In Pakistan democracy is an illusion. It is protected and talked about by the parliament and the parties that are representing it. The true illusion however is in the task of making the populace believe how they have the power. The right to vote is upheld by many citizens all knowing that the current election is rigged but always hoping that the next elections would be rigging free.
A run down at the political system of Pakistan returns grave results. We are a democracy that has to choose from the same crop of leaders each time. The kin of the past leaders are most likely to be the new face of each party. In this way the base for our democratic system is completely undemocratic. We are being run by the same families. The Bhuttos and the Sharifs. Another important aspect of Pakistani politics stems from the fact that the leadership gets to decide the ideology and the policies. This in turn leaves all policy making again in the hands of the few families running the entire country.
We as Pakistani's are naive. We are governed by a feudal system that gives us the illusion of democracy. The fact that every Pakistani votes for a particular candidate not because he hopes for a change in Pakistan but that it might bring about a marginally better result than the other candidates is a fact that tells us that the current system can not bring about prosperity.
The democracy we exercise is the democracy of choosing from the same set of candidates. Knowing all the way that we will be worse off than before. Hoping against hope that this candidate will be the lesser of the two evils. This feudal landscape is not entirely the fault of our leaders or the parties. We as the people do not know the power that we wield in shaping the nation. We as the people are content with the lesser of the two evils. A slow death does not worry us. We vote for an entity and that is what the leadership gives us. The beauty of our feudal landscape lies with the leaderships ideology of giving what the people want.
We do not want a hard working parliament filled with people who follow the ideals of their people rather than that of the party leadership. We want the Bhutto's, The Sharif's and the charismatic Imran's to lead all our affairs. Herein lies the problem. In order to be truly democratic we need a shift in our ideologies. We need to look away from just one man. The parties then need to establish a democratic process in themselves in order to uphold the true sanctity of democracy.
Until then we shall continue to be a feudal democracy.
1 comment:
I definitely agree with the point you have made. Democracy in Pakistan lies only in theory, not in practice. The lack of political socialization makes people make uninformed decisions such as following their feudal lords and voting for them without any political knowledge.
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