The dictatorship deficit

It is all too easy to criticise the incumbent and past democratic governments for their failures. They are many, varied and seemingly play on an electoral loop, constantly repeating with the lessons of history unlearned. There may be a reason for this as suggested by Chief Justice Anwar Zaheer Jamali who was speaking at a ceremony organised by the Endowment Fund for the Preservation of Heritage on March 19. His argument was that the successive imposition of martial law has prevented the evolution of democracy and that the majority of the population remains largely ignorant of the real spirit of democracy. This argument has both merit and substance — but it must not be in any way offered as an excuse for the ills of the existing democratic system — which is a pale version of elective feudalism today.

Viewed objectively, democracy has been on a hiding to nothing from the outset. The state came into being with little in the democratic toolbox, zero in terms of coherent political maturity and a struggle for power inside what passed for the political cadre that continues today. The military from the beginning were both the power-brokers and the kingmakers, and when the kings — or queens — failed to deliver then they were sidelined and khaki governance took over. That cycle now appears to be at an end but democracy remains elusive. The balance remains weighted towards the military in most matters governmental; but the civilians are at the very least getting an opportunity to be engaged in the democratic process long enough to move beyond the kindergarten and flinging teddies around the playpen every time there is a disagreement about the colour of the wallpaper. The current dispensation, flawed as it is, is making some significant advances in terms of statecraft and looking beyond a single electoral cycle. It has yet to divest itself of being Punjab-centric and wholly inclusive in provincial terms, and the provincial assemblies themselves can hardly be regarded as mature political entities — but there is an increasingly evident evolution ‘in process’. And democracy everywhere is never anything less than incomplete, a work in progress.

Published in The Express Tribune, March 22^nd, 2016.

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