Failure OF Democracy IN Pakistan PDF

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FAILURE OF DEMOCRACY IN PAKISTAN: Definition: The type of government in which the power is vested in the people, collectively called the voters. Furthermore the officials and officers are appointed by them and the administration is too done by the people. According to the Chambers Dictionary: "democracy also means that a state of society characterized by recognition of equality of right and privileges political, social and legal equality". The most accepted definition of democracy is "Government of the people, for the people and by the people" (Abraham Lincoln). There are three partners of modern democracy, liberty, equality and fraternity. Democracy has become a worldwide political philosophy regardless of religious beliefs. From the beginning, establishment of democratic system was the most difficult challenge for Pakistan, which could assure stability, survival and development. Although Pakistan has taken for establishing a true form of democratic system but unfortunately the democracy had failed to to taken its roots deep enough to make country a democratic state. Pakistan was made on the basis of Islam, which is democratic both in letter and spirit. It is obviously very unfortunate that the county that was achieved by the Quaid e Azam along with his companions had not succeeded in the establishment of true democracy. Because Pakistan has rised as a democratic country so it is necessary to have a constitution that could run the state. But different unexpected events happened in the country that delayed the process of making of a constitution. Then in 1956, Pakistan implemented its first constitution but unfortunately that was dismissed by General Ayub Khan in 1958. As no country can run without constitution, so the second constitution was implemented in 1962 to give a semblance of democracy. In the politics, experimentation is always dangerous because it can give rise to instability. Only the constitution that is above the law can assure the stability among the people of that particular country. Same is the case held in Pakistan, when the experiment failed, the second Martial law was impoesd in 1969. At that time, no general elections that are necessary for democratic system, had been held in the country. This is necessary that there should be a wide based political parties for running democratic system by the representatives that are elected by the people. The representatives must be answerable before the people otherwise democracy can become a force. This is what happened in Pakistan. In 1970, general elections were held again on party basis to put the country on the track of democracy. What followed is the darkest chapter in the history of the country. The country was divided due to the lack of political foresight and undemocratic attitude on the part of political leaders. The war of 1971 wounded Pakistan. As the country was divided so it was essential to make a new constitution, so the constitution of 1973 was made after the partition of the country. This constitution has been amended time and again according to the needs and situations because the constitution is an instrument by which government and other institutions can be controlled. Again in 1977, the general elections were held, that were far from being fair as accepted by the government. Power

was used to extend power. People came out into the roads and again power was used to control public. Many people lost their lives for the sake of their rights. The country was on the border of civil war then at that time General Zia stepped in and again Martial law was impoesd. The democracy in Pakistan was again at the crossroads in the late 1980's. Two prime ministers Benazir Bhutto and Nawaz Sharif also failed because four general elections were held in 1990's and these two brought to power twice by the people but they did not look interested to put the country on the track of democracy rather they amended the constitution for their own comforts. This behavior again brought the military to power. Causes of the failure of democracy: This is a fact that democracy has failed in Pakistan and nobody can deny it. Among the 18 Prime Ministers that were elected by the Parliament, not a single one completed his tenure, on the other hand 3 military Generals ruled this country and each of them was able to rule for more than 8 years as a President. The problem is that most of the people are personality worshippers and they have no concerned that which political system is in the country. This type of people actually like those rulers who does something to improve their particular lifestyle. There are too many reasons behind the failure of democracy in Pakistan. Some of them are as follows: 1. 2. 3. 4. 5.

Feudalism. Manipulation of election process. Illiterate people. Repeated Martial laws. Weak party system.

Feudalism: Feudalism is the basic reason that leads towards the failure of democracy because this is the feudalism that actually provokes the situation. We see that our most of the political leaders act as feudal lords and they consider and treat the people as their slaves and servants. Under the influence of these so called feudal, people cannot vote to their favorite leader so they had to vote according to the commands of their lords. These types of leaders consider the state as their own property and they act like they are above the law. Feudalism also leads towards another problem that is inherited politics. Like if we see the example of inherited politics, we can see the example of Bhutto family in which Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto was the leader and he became the Prime Minister then next was his daughter Benazir Bhutto and she also became the Prime Minister and now most probably next would be Bilawal Bhutto irrespective of the fact that he deserves it or not. These feudal lords, when see that things are getting worse and out of their control, they manipulate the election process. In this system, millions of people are landless, they are living below the line of poverty they do not have even their homes and their status in the society is not more than a slave. Almost 70% people of Pakistan leading life in a feudal system and rural traditions. Our leaders do not have any concern with the betterment of people so they usually visit their constituencies for a few times, that's why our leaders do not know the problems that arise at the grass root level.

Manipulation of election process:

For a true democracy free and fair elections are necessary, without these two components no country can make a true form of democracy. It is the democracy that ensures the actual and genuine representation of people in the Parliament. Without democracy it is not possible to conduct elections in a free atmosphere without any manipulation. Because only the elections are the source of peaceful government change. This is the main reason of failure of democracy in our country that the elections are manipulated by different means so the people come out into the roads because their representatives do not come to power. In this regard Pakistan has not a good image to show because except the elections of 1971 and 2006 to some extent, other all the elections have been manipulated by different means either at pre, during or post phase of elections.

Illiterate people: There is another main reason of the failure of democracy that is illiterate people. Because the people who are illiterate they have no concern with the politics of their country, they have no concern with the political situation of their country and even they do not use their right to vote because these people thinks that these all processes are useless. According to the census of 1998, literacy rate of Pakistan was 43.92% and the literacy rate of rural places was 33.66% but the actual figures were different and were more below than these figures. Still maximum part of our population is suffering from illiteracy so they can not contribute in the development of country. Almost 20 million children do not go to school. The problem of illiteracy leads towards the poverty. For the illiterate people the bread is more important than the education so this is also a reason for the failure of democracy. Even our some politicians contest elections on the basis of fake degrees. In such a corrupt nation, how democracy can be functional?.

Repeated Martial laws: Martial laws are also the important reason for the failure of democracy. The question is that why the military Generals imposed martial laws? The thing is that the failure of administration of different governments created vacuum for the military and we all can not disagree on this point that the military is more organized than the civilian administrations. The failure of administration leads military to take over. The first involvement of military into civilian administration was took place in 1953 at Lahore to control the violence between the Ahmedis and Sunnis. After that military has started to rule the country from 1958 for a different periods of time. In 1958, General Ayub Khan took over the charge and he ruled till 1969. Then from 1969 to 1971, General Yahya Khan ruled. Then from 1977 to 1989, General Zia ul Haq ruled the country and then from 1999 to 2008, General Pervaiz Musharraf imposed martial law. During all the four military governments some characteristics were constants and same like, ban on political parties, dissolution of assemblies, suspension of constitution, etc. These types of acts badly influenced the political institutions.

Weak party system: Unfortunately Pakistan has not strong party system which is very necessary for the true form of government and it also can stop the military intervention into politics and from the non-constitutional steps. For the betterment of democracy there are some facts without them democracy cannot run, among them one of the importance fact is that there must be a strong and efficient system of political parties. Because political parties play essential role in strengthening the democracy in different ways. Political parties do many important works like, they translate the ideologies of people and convert it into a

particular shape, they work collectively to elect representatives, they work for the collection of different opinions and then they comprehend them and the most important is that they work as a bridge between public and government. If the political parties of a country want to do these all tasks they must be strong and deeply rooted into the people. Unfortunately the system of political parties of our country is still very weak. And they created vacuum for non-political forces to intervene into politics.

Recommendations: Every problem has its solution so same is the case in this problem. The problem of failure of democracy can be solved, if some steps are taken. Some recommendations are as follows for the betterment of democracy in Pakistan: 1. First of all, get rid of feudalism to conduct fair and free elections and the people can elect their representatives for their welfare. 2. Secondly, the free atmosphere should be provided to the judiciary for the implementation of rule of law and to stop all illegal orders. 3. The constitution must be supreme in every situation and circumstances. 4. Election commission should be independent to conduct fair elections. 5. Political parties should have well defined ideology and they must expand their network. 6. Youth is the most important part of any society so they should join political parties after academic education because these are political parties that work for the betterment of democracy. 7. Youth should register their votes and they must take part in the elections.

Conclusion: The experience of democracy is bad for Pakistan due to many reasons like, weak political parties, martial laws, manipulation of elections, lack of constitutionalism, lack of rule of law, etc. In this condition, responsibility lies on the shoulders of political parties, civil society and youth. They must play their role for the betterment of democracy in the country. Furthermore, Pakistan can become a stable political country by copying the American or Chinese political system as a role model. But the question is that in our country where people are divided into many small groups on the basis of many factors, people have zero tolerance and people hate each other, in this situation who can do that?...