Pakistan Review News and Reviews

Time for Controlled Democracy

The general elections are just a few days away. It is time to reflect on the ups and downs that Pakistan has suffered trough the years. The past three years have seen Pakistan going from the backer of Taliban and Kashmiri militants to being the front line state in the war against terror. Courtesy the terror attacks of 9/11.

After being under direct military rule for three years Pakistan is on the road for partial or controlled democracy. I say controlled because the military has cemented its power-brokering role through the National Security Council (NSC). Not that the Army did not meddle in the civilian affairs before its just that it has legitimized it through the NSC and countless other amendments to the already battered constitution.

But all said and done it is also true that the Prior to the October 12 coup Pakistan had lost all credibility in the world and was even labeled a failed state.

As Pakistan is on the brink of electing another Parliament it would make sense to look back at he 11 years of democracy (read mockery) this land of the pure suffered.

The fractured democracy in Pakistan started a new life when Gen. Zia-ul-Haq has his unceremonious exit. A hilarious game of musical chairs ensued, which saw a Mr. Nothingness become Mr. Ten Percent and bettering on it and becoming Mr. Ninety Percent. Another family inspired by the great Mughals expanded their personal estate from Model Town to Raiwand and much more.

First to serve was the “darling of the West” daughter of the martyr, with her half-baked ideas of liberalization. After 20-months of non-descript misrule she was duly sacked by then President Ghulam Ishaq Khan in August 1990.

GIK brought in his own brand of caretakers headed by Ghulam Mustafa Jatoi. The “free and fair” elections crowned Nawaz Sharif to mismanage the land of the pure. From 1990 to April 1993, nearly 29 months, we saw a galore of Yellow Cabs and the initiation of the white elephant like motorway. When Sharif declared that he would not take “dictation” from GIK he had to go. But not for long.

Balakh Sher Mazari a political nobody became the caretaker. But only for 38 days, as the Supreme Court restored Nawaz Sharif to his democratic place. For about two months Nawz Sharif fiddled around. The Army Chief intervened and NS and GIK both had to go.

Now from US with love, Moeen Qureshi arrived. Another “free and fair” election saw BB rise to the echelons of power in October 1993. She installed one of her men Farooq Laghari as the President and considering herself safe from the forces that be. Mr. Ten Percent turned Ninety Percent had more than his fill. The President warned the first couple but no heed was paid so in November 1996 BB had to pack up and leave.

Meraj Khalid was the new caretaker who also had the task of conducting an election for an unwilling electorate.

I was Nawaz Sharif’s turn and February 17, 1997; heavily mandated Sharif was once again in Islamabad. He got 32 months to plunder what was left of the country. All the merry making ended with the coup of October 12.

The military man Prevez Musharraf who got a three years lease to clean up and leave now talks of seven more years in power. What with the referendum fiasco the “Chief of the Army Staff President General Pervaiz Musharraf “ is here to stay.

The daughter of the East is cowering some where in Dubai where as the man from Bhatti gate is holed up in Saudi Arabia. There are already future Prime Ministers lining up, Mian Azhar, Imran Khan, Amin Fahim lead the pack. What ever happens one thing is sure this time round the army is here to stay and the future Parliament would have to work under its shadow and of course the President.

Nargis Samdani