28 November 2022, NIICE Commentary 8416
Anees Fatima Sherazi
Pakistan came into existence through a democratic procedure but Pakistan could never witness democratic practices and stability. Pakistan’s political system was hijacked by non-political forces in its early days. Consequently, the newly-born state became the victim of a tug of power. Democracy is a people-centric system that stands on the ideology of liberalism.
Every political party; either big or small, left or right whatever their political ideologies are or whatever their size of popularity is, believe in democratic values and procedures but their practices are otherwise. However, there are core hurdles in the democratic system of Pakistan which do not let the country move forward. So, the vicious cycle of political instability keeps on repeating. Therefore, to counter those hurdles and for the smooth functioning of the country needs to redesign its political system; vertically and horizontally through a proper new social contract.
Hurdles of Democracy in Pakistan
Clash of Interest and Disruption of Power is the key hurdle in the political stability and progress of the country since 1947. The race of power between the feudal class, political and military establishment led toward the ‘Doctrine of Necessity’ under the shadow of the judiciary. According to the United Nations Development Program 1 percent elite class of the country enjoys all the privileges over the rest of the 9 percent and rules.
Corruption is evil in this country, and there is no mechanism to fight against it. Every government comes up with an idea of revenge and every opposition resists like a victim to fight against corruption. For instance, Shehbaz Sharif’s (current Prime Minister) election campaign against corruption in 2013 and Imran Khan’s (former Prime Minister) political prospectus is against corruption but when these political parties come into power the corruption cases either goes pending or files get closed or the alleged people leave the country.
In Pakistan, the common man has no easy access to justice. Justice is either delayed or denied. Pakistan inherited its judicial system from the colonialism period which is now outdated such as Thana Culture, vague FIRs, sedition laws, etc. For example, sedition cases were registered against journalists, terrorism charges against former Prime Minister Imran Khan, and Thana Culture when a common man suffer custodial torture. Pakistan with a population of 220 million has the poorest local government system in practice. This poor system is giving birth to all other evils such as law and order, education, poor health facilities, poverty, etc.
On the top, the country is also facing a leadership crisis, the leader chosen by the population of Pakistan with a clear plan of development and progress. At the age of 75, country has suffered through four Martial Law regimes and almost every political party either was produced in the military laboratory during the time of martial law or was later adopted by the military for its nourishment so the party could make it the power. So, now that the system is not delivering and people are not accepting hybrid regimes anymore, the country needs a people’s leader with determination, courage, and selflessness who can tackle the criticism with positivity and can drive the ship through the storm in the sea.
Need to Redesign its Political System
Pakistan is standing at the crossroads of its history. Therefore, it is now or never like a situation where the country is all ready for a new social contract. In the last eight months, country has been through shock waves. As a result, from top to bottom and from left to right every iota of the power structure of the state has been badly exposed.
Since the success of the vote of No Confidence against the former Prime Minister Imran Khan, there have been protests across the country, serious human rights violations, suppression of freedom of expression, custodial tortures, arrests and killing of journalists, melting down of the economy, leaking of audios and videos and moreover the silence of judiciary.
The many ministers of the current federal cabinet were under trial in corruption cases and their names were on the Exit Control list. The cabinet members removed their own names from the ECL and approved the summary themselves in the cabinet while this was the breaking news on the screen and there was complete silence on the part of the judiciary. The under-trail cases were closed by the National Accountability Bureau after the amendments in the NAB laws.
This shows how the current political system has collapsed and fallen down and exposes the rotten parliamentary system of the country in which not even a single Prime Minister could fulfill their tenure. So, the fixture is only possible through the redesigning of the political system which will set a new road to a politically peaceful and stable future for the country.
A New Social Contract
First of all, Pakistan needs to rewrite its constitution where the laws of its colonial legacy should be removed. There must be one authority in the country from where power should flow. Pakistan needs to acquire a strong local government system and needs to establish more administrative units in the country. Young, well–educated, and policymakers should be provided an opportunity to become a part of the legislation. A clear and understandable constitution needs to be introduced where political careers should be based on merit instead of inheritance.
Secondly, the restructuring of bureaucracy and checks and balances with the administration system all across the country is needed.
Thirdly, the independent, active, accessible Judicial system.
Fourthly, the media’s role is important in the country, the free flow of information and freedom of expression should be respected and disinformation should be countered strictly.
Lastly, Pakistan also needs to revisit its foreign policy from a global perspective, especially toward India and Israel. The political and territorial issues must be sorted out through negotiations and economic ties and trade must be continued as it is the issue of human security and the world is now more interdependent than in the past.
Pakistan can also redesign its political system by reading its historical facts about its politics, geography, nature of the people, culture, religion, and in the global perspective too because this will help to determine an effective conclusion about the kind of system suited to our society. Subsequently, the new system would also help to deal with resource management, fighting poverty, raising awareness, etc because this is a future need to compete with the world. Pakistan needs to look at itself from a global perspective. Hence, the outer surface of world politics has become interdependent and liberal while the core surface is a realistic design based on the surge of nationalism and ultranationalism (The domestic hegemonic models in the internal political systems of the countries are shaping world politics). Therefore, one thing is clear that not only domestically but internationally too, Pakistan cannot move forward with this system at this pace.
Anees Fatima Sherazi has graduated in Peace and Conflict Studies from National Defence University, Islamabad and is intern at Strategic Research Institute, Pakistan.
