Pakistan in Media

No democrat would hold a brief for military dictators. But if a dispassionate analysis is made, one comes to the conclusion that elected leaders are also responsible in equal measure for having brought the country to the present pass.

Pakistan Muslim League (PML-N) chief Mian Nawaz Sharif has said at an election rally at Chilas Rest House that the primary reason for all the problems of the country is frequent violations of the Constitution. One would agree with Mian Nawaz Sharif that all organs of the state must work according to the parameters defined in the Constitution and no one should overstep into the other’s domain. He is also right in demanding of President Asif Ali Zardari the annulment of the 17th amendment and withdrawal of 58(2)(b), and it should be done in days and not weeks and months. But Mian sahib has to be reminded that during his second stint as prime minister, PML-N leaders and workers had stormed the apex court. The treatment meted out to then chief justice Sajjad Ali Shah can only be described as despicable. Second, it has to be borne in mind that almost all leaders or parties on the political scene today have at one time or another aided and abetted dictators, despite claiming to be champions of democracy.

Of course, power has its own dynamics; and the key to social dynamics that Marx found in wealth, Freud in sex, Bertrand Russell found in power. It has to be mentioned that Hitler and Mussolini were also elected leaders who were instrumental in the death and destruction of millions of people before and during the Second World War. Arundhati Roy, in her article titled ‘The end of imagination’ wrote: “Fascism is as in the people as it is in the governments. It starts in the drawing rooms, bedrooms and becomes a national psyche.” In Pakistan also we see tendencies of fascism in some religious and even so-called democratic and liberal parties. Their leaders are devoid of clarity of vision and sense of proportion. Paul Johnson, author of several best-selling books, during his lecture delivered on November 1, 2007 said: “In statesmanship, personal self-restraint in the search for and exercise of power is a key lesson to teach.” Unfortunately, Pakistan has not been lucky to have genuine leaders after the demise of the Quaid-i-Azam.