From March 2022, walking through the swampy forests in the night of Emmaus, the anticipation of elections in the early months of next year seems to be taking solid shape. Mian Nawaz Sharif is returning home on the 21st. The initial glimpses of the electoral tilt between the People’s Party and the Muslim League-Nawaz have begun. Will these elections lead us to democratic stability and economic development? Teachers and journalists have explained the recipes for answering such serious questions carefully. Sit on the sidelines keeping a distance from where the ghamsan is running and remember the late Nawab Natiq in the tone of the gesture. “Natiq Ke Sakhon Tera Hai Tariyak Teriha/Zambaq Tariha Laka Tariyak Teriha.” If they get a break from mentioning the sinking of Europe’s economy in the war in Ukraine and the mourning of two million Palestinian citizens who are besieged, isolated, and forced in Gaza, covering eighty-eight square miles, do it. This will confirm your philanthropy. Your solidarity with the Muslim Ummah will get you a certificate. Egypt has closed the border to the people of Gaza, who are deprived of basic human needs. Don’t mention it. It is forbidden to point to the doom that is falling on ten million Muslims in another country. It is necessary to avoid the details of the game being played in the name of democracy in our own country. After all, it is just a coincidence that on the same pattern that the young Hindu girls of Sindh are accepting the truth of Islam, while the Hindu young boys of their age are still deaf to the light of the right religion, on May 9, the perpetrators of the incidents are standing in the court of law, and those who issued a few line statement in a press conference are playing the flute of China by introducing themselves in the Ganges and Jamuna. Spoil your destiny. However, this idea comes to mind that half a century ago the elections of India and Pakistan were also held in the same month, i.e. March 1977. Indira Gandhi paid the price of the 21-month emergency in the form of electoral defeat, while Bhutto apparently won the election in Pakistan, but the end result was that “Koy Yar Se Nikle To Soy Dar Chale”. Is this circle of history being completed so that after half a century, the journey of democracy in India and Pakistan is going through almost the same conditions?
India has recently been rated as a ‘hybrid arrangement’ from a ‘full democracy’ by democracy watchdogs. In 1921, the Freedom House declared Indian democracy as a “partially independent democracy” instead of a “completely independent democracy.” Another important international organization has named India as a “democratic dictatorship.” The weekly Economist classifies Indian democracy as a “crude democracy” instead of a stable one. The result is that by changing the color of the democratic map of India, the country with the largest population in the world, the number of people benefiting from full democracy among eight billion people has suddenly become less than half. The point to be noted in this is that after coming to power in 2014, Narendra Modi has maintained democratic institutions, but has indiscriminately undermined the values of democracy through various measures. Instead of arresting the elected leader or imprisoning the opposition, stealth tactics should be adopted. The opposition is embroiled in legal matters. Unprecedented restrictions are imposed on the media. Dissenting voices are accused of treason rather than legitimate democratic opposition. The prevailing version of the global retreat of democracy is that instead of manipulating votes at the polling booth, the desired alignment is done before the election. This is not the France of April 1655 where Louis XIV addressed the Parliament and raised the slogan L’État, c’est moi (‘I am the State’). You may remember, in November 2001, when Pervez Musharraf went to the United States for the first time as the self-proclaimed president, he said while addressing a gathering that “Pakistan has democracy, and if you only need the stamp of democracy, then in October 2002, I will also put this seal on this arrangement. The General was ready to speak. Qaf League, MMA, and Patriot were exported from the conscience of General Ehtisham Zameer, and this was sealed.
There are five basic elements of modern democracy. First, the people elect the Parliament and the Chief Executive. Second, transparent electoral competition is ensured. Thirdly, state institutions are kept separate from the political process. Fourthly, civil liberties are protected from state interference, and fifthly, government accountability is guaranteed through an independent media and an impartial judiciary. All these values of complete democracy have been distorted in today’s India. Now it is the task of the seeing eye and the thinking mind to take a look at the current situation of Pakistan while keeping this image of India in front and thinking whether our ground conditions are leading us towards transparent elections. Will we be blessed with political stability? Will we be able to move from a manual economy to a productive economy? will be able to eliminate the budget and trade deficit? will be able to get rid of internal and external debt chains?
