Democracy in disarray

The politicians of Pakistan often and stridently call one another out for supposedly ‘damaging’ democracy. Few pause, step back and look at what they collectively have done to degrade the greatest institutions of state. Democracy is indeed at hazard, savaged by the very people that were elected to uphold it. The damage is being done not by any hidden hand but live on camera, and the culprits are in plain view. The wrecking ball is currently being swung by the Sindh Assembly that has again failed to complete its agenda.



On Friday 3^rd November it was adjourned by the speaker without hearing a range of legislation and public interest issues. Thus it is that the Assembly never debated the plight of farmers whose sugar is yet to begin to be crushed causing them financial hardship (mill owners have pockets full of politicians); illegal encroachments on graveyards, a bill concerned with the safety of blood transfusions and the much-vexed problem of encroachments on Edhi centres in Sindh. All of these matters are of considerable import and some are urgent in terms of a need for a resolution.



Sessions often start late and not infrequently fail to reach a quorum necessitating an adjournment. The government routinely ignores legislation emanating from opposition members and there are reportedly thousands of questions on ‘holdover’. Outdated questions are tabled and find their way on to the agenda, effectively blocking the process by the volume of unanswered questions that are never going to get as far as a ballot as to whether they will be heard or not. Respect for the institution itself hit another low during prayers offered for Dina Wadia, daughter of M A Jinnah who died on 2^nd November — MPAs continued vocal protests during the prayers. As a display of how not to run a provincial assembly it was of textbook quality. The members served up a squalid display of inefficiency, rabid partisanship and an overarching disregard for the people of Sindh that they are elected to represent. A threat to democracy? Look no further than the Sindh Assembly.

Published in The Express Tribune, November 5^th, 2017.

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