Failure of Democracy in Pakistan

Grudgingly one has to accept that -- among the politician jackals of Pakistan -- NO ONE -- has the guts and the backbone to stand up to that illegitimate ‘President’ Musharraf and demand the following:

1. abolish the security council

2. quit being a COASS

3. NO LFO LUFRA

4. NO oath under PCO

5. BURN your army UNIFORM

6. don Sherwani and Shalwar – and never take it off

and finally

7. parliamentary sovereignty will RULE supreme over the country AND the army. Period.

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that bearded Maulvi -- Qazi Hussain Ahmed!!! – now that is the tragedy of Pakistani democracy.

#3 by arjun_m

[Its this 15% that is screwing Pakistan.... }

no dear its only 2% or not even 2% who are doing it.

[ democracy fails because you dance in the streets celebrating a coup..democracy would work if you let it run its course.]

its a very good point but you cant judge people unless you are in their shoes....to understand why paki ppl react so stupidly on military coup, you have to be a Pakistan citizen and specialy living in Paksitan, some of us who in last 20 years not even spent 20 months in Pakistan consider ourselves champion on Pakistan problems. if we are not then how can you who never ever visited Pakistan.( i am talking generally).
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one more question i lik to ask if some of my indian brothers or other can give me some info on this................

Pakistan never had true democracy, i dont want to compare with USA or UK, India has democratic system in last 55 years but if you go to common man life........is India is doing better then Pakistan? standard of living is high in India in comparison to Pak? what about Law and order situation? i have no knowledge about it except few years backs i visited India with my parents to see my basic roots....i m not conclusive but in cities like Lakhnaow and Dehli , i have seen some worst scenes of my life.

Gulf countries, i never saw any democracy there, but life is far better.

i am sure some of our intelectual friend think its not about standard of living but look with the eye of Abdul...a common man.

All above are quiries......not a conclusion.

Shahzad,

This is yet another dimwitted attempt to mask the reality of pakistan. Now mushy is giving you the tailored democracy after the basic democracy, islamic democracy and the like. One cannot start to understand the predicament of pakistan with out having an islamic perspective. There is no democracy in any of the islamic countries. Indonesia has the military democracy, turkey has the secular religion democracy. In any country where the muslims are not overwhelmed by a majority as in india, or is not in the straight jacket of a dictatorship, the countries have regressed into barbarism.

If one is relying on a book to define everything that you do, including how to use the toilet, it is natural that the social system will regress to that of the society in which the book originated. After having created a country in the name of religion under the ideology of TNT, any attempts for anything other than what is in the book will be drowned in the slogan, ...lailaha illall...pakistan ke matlab kya.. Instead of trying to find out the reasons for the failure of democracy you first answer the question from the masses. One speach by a psuedo will not be able to stop the march towards a society so neatly delineated in a book.

A kalifayat is the only stable political structure for pakistan. May be mushy should call his democracy, the kalifa democracy instead of tailored democracy.

ahanusa #4,

That is one of the best answers a pakistani could give. Romair blames the feudals, hamid blames the military, ylh blames the mullahs, you have blamed the whole lot. You are the last pakistani genious.

keya naam hai usss PPP Prostitute kaa - ya yaad ayaa -- Faisal Sale ne khood ko kaurioN ke mole bech diya -- Pimp Musharraf ke haathoN...

Arjun_m,
Can an angel lead a gang of devils? In Pakistan, one has to be a convicted felon before he/she can actively participate in Pakistani politics. An descent, hardworking and law-abiding Pakistani citizen would rather stay away from politics and keep a low profile than loosing his or his love-one`s life.

Democracy is not like suit that you just put on. It is a way of life that you learn to live in. It takes a long time to get established. Its institutions have to grow and people have to learn what their rights and resposibilities are.

It is not that people are corrupt or illitrate, it is neither that the policticians are corupt. It is just that unfortunately for Pakistan early in the formative stage of its democracy, some over ambitious people like general Ayub, who for their own power lust put a spanner in the nascent democratic process. By taking over power by force he set a precident, by which any two bit general can take over the government at his whim.

India too had to learn the lesson of deomcratic process, and fortunately no general tried to take over when India was taking its faltering first steps. In the past 50 plus years, Indian people (yes all the illitrate one included) have slowy learnt what the power of vote is. We are still not there yet but moving towards a good democratic system.

I had the occasion of going on election duty couple of times with about 15 years difference between them. The difference in peoples attitude was eye opening. The first time was in early sixties, when as a young boy I accompanied my cousin to village as party worker for congress. The people were very nice and they welcomed us, served lassi and parathey and listened to us giving the party line. Nobody asked any questions and promised to do as we told them to do.

The second time was about 15 years later. We had to buy our own food because there were no lassi and parathey. The people were very knowledgable and asked some really pointed questions. The first time the women were shy giggly, but the second time they knew what they were doing.

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there are two marauding tigers running loose and amuck in Pakistan`s democratic jungle --

the hyperactivist Islam and the hyperactivist Army –

both are preying upon the hapless country -- they both have tasted the blood of political power -- and they both have become rampaging man-eaters --

none of them wants to eat their normal diet any longer -- and none of them wants to go back to their normal places of residence -- the Masjid and the Barracks --

the universally corrupt politicians whose JOB is to GOVERN and nothing else -- have turned into gesticulating jackals in Pakistan -- that are being kept at bay by the big guns and big beards --

while the big cats devour the KILL -- with bits and crumb thrown at the tail-in-between-legs jackals -- from time to time – in the name of ‘real’ democracy!

#3 arjun_m

You said it man.

It is the literate, educated generals & civil servants and politicos who have sold the nation, for their vested interest, to their western interests & benefactors.

Once we get rid of them, the country will become an Iran or Malaysia in no time. Truly educated & literate will then prevail over such scum.

Democracy based on shoora & Ijmaa---yes! (like the one practised by multi-national corporations & are a model of success everywhere)

Democracy like the western kind -----No! ( like the soap opera that goes on in US & her cohorts & abettors)

The number one reason for the failure of Pakistani democracy is the corrupt public. Corrupt people elect corrupt leaders, corrupt leaders abuse democratic institutions and create an ideal environment for either early elections or for Military coup.
No system (either it is Parlimentary system, US Presidential system or Islamic Sharia) can be a remedy not unless common public get their act togather.

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i dont understand.......why we always try to compare Paksitan with US? if there any system is working in US, i beleive it has many other reasons behind it.....major one education and literacy rate, and ppl awareness of the issues......Pakistan with in reality 15% of literacy rate where only 5% of ppl understand what is American governance system and what is british democracy style system can not match US irrespective what ever system we hav. Failure of democracy has other reasons in paksitan, there is not much wrong with the design of the system, obvioulsy its all about implementation.

in my view considering current economic situation 85% of population which consist of common man dont even care what system we have.

it is another dishonest attempt at diagnisung the failure of democracy in pakistan.

Parliamentary system has functioned well in a nnumber of countries, and USA is not the only democratic ountry in the world. What is different from pakistan and others, is the crooked ideology of pakistan and its sole defender, the colonial military.

Why dont talk about both?