The seed of democratic Pakistan was planted by Quaid-e-Azam
and watered by the blood of thousands of women, men and children. Regretfully, in
its short history of 67 years, Pakistan had a bumpy ride swaying away from
democracy to dictatorship and back to democracy with the hopes of having a
capable government.
The military dictatorship under General Ayub Khan brought harmony
to the country and Pakistan flourished. Mangla Dam, Karachi steel mills, Oil refineries
and construction of the current capital, Islamabad, are all credited to him. These
reforms led to 15% increase in our GDP which was three times greater than that
of India. Ayub khan’s reign began to be known as “Decade of Development”.
However, the inflow of money was gained by 22 families that controlled 66% of
the industries and 80% of the banking and insurance of Pakistan. So, in reality, a handful of people were benefitting from the new money. Also, dictatorship brought in lack of legal and moral authority and no mechanism
to overthrow the dictator.
On the other end, we have seen how so-called democracies have
worked out for our country. The era of President Asif Ali Zardari would be a
perfect example to top it off with. During these 5 years of democratic rule the
country faced numerous problems such as energy crisis, inflation, unemployment,
terrorism etc that left the country handicapped. This democracy was not
different than the dictatorship of Ayub Khan with the fruits being shared by a
bunch of people.
What Pakistan needs is a system in which the candidates are
not illiterate, corrupt and feudal lords of their areas with no background of
politics so that new and fresh ideas can bring about a change in the country. We
have already tried the existing parties and it is about time to give new
leaders a chance. But would that actually work is a question we yet have to
see.
1 comment:
I believe that even electing candidates that are educated, honest and not from political background, wont make much a difference to the country right now. It is because there are many other players at this political stage. Even if a person tries to be honest, it has to face many problems. If you see during the Musharraf government, the Chief Justice Ifitikhar Chaudhry who took notice of many of the controversial issues and decisions in favor of the public, was eventually suspended. Though he was restored, he did not enjoyed the same power as he did before. Moreover, people still in Pakistan give importance to their loyalties towards a particular party, totally ignoring who the actual candidate is it for. It's true that change is required but this change will take a lot of time.
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