Needless to say, Pakistan today is standing at the cross roads; having landed in a deep, deep crises. The very word Pakistan seems to have become synonymous with crises-electricity crisis, gas crisis, leadership crises, security crises, water crises and what not. So much so, that the international media has declared Pakistan to be a banana republic.
As one attempts to fathom the reasons behind this entire predicament, the only one that surfaces is the stunted growth of democracy in the country. Era after era the people of Pakistan have been victimized by the deceptive tools employed by various governments who have single handedly ruled the state in the name of martial law, civil dictatorships or even sham democracies. Resultantly, our economy has landed in tatters; our leadership in crises; our people directionless and we have been brought face to face with the worst form of terrorism, anarchy, extremism, fanaticism and violence.
Democracy is but an idea and ideas cannot die. Neither can they be crushed or killed by bullets. Living nations must have a dynamic thought process and it is only democracy that channelizes the thinking of men. Democracy is the only way through which we can save our people from stagnation of thought and mental inertia.
Our county has long since been facing the curse of terrorism and sectarian violence, simply on account of absence of a strong democracy. Being the kind of multi ethnic and multi cultural land that Pakistan is, the only way to bring together these diverse people and preserve the beauty of this diversity is through democracy. It is after all, as Eugene McCarthy puts it, “As long as the differences and diversities of mankind exist democracy must allow for compromise, for accommodation, and for recognition of differences.”
In order for a country to prosper, it’s imperative that all its citizens’ desires and point of views are respected; for if this can’t be ensured, the result is tragedies like the Fall of Dhaka. But this can never be possible when an entire country and all its matters are in the hands of a single dictator. For the formulation of policies that is social, economic and foreign, the contribution of all the sectors of the society is needed and democracy is the only platform that can provide such collaboration. Thus, the aggregate desires of a country are reflected and popular decisions are made. For democracy is after all, “decision by those concerned.”
In the Greek Republic, democracy did exist but only in its very crude form and so even a man as intellectually elevated as Socrates had to pay the price of freedom of expression. It was actually Islam that conferred upon mankind liberties in their true meaning and essence. Rousseau became very famous for saying that, “Man was born free, but he’s found in chains everywhere.” But, long before Rousseau, it was Hazrat Omar (R) who had sown the seeds of true democracy by saying, “When mothers have given birth to free men, then why do you enslave them?” For being the true descendants of Hazrat Omar (R) and being an Islamic Republic of Pakistan, it is really essential for us to become a truly democratic state.
It is rightly said that there are always silver linings even in the darkest of clouds. Today’s only hope for Pakistan is democracy. As it is only a democratic system in which freedom of expression, freedom of thought and freedom of action is granted.
We have already paid a very heavy price of dictatorships in our country and cannot afford to do so anymore or else our country will be doomed forever. The first dictatorship of the country’s history was a direct assault on the very spirit of democracy in the form of the Basic Democracies system. The next in line preached religious extremism, exploited the masses in the name of religion and brought with it the gift of Kalashnikov culture. And the final one sold out the very integrity of the nation and left us all under the curse of terrorism. The present scenario, undoubtedly, is a wake-up call for all of us and if we don’t rise for democracy today then we must get ready for a bloody revolution like that of the Russians, the French and more recently, the Arabs.
Hence, to be on the right side of history it has now become inevitable for us today to let democracy reign and flourish in its true and pure form. The nation today must not, at any cost, allow the current democratic transition in the country to falter in light of the emerging memo gate scandal or the deepening power crisis; for in the strengthening of democracy lays the health of our institutions and the salvation of our nation.
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