Session 7: Democracy in Pakistan

The Islamic Republic of Pakistan as the name suggests got independence from the tyrannies and oppression's of the Hindus and the Britishers on the name of religion. At no point in time Quaid e Azam, the founding father of Pakistan said that this country will be governed as a dictatorship or a theocracy. In one of his speeches he clearly said that he will never let this country a dictators or a Mullahs nation, it will be a secular and a liberal state where human rights will be provided and minorities will be protected.

Since independence, democracy in Pakistan has suffered a lot. In the past 65 years, the true essence of democracy has hardly been seen by the people of this country. Democracy is defined as a form of government which is by the people, for the people and to the people but in Pakistan, things have worked out quite differently. Most of the people are not aware of the power of the phrase one man: one vote. Most of these people are uneducated living in the rural areas of Pakistan which makes up the majority of the population. Regardless of the fact whoever is sworn in as the MNA or MPA of these areas, the people of these areas consider their Zamindaars, Jagirdaars and Waderas as the ultimate authority to whom they are answerable and take all their problems. Similarly these Waderas have a immensely strong influence over their followers and can easily change the mindset of the followers.

Furthermore, any remaining chances of pure democracy are taken away from the general public via rigging. Politicians not only have the power to change the mindset of people,, but also their votes. Such pathetic cases have actually been reported where the numbers of votes given in favour of the candidate are more than the number of registered voters. According to historians, the only elections that took place in Pakistan were those held in 1971, which did bought a massive change in how things were being done.

Even with such abrupt form of democracy, Pakistan has managed to survive 67 years and is still a democratic country. The question that needs to be addressed is whether this so called democracy will keep on existing or will the people of Pakistan ever know the importance of their vote.