PPPP: Successes & Failures of Democracy

Successes & Failures of Democracy

WAQAR ABRO

There is a notion in everyone’s mind that what are the 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: 1) Judicial Populism 2) Freedom of Media 3) Social Media and its effects on society and Institutions. 4) Intellectual, Political and Economic bankruptcies addressed 5) Pluralism In Politics (First time ,in the history 216 political parties will contest general Elections) 6) Openness in System 7) Accountability of Army and wealth eaters 8) Political Socialization 9) Women rights to some extent addressed and their status also elevated (Fehmeeda Mirza, Shela Raza, Malala etc) 10) Legacy system nosedived 11) Mature and Harmonized Political system (APC example) 12) Provincial Autonomy 13) Independent Election Commission 14) Change in Status quo mindset 15) Constitutional Amendments.

Failures: 1) Bad governance 2) Politicization of institutions 3) Corruption 4) Target Killings 5) Poverty 6) Energy Crisis 7) Economic meltdown 8) Unemployment 9) Slaughter of merit 10) Drone attacks 11) Unfair distribution of resources 12) Balouchistan Issue 13) Tax evasion 14) Institutional disharmony 15) 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.

Article on Independence of Pakistan Published in Pakistan Observer: Reviving lost glory

Reviving lost glory 

Waqar Abro

 

Pakistan is acronym of Persian word “Pak” which means pure and “Istaan” which means territory. Hence, Pakistan can be categorically defined as land of pure people. Before leading the topic towards present scenario, history of Pakistan should be given a focused view. Basically, Pakistan did not get independence on 14th of August 1947 rather it was made independent in the skies by the lord of heavens, earth, and all universes on 712 A.D when Muhammad Bin Qasim for the very first time hoisted flag of Islam in Sindh and planted roots of Islam in Subcontinent which immediately grew up after Hindhi-Urdu controversy in post war of independence(1857) period. Though,it took time for Pakistan to be officially independent yet it came into being on 27th of Ramzan considered as Lailatul Qadar a night better than thousands of nights on 14th of August 1947.

During the course of independence struggle, our Muslim brothers burnt their all boats to make possible an independent sovereign state yet it’s worth mentioning that Education played pivotal role in the whole struggle. Sir Syed Ahmed Khan emerged as a glimmer of hope for the Muslims. Though, he was like a drop of water in the drought yet many Muslims started pointing on their fingers over the credibility of Sir Syed. They went to such extent that they declared him through Fatwas as Kafir (Infidel). Reason of their in-depth loathe was mainly to not regain lost glory of education. They were of the view that Sir Syed wanted them to be like English but they did not understand the depth of his emphasis that it was not of English’s education but of Muslims. And, a few decades later “Allama Iqbal” endorsed the same views in his poetry. It goes without saying that “Sir Syed” was the next gardener of the plant that had been planted by Muhammad Bin Qasim. Sir Syed asked Muslims who were in the grip of chaos to acquire education. He knew that if Muslims would dedicate their head and heart towards politics their growth and separate state dream would be unachievable.

That is the same we notice in the divine instruction. Allah says 857 times in Quran to get education more than salaat and zakat. It is also worth mentioning that Allah himself chose education to guide his people however he revealed four different sacred books to different Prophets. To continue with post war period, though Sir Syed was neglected by many Mullahs yet he was helped by Allah to complete his mission. Mission of creating a separate Muslim state. Since, he disallowed Muslims to take part in politics even after the creation of “Congress” yet he himself politically declared in his two nation theory that Muslims and Hindus have different religion and culture thus they could not exist together. Moulana Abdul Haque has rightly said that “First stone of Pakistan was laid down by Sir Syed.”

Today, the same Pakistan which had been made independent after a long struggle,is in the grip of chaos. It is in the dire need of the same spirit which liberated it from shackles of Hindus and British. To make it a New Pakistan, it is necessary to revive the lost glory.