I have often wondered why democracy hasn’t ever been given a chance in Pakistan. The country ever since the tragic assassination of Liaqat Ali Khan has been governed either under dictatorships or oligarchic representation. Dictatorships have been of both varieties— civil as well as military. The dictatorship of Ghulam Mohammad and subsequently of Iskandar Mirza had been of civil character. These were followed by the first military dictatorship — that of Field Marshal Ayub Khan. He initially ruled with unadulterated dictatorial powers. That probably was the best period in Pakistan’s history. Then he introduced a form of democracy in which his dictatorship acquired an oligarchic character too. On paper it was presidential form, but the role of the people in electing their country’s Chief Executive was indirect and ridiculously inadequate.
That has been the tragedy of Pakistan. Never in its 69 year- long history Pakistan’s Chief Executive has been elected by the direct vote of the people. President Ayub Khan had the biggest ever electorate to secure votes of. Eighty thousand basic democrats elected him as President on January 2, 1965. The loser’s name was Mohtarma Fatima Jinnah.
The electorate otherwise has always been well under 400-voter strong.
Among the Prime Ministers elected thus, Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto was a thorough-bred dictator who could never tolerate any deviation from his ‘will’. Mian Nawaz Sharif has tried to match him in this area, but not impressively enough. But in the area of nepotism, cronyism and all the related ills, MNS has simply been unsurpassable.
When we talk of replacing this moth-eaten system with a healthier one, we simply mean that a form of governance or government be adopted in which people should be free to elect their leader through direct vote. Another salient feature of this ‘democratic system’ should be that there should be powerful local governments to resolve local issues without any interference from the likes of Mian Shahbaz Sharif, Pervez Khattak, Murad Ali Shah and Sardar Sanaullah.
Meaning thereby that the people should move out and struggle not to get rid. Of Mian Nawaz Sharif, but the system that has produced him.
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