How elections can shape the future

Credibility gap lends greater weight to ensuring neutrality, fidelity of election process

In the larger interest of the nation, it is necessary that maximum number of people, men and women, who are eligible voters, exercise their right to vote. This is despite the despondency that prevails due to their realisation that gross interference by state institutions makes a farce of elections. There is too much at stake, as the country continues to drift and lags behind in all major elements of national power — be it the economy, politics and strategic coherence. It is equally critical that people vote for that political party or independent candidate that has relatively a better past record of serving and fulfilling promises. The past practice of being herded to the polls by vested interests needs to be discouraged.

The credibility gap lends greater weight to ensuring the neutrality and fidelity of the election process. In the past for several intertwining reasons some state institutions have breached the constitutional limits by suppressing or promoting political parties. Regrettably, this practice continues to date with the PTI its main victim, although ironically in the 2017 elections they were the favourites and beneficiaries. This indicates that political leadership equally shares responsibility for the present fragile structure of our democratic institutions and culture. Failure to adopt democratic practices within the political party and promoting dynastic preferences in power sharing makes a mockery of democracy. Looking up to favours from the establishment by some political leaders instead of focusing on the well-being of the masses and drawing power from them further distorts and weakens democracy. The failure to adhere to these basic democratic values and norms has an overarching effect embracing both state and private institutions.

Political biases of the judiciary and law enforcement agencies are influencing judgements which have been so obvious in recent times. For similar or even identical offences political leaders have been sentenced differently. There is a serious downside of ignoring the compulsions of justice and fair play. It is also against democratic ethos.

The economic policies adopted by successive governments have mostly favoured the elite rather than cater to the uplift of the broad masses. With defence and debt liabilities consuming the entire earnings Pakistan is virtually surviving on borrowed money burdening the future generations. It is not surprising that the foremost priority of the incoming civilian government would be to negotiate another IMF programme. Improving governance and seriously focusing on enhancing agricultural and industrial productivity through adoption of new technologies and better practices should lead to building a self-sustaining economy.

Looking from a global long-term perspective reinforces the fact that one of the critical determinants in the prosperity of the people is the ethos of democracy. Democratic countries are economically the most powerful sharing the highest per capita of global wealth. China too, since it focused on the well-being and uplift of its people, saw its economy grow leaps and bounds in forty years. India’s democratic governments have taken the country to be the fifth largest economy with prospects of even becoming the third within a decade, only after the US and China. In all these countries there was focus on political stability and well-being of the majority of population as key determinants that led to fast and sustained economic growth.

In essence no country can achieve sustained economic growth while suffering from chronic political instability. Pakistan remains a victim of this phenomenon ever since its creation with certain variations. Indeed, there have been periods in the last 76 years when geostrategic circumstances — such as the Cold War between the US and the former Soviet Union or the US invasion of Afghanistan after 9/11 — attracted external aid that boosted the economy and provided temporary relief to the people and even a false sense of elation. These were also periods when military rulers consolidated their grip on power, as international pressure for democracy had significantly subsided. There were also other serious damaging side-effects, like the influx of millions of Afghan refugees the burden of which Pakistan continues to carry. It also gave rise to the spread of terrorist activities, especially in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan.

The most likely outcome of the incoming elections as being predicted by analysts is that PML-N would emerge with the highest number of parliamentary seats although not necessarily enough to form a government without coalescing small parties. What gives credence to the assumption is that it is better at governance and also enjoys the support of the establishment. Moreover, with PTI practically decimated having its top leadership and hundreds of its workers behind bars, PML-N is anticipated to emerge as the largest party. What is being overlooked is that the parliament after this distortion and sharing of power with the military would cease to be sovereign and that governance will not be in accordance with the dictates of the Constitution. Going by past experience, if this model of governance is imposed on the incoming government it is unlikely to succeed. Moreover, it would exacerbate the national weaknesses and is certainly not the solution. It will also reinforce the impression that in Pakistan nothing has fundamentally changed from the past.

The conduct of foreign policy has to be compatible with the aspirations of the people. Pakistan faces multifarious geopolitical challenges. Relations with India have practically remained frozen since the dissolution of the last PML-N government. It is expected that after the national elections in both countries there would be a thaw in relations and trade and tourism could be revived. Pakistan will also have to seriously focus in improving relations with Afghanistan. The Taliban government has to be responsive to Pakistan’s genuine security concerns. It has to take deliberate measures to prevent the TTP and other hostile groups from using its territory to launch attacks on Pakistan. There are strong connections among extremist groups at both organisational and individual levels especially between the Taliban in Afghanistan and TTP. The indifference of the Taliban government towards Pakistan’s security concerns regarding the activities of TTP and other hostile groups is a major point of contention. China is perhaps one country with whom the Taliban government enjoys good relations. It is also in China’s interest that Afghan government take serious measures to control the activities of these groups.

Published in The Express Tribune, February 7^th, 2024.

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