology without resorting to violence. For a democracy to function and deliver, a “majority party” or a coalition of more than one party must assume power through the ballot with an opposition consisting of one or more parties whose members are elected to parliament.
There is no concept of a one-party system in a democracy. The spirit of democracy requires both opposition and majority to interact within parliament to legislate laws through collective wisdom for the welfare of people and safeguard the national interest. Constitutional democracy is a system of governance where the will of the people prevails to serve the people and be accountable to them. Rule of law must prevail and not individual whims, otherwise, it degenerates into a fascist system.
Today’s adversaries can become allies tomorrow, or each chooses to tread his own path, but this adversity should never degenerate into an enmity to destroy each other through the use of violence or abuse of power. In pre-partition India, there were two political adversaries Congress and All India Muslim League. Both represented opposite political agendas and manifestos, yet they remained civil, and the subcontinent was ultimately partitioned through political negotiations. There was no armed struggle in the freedom movement for the creation of Pakistan. It was purely a political and constitutional struggle waged under the dynamic vision of Muhammad Ali Jinnah and other pioneers like Allama Iqbal. For Pakistan to survive and flourish as a sovereign independent state, a modern democratic welfare state that Quaid-e-Azam envisioned must emerge, with no space for fascism or autocracy.
Published in The Express Tribune, March 27th , 2023.
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