LONDON: We are a country of around 180 million people. Imagine us as travelling in a ‘bus’, headed for a destination. That destination is a place where there is peace, harmony, law and order and financial stability. And people live a happy a contented life.
If we think that the driver of this ‘bus’ — the government led by the prime minister — is not able to take us on this journey and make us reach our destination, then we can change the ‘driver’. But to that, we cannot just throw the driver while the bus is still travelling. There has to be a way to do that, some kind of rule (election). Also, the Constitution is like a framework which prevents anarchy and chaos, or else people on the bus would start jumping off, or some may decide to have their own bus.
Cliched as it may sound, the road that will take us to this destination is democracy. And, if as a nation, we think that there is any other road then I wish all such people the best of luck. These other ‘roads’ have been tried and tested and they don’t work. And that’s why they are generally found nowhere else in the world.
Shafqat Haider
Published in The Express Tribune, December 24th, 2011.
