Letter to the Editor Daily Free Press
Why democracy?- The Pakistani Elections
Now that Pakistan finally has a Prime Minister and Parliament has been established, at least people can breathe a sigh of relief- or can they? Since the October referendum where General Pervez Musharraf was elected president for the next five years, things have been dodgy in Pakistani politics. In fact, ever since the birth of Pakistan, all attempt at forming a true democracy there have been pretty much unsuccessful. Yet there’s a constant push from the International world to induce democracy. If democracy has not worked in a nation for the past 55 years, then what potential does it have now? The whole delay in figuring out a Prime Minister (almost more than a month) is an obvious example that Pakistanis themselves don’t know whom to trust any more. On the one hand, there was the religious fundamentalist party, who had won a majority (in retaliation to the western policies toward the Middle East perhaps?). These guys were conveniently going around saying that they would impose the ‘Shariah,’ or Islamic Law. Which I should clarify, does not mean Taliban rule! (No law is that ridiculous quite frankly). But in a poor and progressing nation like Pakistan, that may not be a good option. (Maybe once we’re as rich as Saudi Arabia, we can think about it). Right now, we need to catch up, not be left out. And one can’t ignore the general assumptions, misinformation and misjudgments that are currently being linked to anything that has anything to do with Islam, would come into play. (Do we even need to go there- again?) The other option: an already failed government, that would have become puppet to our ex-Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto, who, mind you, would run it from England since she’s not allowed to enter the country herself. I mean how many times do we need to go there, do that? Bhutto’s government failed twice, and both times, she sucked the life out of Pakistan- literally. Being a female, Bhutto could have done so much for women’s empowerment, for children education… but wait, why are we even going there…she probably didn’t get a chance since she was so busy filling up her Swiss Bank accounts. Can’t interrupt that! And so we come to the final option- another exiled leader, Nawaz Sharif. He was no worse than Bhutto. Only he wanted to become a dictator too. So he goes about changing the constitution at his pleasure, getting rights to dissolve parliament- the works. (Not to forget HIS Swiss accounts). Which is when President Musharraf came along, bringing an end to “democracy” and, from a layman’s perspective, making things better. It’s true that the poor weren’t happy, but they won’t be for a while unfortunately. A country that has been abused since its birth can’t be expected to rise to glory within a year. Despite that, Musharraf began working at grassroots levels. He started registering religious education schools (madrassahs), he started placing police on the streets, making the city more secure, and most important, he gave FREEDOM TO THE PRESS! And that people, is the true secret to a country’s success- I think! But then he messed up a little. He went around changing the constitution too, and what had been a breath of fresh air, became stained with claustrophobic again. And since Musharraf supported the “evil” US, his points naturally went down. But the fact that Musharraf ended up having elections, at least places him in a better position that previous dictators like Zia-ul-haq, who came, took over, and ruled for 11 years! So now we’re back to democracy. And quite frankly, we have no idea where we stand. While some of us are glad that Pakistan Muslim League Quaid-e-Azam leader, Mir Zafarullah Khan Jamali, became the Prime Minister, instead of anyone else- it is a fact that we had to choose from the worst unfortunately. But at least we haven’t seen this government fail already. So I suppose there is hope. But that brings us down to the original question- why democracy?! Where has it truly worked? (Please don’t say the US!) Why is it that countries are pushed into choosing a democratic path when it clearly is not the solution? Why is it that it’s been hammered into our heads that democracy is the right of freedom- is it really? It hasn’t changed much for a poor man in any third world country. On the other hand, under military rule, at least the streets of Pakistan had become SOMEWHAT safer for the general public. (Yes, there were bombs, but those started after Sept. 11 and for different reasons). At least the common man would send his child to a registered school, even if it only teaches religion. At least an average college student, if listening to Musharaf on TV, would somewhat understand what he’s saying because he puts facts straight out, instead of running around the bushes with political jargon and fake promises. At least musicians don’t need to worry about the fact that their music will be banned if they ask for accountability from the government. At least there’s more transparency between the media and the public. And you’re getting all that when there was NO democracy. But like Arundhati Roy said in a speech, democracy is like a bird, it can take flight in any direction. So far it has gone downhill for Pakistan, but I guess we can’t lose hope. Despite what it may sound like, idealism may just have to be the thread to hand on by. So with some optimism, a lot of hope and thankfully a Musharraf watching over, we welcome the new government in Pakistan.
Afshan Khoja A Pakistani female COM ’04
NOTE: I know it’s late but the election results just came in!:)
