Session 7 - Democracy

Granted democracy is a messy form of government but in the end it is the only form of government that truly makes a concentrated effort on representing all the people in a country. One example to illustrate this point is the constant period of military bouts in Pakistan’s relatively short period of existence. 

Under military rule, the military has always discriminated among the various ethnic divisions of people in Pakistan. It has always favored the Punjabis. In doing so, it has lost the trust of the rest of the people. This has been highly apparent in the military’s relationship with province of Baluchistan. The military has had constant conflicts with Baluchistan to date and with the deaths of about 400 thousand Baluchis. The military had also discriminated against East Pakistan when Sheikh Mujib a representative of the East, won the elections in 1971. The military killed enough of their own people for it to be called a genocide. There have also been notable conflicts in Sindh as well.  This is the kind of chaos other forms of rule can foster. Its not that democracy doesn’t have its flaws, its just that the flaws are limited in comparison to the other forms of government rule. 

As noted by Heywood on Political Systems, it is important to make comparisons because in making these comparisons it is easier to find an ideal form of government rule. When Pakistan has been under democratic rule it strives to represent people from all ethnic backgrounds equally. But this has been made difficult because of the messes the democracy has to inherit from the military failures. Although it can be said that under democratic rule, conflicts have been at their lowest as compared to when Pakistan has been under military rule. It is because one man’s bias doesn’t play a role in deciding who to favor and who not to. Everyone’s bias’s collectively provide equality and fair opportunity to everyone.