Democracy is a system that was devised to provide power to the people. The very definition of it: ‘by the people, of the people, for the people’, puts the common person at the centre of everything. Democratic norms also dictate that all parties accept the results of free and fair elections. Unfortunately, in Pakistan, the concept of democracy has become quite convoluted. Whenever we have elections, the losing party always cries foul, regardless of whether or not it has any real evidence to back-up its claims. Second, the very purpose of a democratic system is to devolve power to the grassroots level. Unfortunately, that is the last thing our politicians have on their minds. They only believe in the ‘by the people’ part and not the rest.
The moment they grab power through the vote, the people are the last thing on their minds. When they are not in power, they seem to care and worry a lot about people but suffer memory loss the moment they get their hands on power. Truth is that unless our politicians embrace democracy in true spirit and agree on a common set of norms, we will continue to be a botched democracy.
Raja Shafaatullah
Islamabad
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