The government has made much of the fact that President Asif Ali Zardari is the first president to address a fifth joint session of parliament, the implication being that the party managed to stay in power for the duration of its term. That, indeed, is cause for some celebration since we have seen time and again that democratically-elected governments have not been allowed to finish their term in office, mostly because of military interventions. That this has not happened this time around, or is likely to be the case, is in itself cause for some hope that perhaps, finally, democracy may be taking root in Pakistan.
As for the contents of the speech itself, there are some points that one would agree with, such as the passage of the Eighteenth and Twentieth Amendments, the constitution of a new National Finance Commission Award, and the passage of legislation on safeguarding the rights of women in society, and, in particular, in the workplace. However, there are many points in the speech which one would disagree with. For instance, the president said that the government had done much on Balochistan and one is not sure if this claim would be received with any degree of credence by many people in the country, even outside the province. The abduction of people from the province — many of whom are later found on roadsides as mutilated corpses — is continuing and instead of tackling this issue with the priority it demands, we are being told that this is the work of some foreign agency.
There was also the claim that the current government has done many things in line with the image of the founder of the country, Mohammad Ali Jinnah, and in that regard, we are not sure how much to agree with Mr Zardari. The plight of minorities — the Hindu and the Ahmadi community in particular — is far from good and the state seems to have taken a back seat in ensuring that they live a safe existence, free to practice their faith without fear of harassment (or much worse). Furthermore, the perception that the current government is mired in corruption has in fact been reinforced over time. To that end, one would have to agree to a considerable degree with what the leader of the opposition said in response to the president’s speech: that which country was Mr Zardari talking about in his speech.
Published in The Express Tribune, March 18th, 2012.
COMMENTS (5)
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What cannot be denied this government is its better record on empowering women, reforms in the tribal areas, surrender of objectionable presidential powers inherited from past dictatorial and autocratic dispensations to parliament through the 18th Amendment, and setting a good precedent of appointing the Leader of the Opposition in the National Assembly as head of the Public Accounts Committee. It is another matter that that worthy has resigned from that post and is engaged, along with his PML-N colleagues, in frothing at the mouth at the president and government without being able to produce any cogent arguments that may have appeal to the electorate. The opposition’s behaviour in parliament during the presidential address was deplorable, violative of parliamentary norms, which include respect from parliament to the office of the president, and disrespecting the dignity of the house. Hopefully these are the rough edges of our young democracy that will be smoothed out with time and maturity.
The problems of energy shortages, corruption and poor performance of state run utilities were there even before Zardari took the reins of power. The previous governments failed to set up plants to produce electricity and gas. At least the present government is taking steps to overcome energy shortages and in this respect efforts are being made to exploit the Thar -coal reserves to produce electricity and the talks with Iran on laying the Iran Pakistan Gas pipeline is also in an advance stage. Seeing the gravity of the problems the performance of the Zardari government is not that bad after all.
Ideally opposition should have responded and highlighted government failures/shortcomings, as is the democratic norm. Instead they turned the joint session (in foreign dignitaries’ presence) into a fish market. These so-called democrats should have shown respect to a President they elected unopposed, notwithstanding his own (personal) and government failures. Opposition is yet to other meaningful alternatives except for endless calls for new elections; miracle cure of all ills. All parties continue to indulge in personal vendetta and pathetic demonstration of political immaturity repeatedly except when their own interests are at stake; 20th amendment, senate elections, development funds etc.
The worst democracy is better than the best dictatorship. As the democracy is nurtured in Pakistan, common people would start seeing a new dawn. It is a long process but there is no option but to move forward. There are no easy solutions to all the social and economic problems of the country and nobody has a magic lamp. Kudos to the elected secular coaliton.
Agree on all three points. But let us be honest, Baluchistan Foreign Policy and Hate against minorities are not yet in control of democratic government. Corruption in society also exists.
But blaming that all on elected govt is unfair. In reality govt has done a great job in sending mighty establishment on back foot and forcing them to take action against terrorists/extremists.