Evolution of democracy in Pakistan

Pakistan was conceived as a modern democracy; the whole struggle for the attainment of Pakistan was based on the basic principle of democracy, that the people must have their say in the government. Although during the early days of Muslim political activism, Muslims of the sub-continent were propagating the safeguard of their rights as a minority, the founding fathers of Pakistan firmly believed that only through democracy Muslims can have their rightful place in the political body of India. Allama Iqbal reiterated the fact that the creation of a Muslim majority province in the Northwest of India would be very beneficial for the whole of India, and such a province would protect India from any invasion of ‘ideology or bayonet’ from the West. After independence, several impediments were faced in the path of establishing democracy in Pakistan. Allan McGrath, in his book ‘Destruction of Democracy in Pakistan’, elaborated all such elements that did not allow democracy to find a strong foothold.

Democracy in Pakistan was never allowed to establish and function. One of the major factors in this regard is the fact that Pakistan is still following several characteristics of medieval society in its rural areas. It is important to understand that the quantum of the rural seats in the national and provincial assemblies is much greater than those of urban areas. Feudalism still has strong existence in Pakistan. In such political setup, the masses under the influence are not allowed to have their own opinion and they only vote for those who are supported by their feudal lords. Although these shackles are being challenged, and in some cases broken, there is still a lot to be done before people are completely free to have their opinion and exercise it.

Another major impediment in the path of democracy is the Sardari and Tribal system. People practising the Sardari system hardly deviate from the decision taken by their Sardars and the whole vote bank goes to the candidate of their liking, which may shift from election to election. From a political evolutionary point of view, democracy was introduced by the British in the sub-continent over a century earlier, amidst the shifting of education from tradition to the modern. The exponents of modern education at that time were able to soak the ideologies of politics and understood the significance of it. However, the quality education provided by the British was only available and limited to handful of people living in urban centres, especially centres which had British presence in them.

Unfortunately, the Muslim majority provinces that became Pakistan in 1947 were mostly ignored by the British, resulting in the masses there being unable to aboard the ship of modern politics, which is why they are still far away from true political democracy. One major evidence of this fact is that until now ‘electables’ play a pivotal role in the formation of the government in the national and provincial assemblies. In the 1937 election, the first general election in the history of the region, the results showed that independent candidates were able to secure around 30 to 40 percent of total seats in Muslim majority provinces. The fact that independent candidates still dominate electorates against major political parties in their respective constituencies speaks volumes about the gulf between political democracy and the masses of Pakistan.

On top of these foundational issues, the tug of war between the institutions of Pakistan accounted for further delay in achieving a true democracy. On the eve of independence, Pakistan was forced to prove its right to exist as an independent nation and faced existential challenges in the form of refugee crises, financial issues, hostility on both Eastern and Western borders, and administrative crises. Quaid-i-Azam made a plea to British officers after taking charge as first Governor-General that they should stay in Pakistan and continue their services. There was a vacuum in almost every occupation, and the most evident one was the complete lack of political leadership that could cater to the whole of Pakistan as one nation and uphold the singularity of Pakistan over provincialism.

The vacuum was filled by bureaucracy, immediately after the assassination of Liaquat Ali Khan in 1951. The bureaucratic elite, which consisted of the able administrators recruited and trained by the British to work efficiently, took charge over the country and pushed the political leadership to the back seat. Their greed for power made them avoid democracy and continue their administration. In their bid to keep politicians away from governance, they introduced service members into politics by making General Ayub Khan the Defence Minister. Later in 1958, Ayub Khan gave the bureaucrats a taste of their own medicine by removing bureaucracy from politics in the same way the bureaucrats had replaced politicians earlier.

Since then, Pakistan moved away from true democracy. Even the constitution of 1962 was unable to provide any hope of democracy and met eventuality by the hands of its creator in 1969. The prolong denial of sharing of power and electoral representation based on the democratic principles culminated into the bifurcation of Pakistan in 1971. Unfortunately, as a society we did not learn our lesson and once again entangled in the same power struggle.

The constitution of 1973 came as a ray of hope for democracy; however, too many clouds were caste over it by the altercations it endured at the hands of various regimes that ‘amended’ the document to further their cause - to the point that the original constitution was completely mutilated. Major amendments, such as the 8th amendment in 1985 and the 17th amendment in 2003, changed the nature of the constitution and favoured centralism and authoritarianism, which was utilised by their creators to push their own agendas.

The 18th amendment, passed in 2010, was an attempt by all political entities of Pakistan to restore the constitution to its original form. It was developed and passed through the parliament with consensus. However, once again, the basis of the constitution - the parliamentary system - is being challenged by one major political party, which favours the presidential form. They have embarked upon the debate and are even hinting towards constitutional amendment once they regain power with 2/3 majority according to their claims.

Pakistan has gone through a long and uneasy evolutionary process as a democracy. We have had three constitutions, several amendments, dictatorial authoritarianism, midterm elections and dismissals of popular governments and recently, the passing of the first successful vote of no-confidence against the sitting Prime Minister. Still, it seems that in the coming years major overhauling is needed to have a stable political democracy. Pakistan, after 75 years of its creation, is still waiting for its first ever democratic government to complete the full parliamentary term of five years without any glitches. If we as a society let an elected government complete its five-year term, regardless of our liking or disliking, it would go a long way toward establishing true democracy and establish its legitimacy.

-Dr Moiz Khan is serving as Assistant Professor, Department of History, University of Karachi