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Thursday, March 28, 2024

Involving establishment in politics is unsafe for democracy

Junaid Ali Malik |

The well-known tendency of the ruling party PML-N with regard to involving the army in every matter is quite precarious and not suitable for a sustainable democracy. PML-N is involving the establishment in every matter – more specifically in every failure it faced during its reign. Political collapse should be embraced whole-heartedly.

It does not accord with a federal party to adopt this behavior and launch a blame game with national institutions including army and judiciary. It is true on the other side that in the past, political decisions were interrupted and especially the army and judiciary tried to influence them by one way or the other, but the situation is quite different now especially with the rise of the free media.

In fact, a number of leaders of PML-N are those who supported Pervez Musharraf. The same case persists with the other central political parties whose first and second tier leaders supported the dictators over and over.

In fact, the politicians have been involved in curtailing the significance of the democracy. This is because of the reason that the establishment has nurtured the major leading parties. The political parties in the second half of the previous century did support the dictators. As a matter of fact, the army intervention gave the political elite chance for face saving. For some, it was a blessing in disguise.

Read more: Is PML-N a threat to democracy?

Democracy makes everyone accountable for his or her activities. Furthermore, the process of accountability never started in the country, this is why, it seems quite discomfited for the ruling class to be questioned for activities they have been involved in their regimes. The politicians should imbibe the democratic culture in themselves, the indispensable principle of which is being answerable to the public.

These leaders changed their loyalties when democracy revived itself.

Lastly, it is evident from the contemporary trends that in the coming general elections, the parties facing defeat will reprimand the establishment.

Making matters worse, senior members of the ruling party are blaming each other for their proximity to the establishment and becoming the cause of tapering off the democracy. Nawaz Sharif believes that it was the establishment, principally, which had him disqualified ignoring the fact that he and his family could not prove the possession of the assets they own in and out of the country.

Read more: Real Democracy means Credible Ballots

Can one imagine that he and his senior colleagues including the foreign minister have the permit, Iqama, to work in another state? Still, Nawaz Sharif wants to know why he was disqualified. According to PML-N, it was the establishment that was behind the Faizabad Dharna. The party’s leaders, in spite of knowing the reaction from the general masses, tried to amend the wording of the oath-taking clause.

This really does not happen in the stronger democracies where everyone is more interested in doing their job and always ready to face the process of accountability.

PML-N startled the nation when it even claimed that its members from Baluchistan received calls from unknown numbers and owing to the pressure and apprehension, the CM was forced to step down. His removal occurred at a time when the corruption charges against him surfaced and the members even from the government and the oppositions were not satisfied with his performance.

Read more: Political elites of Pakistan: Promoting or subverting democracy?

His secretary was nabbed from Karachi claiming to be responsible for piling up millions of rupees for Zehri through various schemes. When it will be a talk of democracy, the nation should enquire its political leadership about the sacrifices it made for democracy. How many tribulations did they suffer from the dictators? The political leaders do not join hand with dictators.

The end result of this blame-game will not be in favor of democracy, which is the only form of government the masses want to prevail in the country.

In fact, a number of leaders of PML-N are those who supported Pervez Musharraf. The same case persists with the other central political parties whose first and second tier leaders supported the dictators over and over. These leaders changed their loyalties when democracy revived itself.

Read more: Democracy under threat from Nawaz Sharif?

Lastly, it is evident from the contemporary trends that in the coming general elections, the parties facing defeat will reprimand the establishment. This really does not happen in the stronger democracies where everyone is more interested in doing their job and always ready to face the process of accountability. The end result of this blame-game will not be in favor of democracy, which is the only form of government the masses want to prevail in the country.

Junaid Ali Malik is a professional writer. He considers writing is the sole purpose of his life. He has done masters in Commerce and History and holds PG Diploma in International Affairs. He is an entrepreneur by profession. He can be contacted at  alimalikmalik627@gmail.com or @junaidalimalik1. The views expressed in this article are the author’s own and do not necessarily reflect Global Village Space’s editorial policy.