14 August is coming but like me many others apparently are giving little thought to organizing celebrations for freedom (which we need to cherish more after Narendra Modi’s arrival as Indian P.M which takes back India away from secularism and more towards corporate Hindu India).Had we still been in United India than our individual paths to progress would have come through displaying detachment with Islamic faith the way Indian Muslim movie stars do.
I often ask my elders that why are Indians a Nation(with about 56 languages spoken though 8 are officially recognized in 29 states) whereas “V” are not. I still have not got a satisfactory reply. Comparison with India has bubbled into my mind because just over an year of last election again there are talks about removing Govt which has been elected for five years. Lets see the relation between political stability and National growth and why should “V” be concerned about consequences of the Long March announced by Pakistan Tehreek e Insaaf(PTI) plus why there is a reference to India.
Democracy is desirable because it gives us choice. It allows people to elect who they find capable of looking after their economic and social interests. On the other hand in Autocracy may it be through a King or a Military leader , there is no choice. Whole nation has to follow his instructions no matter how undesirable they are. People in Pakistan often confuse people with system. Supporters of Musharaf and Ayub do not realize that power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely. Military leaders or kings initially take many measures to please people so that they are accepted but eventually lose patience against criticism, tend to break free from self imposed moral values. Worst part is that people close to them are just as above the system as the leader himself so abuse of power by their relatives and friends becomes inevitable and nothing can be done about darlings of the autocrat leader.
There are three Reasons why many people are still not clear about importance of democracy .Firstly Army has ruled this country for about 33 years directly and has intervened in the political system for many other years by not allowing free policy making by political institutions .Secondly it has not been transferred to grass root level and little has been done for local body elections and for financial autonomy of local body institutions. Thirdly there are indications that one organization or collaboration of three organizations tempers election results (under the assumption that they are doing it for the greater interest of the country) so true representatives of people struggle to make it to the assemblies and those people are elected who are good at making democracy unpopular.
In my opinion one effective way of making the people united as a Nation is to let the people work for a common cause like achieving economic prosperity. For which they can choose /elect people for policy making and regulation and that is where democracy comes in. It allows to show who the people trust collectively to look after them economically and socially. Thus democracy is a way of bringing people together (a nation) .
PTI’s long march is a right thing coming at a wrong time (Timing is wrong for the country but right for the party).My feeling is that PTI has been deprived of about 6-8 national assembly seats (not sure about how many have the been blessed with!)by the people /institution which organized the results .I certainly do not find it a coincidence that four provinces are ruled by four different parties which have strong presence in their respective provinces thus giving voice to different casts plus one party with better macro-economic management skills has been given a clear majority to cleanup the economic mess. It all seems to be too good to be true. Apparently someone was very clear that result of the election should bring “everyone” on board.
My feeling is that PTI and Tahir ul qadri combined would be able to bring about 125,000 people to Islamabad who would stay and try to force Army to Intervene. In case of any major mishap both PML(N)and PTI would lose along with the country as there would be NO FREE AND FAIR ELLECTION FOLLOWING. Thus both democracy and National growth would be restricted (Indians elected a person they hate because of his management abilities so despite Modi’s strong hindu orientation he represents a united India and he would work for all casts to ensure sustained rule of his party but there is no such pressure on an individual/Autocrat who practically is not answerable to anybody).
I believe in two party system. There should be two parties with presence in all the provinces. After Benazir Bhutto PPP is not likely to remain a national party (not at least for the next ten years) rather it is likely to survive in Sind only.PTI can fill this gap .Problem is that as a party even if they achieve required electoral reforms (assuming democracy is not derailed to avoid chaos in the capital)and wait for the next election there is no guarantee that PTI would get majority in national assembly (one can guess it through its Performance in KPK)so the people willing to join the march must remember that its still a long way to go for PTI even if it makes it to Islamabad on 14th August.
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