Pakistan

Autocratic democracies

This is with reference to Farzana Versey’s “Autocratic democracies” (August 17).

Letter August 18, 2010

PRESTON, ENGLAND: This is with reference to Farzana Versey’s “Autocratic democracies” (August 17). I thought the article was brilliant. And that it came from an Indian writer was even more encouraging. Pakistan still needs some decades to get its act together. We have yet to know the difference between different forms of democracy: sheer democracy, autocratic democracy, dynastic democracy, dictatorial democracy, etc. And people call this dynastic politics, democracy?

What Pakistan has is dynastic democracy, sheer corruption of rights of the common man. Almost equivalent to dictatorship and other ill forms of rule. Unless the feudal casting and the whole system isn’t rooted out (which will take years), the purest form of democracy is only limited to a dream. God bless Pakistan.

Masuud Qazi

Published in The Express Tribune, August 18^th, 2010.

COMMENTS (2)

Anoop | 14 years ago | Reply @Saeed, "Pakistan despite being an acclaimed democracy.is in fact a predator state." Fasting is harming your brain cells, dude..

Saeed Islahi | 14 years ago | Reply Pakistan despite being an acclaimed democracy.is in fact a predator state.Our dye was cast in this mould when Indian Subcontinent went into its subjucation of foreign masters:first by Mugals with breif intervnetions of Phatans and others with or without participation of local maurders such as marathas.When Europeans,in particular, Britishers took over from waning and dying dynasties,new predators were more sophisticated than their predessors.They however gave us some semblance of law and order,roads and railroads and sound irrigation system to exploit our commercial potential to the optimum,albeit to expliot in full resource of the Indo-Pak subcontinent for furtherance of ther Raj. But objective of our statecraft since Idepnedence did not change.Indian democarcy turned out to be somewhat more durable and Indian leadership in its early days emasculated its landed aristocacy,rajas and mahrajahs and other feudal element.We unfortunaltely fell a prey to a predator civil-military bureacracy from the beginning that further clawed common citizenry only to protect this predator class. Saeed Islahi

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