Letter To The Editor: Choosing changers or cheaters

Choosing changers or cheaters
The Frontier Post
15-04-2013

There is a notion in everyone's mind that what have been successes of democracy in the last five year. Though, there is a big list of failures yet positive aspects are always neglected. Democracy has brought revolutionary and evolutionary changes in Pakistan. Yes, it had brutally failed to adopt welfare-oriented democratic norms but it has still delivered. Mental poverty is worst then social and economic poverty.
The main reason that always prevented democracy to thrive was intellectual bankruptcy. Though democracy brings political independence yet it is meaningless without economic and intellectual independence. In the last five years, people have started learning political system and its functioning. Today, due to modern means of communication and free media, people are more aware of politics then before. They know very well that what is going on in the capital.
They in their street gossip do not only exchange their political opinions but also analyze different manifestos and past performances of various political parties. And, the main actor of this success is electronic and print media. Unavoidably, democracy is flourishing and people are keenly observing each and every thing. It seems as people are intellectually liberated. To further elaborate the successes and failures of democracy, the writer has enlisted the crux of the topic as follow;
Successes: Judicial populism, freedom of media, social media and its effects on society and institutions, intellectual, political and economic bankruptcies addressed, pluralism In politics (First time ,in the history 216 political parties will contest general elections), openness in system, accountability of army and wealth eaters, political Socialization, Women rights to some extent addressed and their status also
elevated (Fehmeeda Mirza, Shela Raza, Malala etc), legacy system nosedived, mature and harmonized political system (APC example), provincial autonomy, independent election commission, change in status quo mindset, constitutional amendments
Failures: bad governance, politicization of institutions, corruption, target killings, poverty, energy crisis, economic meltdown, unemployment, slaughter of merit, drone attacks, unfair distribution of resources, Balochistan issue, Tax evasion, institutional disharmony, sectarian violence
Though, there may be few more points to be added in the failure list yet successes of democracy should not be neglected. Someone has rightly said that democracy may be a terrible system but it is the best system that we know.
Now, the future of Pakistan is to be decided by the people in the upcoming general elections. Whom they want to bring to the parliament a cheater or a changer? To conclude, the best form of revolution is the positive and correct use of vote.
Waqar Abro
Karachi