The Pakistani constitution says:
“Subject to the Constitution, the executive authority of the Federation shall be exercised in the name of the President by the Federal Government, consisting of the Prime Minister and the Federal Ministers, which shall act through the Prime Minister, who shall be the chief executive of the Federation.”
You don’t need to be a constitutional expert to know what is being said here. The Prime Minister shall be the Chief executive of the Federation. But a question arises that is the Chief executive of this “great” nation, empowered enough to exercise executive authority especially on matters of Foreign and Security policy?
Well to put it simply ‘NO’. The Prime Minister is not the one calling the shots in Pakistan, the real power rests with the Khakis. But you guys already know this, considering the influence the Pakistan Army has wielded in the past and continues to wield today, it is no surprise that the most powerful man in the country is not Nawaz Sharif but Raheel Sharif.
To add to the mess, the award worthy ISPR team has built a narrative which portrays the Army Chief as a Pakistani equivalent of a knight in shining armor who will rid Pakistan of all its troubles, while the politicians are shown as incompetent morons who have nothing better to do than plunder and loot the country. Sadly the politicians have not helped their cause either. They have feet of clay and are utterly commonplace. These series of events have given rise to a rather disturbing debate in the public sphere, which is that: is democracy a viable alternative to military rule and as the civilians are incompetent and corrupt should the ‘honorable’ and ‘incorruptible’ military take over?
Well I find it an insult to my person and my intelligent readers to even consider this debate of Civilian vs Military rule. Pakistan needs to adhere to the principles of democracy and constitutionalism if it wants to have any chance of a viable future. These are troubled times we are living in and the decisions that we make today will have far reaching effects.If it gives you any hope “the battle for Pakistan’s soul is far from over” as the prolific Ayesha Jalal put it.
3 comments:
I like how you have made a bold claim of military holding the strings of Pakistani government and to be honest, it is not entirely incorrect. We have witnessed multiple times how military orders are considered a final binding by the government and the decisions put to practice without any debate.
Also, i further agree with the notion that a worst form of democracy would be still better than a military dictatorship.
But in reality the military, despite majority power, doesn't have a monopoly in Pakistan. It needs to work alongside the Nawaz Sharif. It is however true that despite everything, there is no democracy. Only an illusion of one. Democracy exists only in theory and power hungry factions all aim at getting bigger and bigger chunks of the great Pakistani pie with none left for the common civilians. Military rule is NOT a viable option but then again democracy doesn't exist here either so we're just left here crushed by a dearth of systems to save our nation.
It is not always true that the military has all the power. The truest form of democracy that was witnessed in Pakistan was during PPP's reign from 2008 to 2013, the military hardly interfered in the politics of the nation then.
The military is indeed our knight in shinning armor because as soon as the politicians mess up, they call the military to clean it up. So it's about who calls the military to swoop in and take control, and not about military exerting it's control.
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