The Western World and Democracy in Pakistan
Dr. I. Kamal

Once upon a time, there was an empire over which the sun never set. Britannia ruled the waves and the Indian subcontinent through nawabs and maharajahs, waderas and chaudhris, who treated their subjects like dirt, but vied with each other in their loyalty and obedience to the King Emperor. One such maharajah was created by the Emperor by selling the beautiful land of Kashmir for a paltry sum of money to a bania (merchant) whose successors have kept its citizens under bondage from generation to generation. The shameful exploits of these nawabs and maharajahs and rampages on the backs of the poor citizenry are vividly described by Larry Collins and Dominique Lapiere in their epic drama, “Freedom at Midnight”. The Emperor was pleased to turn a blind eye to all their dastardly deeds and gross violations of human rights and the norms of decency, as long as they licked his boots. If any of them failed to the toe the line, the Emperor’s resident would be pleased to step in, deposing rulers, pitting brother against brother, son against father, in order to ensure that his will was done. These villains provided soldiers to fight the Emperor’s enemies in distant lands. When visiting London, they lived in the best hotels, shopped at the most fashionable shops, mixed with the lords and nobles, and in them the Emperor was well pleased. An important component of the order of things was the village Mahajan (money lender), who would lend money to the poor serfs at compounded interest rates which they did not understand, keeping them in economic bondage from generation to generation.

Time went by. Finally the sun did set on the empire. It was replaced by another empire, which created a New World Order. But now it was the twentieth century, no time for colonialism, and no need to physically rule distant lands. It was also important, for the sake of hypocrisy, to have the name of democracy associated with regimes which were nothing but brutal dictatorships in reality. When the New World Empire was threatened by the Evil Empire, The Nawab of Pakistan provided the channel for gun-running and intrigue, sowing the seeds of the drug and klashnikov culture which played havoc with the youth of his country. But the purpose of the Emperor had been served, and the Evil Empire had been permanently demolished.

It pleased the King of the New World to see a Pharaoh in Egypt who always manages to get 98 per cent of the votes, a king in Saudi Arabia who has a palace for almost each day of the year, a beggar king in Pakistan with a “heavy mandate” given by a mere 15 per cent of those eligible to vote, and sultans and sheikhs by the dozen. As long as they paid homage, there were no questions asked, democracy (so-called) or no democracy. When democracy was trampled over in Algeria, the King had nothing to say. But if it seemed that a head of state would not be pliant, all hell would break loose. Democracy would be endangered. The Old Emperor, who had lost all his teeth, was also still around, creating mischief wherever possible. (Currently he is “spearheading an international effort to restore” a democracy which had never existed in Pakistan.) The Mahajan was also still alive, although he had taken a more respectable international title, happily doling out money while knowing full well that 80 percent of the funds would go to corrupt officials or would be lost due to their inefficiency. The people of the debtor country would be kept in economic bondage from generation to generation, but who cared?

In the mean time, nothing had changed in Pakistan from the days of yore. It was true that elections were held every two to three years, where the poor peasants and masses were forced to vote for their urban or rural feudal lord. But this was the be-all and end-all of democracy. Elections mainly decided as to who got to plunder and loot for the next two to three years. In the villages, where the bulk of the country’s population resides, this so-called democracy served only to legitimize feudalism. Reports of Amnesty International and the Human Rights Commission are replete with incidents of torture, rape and extra-judicial killings of innocent civilians at the hands of the law-enforcement agencies controlled by the feudal lords. The country’s leaders still had flats in London, lived in the most expensive hotels when abroad and shopped “till they dropped” at Harrods (reference report by Christina Lamb on Nawaz Sharif’s shopping spree, the Sunday Telegraph, December 20, 1998), while defaulting by the billions on loans they had taken from the poor country’s exchequer. The now defunct National assembly of Pakistan, consisting mainly of urban and rural feudal lords, refused to even discuss the multiple “honor killings” of innocent young girls seeking the freedom of choice in marriage or divorce because, in the words of one of the legislators, this was a “matter of honor”. What honor? What democracy?

Listen O King of Kings, don’t you know that the human spirit is invincible, that peace and stability cannot come to a country until justice is meted out to all sections of its population just like in your own country? You want a peaceful world, so that your trade and commerce can flourish, your industry can continue to boom, your merchandise can continue to sell. You had a lot of clout over the thugs and hoodlums who plundered and misruled Pakistan for most of the last fifty years. They came prostrating at your doorstep at the slightest hiccup. When their names were mentioned as possible leaders while in opposition, their first act was to come and seek your blessings and assure you that your will would be done. Like the Emperor of yore, you chose to turn a blind eye to their dastardly deeds in return for obedience and subservience. You could see nothing between the dark horse of brutal dictatorship in the garb of democracy and the dark shadow of religious fundamentalism. There were forces in Pakistan for honest and secular democracy such as under the leadership of Air Marshall (retired) Asghar Khan, but you had no support for them because they could not razzle dazzle the illiterate masses with false slogans and promises. You failed to realize that it is social injustice which drives a people to extreme religious fundamentalism, just like the injustices which drove Cuba towards communism. You have been defeating your own purpose by bolstering up tyrants and dictators.

Eventually, the Pakistan Army, the only remaining institution in the country with discipline, meritocracy and integrity (with the exception of some black sheep, now absconding from justice), was forced to step in to stem the rot in answer to the prayers of the suffering and crying masses. Give them a chance. Let them clear up the mess and let them rid the country of feudalism, the root cause of all evil in Pakistan. Let them enforce meritocracy, the practice of which on a worldwide basis is the main reason for your own economic progress and prosperity. Let them put an end to corruption and nepotism, which had given ownership of important public offices to incompetent hoodlums, some of whom would not even qualify for a job as a bank-teller if they were to compete in a free society on open merit. Many of the crooks and robbers who looted Pakistan have found a safe haven in your lands, living on their ill-gotten wealth. Send them back to stand trial and answer the people of Pakistan, just like you expect international terrorists to be returned to you. Force them to return the stolen money, which could wipe out the foreign debt currently draining out the last drops of blood remaining in the nation’s economy. If you can export real democracy to Pakistan, it would be worth much more than the billions of dollars you have been doling out in military and economic aid in the past. Not pseudo- democracy to eyewash the public and the world, but pure and unadulterated democracy such as the one practiced in your own lands. The children of the third world deserve no less than yours!