In a democracy, countervailing forces are usually strengthened when dissent occurs.
RAWALPINDI: This in reference to Touqir Hussain’s article titled ‘Democracy vs democracy’ (June 25). To paint the role of Pakistan’s highly politicised army and weak political formations with the same brush reflects very poor understanding of Pakistan’s history and can only lead to flawed analysis of Pakistan’s complicated geopolitical frame.
In my judgment, the army’s enduring role as the primary purveyor of the civil and military complex and beneficiary of an unduly large portion of the national income has created an asymmetrical political and socio-economic power structure which has impeded Pakistan’s progress on multiple fronts. Unabated, the army sucks up a significant portion of the budget, is guilty of bludgeoning democracy movements, consistently feeds into an anti-India hysteria, in part to legitimise its own raison d’etre, and allegedly harbours good relations with an amalgam of fundamentalist entities.
As for the judiciary, the revolt which was triggered by street power resulted in the chief justice’s reinstatement and its emboldening impact on people’s voice and on the judiciary as an institution has seemingly seeped into the psyche of most Pakistanis, a phenomenon that should form part of the broader national narrative of our times.
Young as it is, Pakistan’s media is understandably irresponsible. It is, however, set on a healthy trajectory and the profusion of social media tools have, by and large, set into motion conversations on a wide variety of hitherto veiled subjects.
In a democracy, countervailing forces are usually strengthened when dissent occurs, even when it raises its ugly head in the form of a Mumtaz Qadri or a Pastor Jones.
Indeed, there are disparate paradigms under which democracies have unravelled in a number of countries, deviating in significant ways from the traditional notions of democracy. For a more detailed discussion on these and related issues read essays by Graham Allison, Harvard Kennedy School of Government.
For the moment, however, it is interesting to read the paths and processes through which democratic movements took course in countries such as Bangladesh, Vietnam, Malaysia and Chile. And, of course, there are lessons to be learnt from Iraq, Afghanistan and the Arab uprising.
Rao Amjad Ali
Published in The Express Tribune, June 27th, 2011.=
