Intensive efforts are being exerted in search of democracy in Pakistan today. The search, however, is moving in two diverging poles followed by two trends. It all depends on how democracy is viewed. But on inspection it seems that the advocates of each direction interpret the search in a manner that serves their own purposes.
The Great Democratic Alliance
The first direction is pursued by the opposition trend, which is represented by the Great Democratic Alliance and spearheaded by the deputies of Zadah Nasrullah Khan. Recently expanded to embrace fifteen groups, it includes the Rabita Islami Party and the Pakistani People's Party. This trend has decided to go against government policy by pressurizing it hold elections and reinstate democracy in its widely known sense.
The Great Democratic Alliance's interpretation of democracy means the existence of a climate, which enables all individuals and political parties to practice their political rights and control their own destiny. This interpretation sees the interference of the military in politics as summary action, and a violation of civil rights and democracy. It also considers the allegation that most politicians lack good reputation and are guilty of corruption is promulgated by the military to justify their stay in power, and therefore the opposition should continue to impel the military to renegade and return to their barracks.
The military government
The military government is the adherent of the second trend. It claims that it is working towards establishing a true democracy and not a "shameful democracy." The self-imposed government believes that the policy followed by political parties in the country was corrupt and that most political party leaders, particularly those of the People's Party and the Rabita Islami, were abusing the political system and plundering the people's money under the guise of democracy. The whole political system should be uprooted and rebuilt, they claim, and the manipulators and plunderers of the people's money excluded.
Constitutional and administrative reforms
According to the present government, it is necessary to take two important steps in establishing democracy.
The first step is the amendment of the 1962
law on political parties. A presidential decree was passed recently in
relation to this. The new law prohibits the nomination of any political
leader who was sentenced to more than two years in prison by a court of
law. Such a leader is banned from joining any political party, running for
election under a political party's name or being nominated to represent a
political party in Parliament. This new law urges all the parties that
intend to participate in the electoral process, which Pakistan will
witness in 2001 and 2002, to disclose their annual balance sheets and
provide information on their sources of funding. This decree which by
court of law has amended the 1962 law on political parties, was the
expedient in imprisoning the former premier, Nawaz Sharif, for fourteen
years. It also facilitated his removal from the chairmanship of the Rabita
Islami Party. Ironically and in the same fashion, it has paved the way for
the protracted dismissal of Benizir Bhuto from her party, given the
corruption lawsuits pending against her that she is expected to be
punished for.
The second step is the transfer of the central government's terms of reference to the lower administrative units. This law has withdrawn a sizeable part of the executive powers from government centres. Previously monopolized by the bureaucrats in the central Parliament and the four provinces, these powers are in the process of being transferred to local authorities in the provinces and directorates to reduce centralization and allow for popular participation in government through small administrative councils called local councils. Amounting to 225 000 councils, each local council will comprise of 18 members. Two-thirds of the seats of each local council will be reserved for men, while the remaining third will be allotted to women. Each council will have a speaker and a deputy speaker. Local council members will be elected directly by the people and not on the basis of their partisan affiliation. Councilors - male and female - will be accountable only to the people who voted for them and not to the leaders of political parties, as was the case under the partisan government system.
Depending on the gradual application and evaluation of transferring the terms of reference of the central government to the lower administrative units, the transition period should take two years, as a sudden and total transfer of power could threaten the experiment with failure and create a state of havoc. The transition process will start in the December of this year and end in August 2002 - the period when Perviz Musharaf has pledged to give up power.
Additional Measures
To avoid having the reforms abrogated after the military give up power in October 2001, it is expected that a series of constitutional amendments will be adopted, as indicated by Perwiz Musharaf. "Measures will be adopted to give reforms a constitutional cover, so that they may not be amended or revoked by future governments," said Musharaf.
In his attempts to further insurance of success for the project of transferring power to local councils, General Perviz Musharaf has expanded the National Security Council - the highest executive and legislative power in the country. In doing so he has added four cabinet ministers to its members, raising the total to 16, including high ranking officials of the Army, Navy and Air Force. General Musharaf has already started consultation with the council members on the necessary measures to be adopted.
Reactions
Reaction to the new reforms is divided between support and opposition. The Jamat Islami (the Islamic Group) and a large proportion of the community believe that it is necessary to make amendments in the current structure of the Constitution. However, it disagreed on the details imposed by General Musharaf. Tahir Al Qadiri, Chairman of the Itihad Awami Party, welcomed the reforms, but said that they required simple modifications. Omran Khan, leader of the Insaf, Movement echoed his views.
Judge Hussein Ahmed, the leader of Jamat Islami, expressed reservations on the reforms, pointing out that his opinion and the Jamat Islami's decision to accept or reject depends on examining and discussing the issue. He also expressed displeasure at the attitude of the government, which had not taken into consideration his group's proposals in consequence of the amendments, indicating that the reforms did not reflect the wishes of Jamat Islami.
The Rebita Islami Party and the Pakistani People's Party are regarded as the strongest critics of the reforms currently proposed on the Pakistani political scene. The People's Party has described the reforms as a plan that is "lacking in principle and content."
Meanwhile, the Ulma-ul-Islam Party, which is headed by Mulavi Fazlurahman, stated that its reaction depends on its consideration of the issue, though it rejected the reforms in principle on the grounds that they disjointed the community and went against the spirit of Pakistan.
A faction of this party also rejected the reforms mainly because they gave women 33% of the seats in local councils.
Positive points of the measures:
- These reforms are a turning point in the history of the government in Pakistan. It is common knowledge that Pakistan comprises of four large provinces connected by federal relations, with each province having its own authorities and terms of reference. As the area of each province is extensive, the regional governments find difficulty in running the provinces, and the people find it hard to contact the elected representatives of their constituencies. Therefore, any serious attempt to divide these large provinces into smaller ones may carry benefits.
- The political events in Pakistan indicate that General Perviz Musharaf has made an irrevocable decision to wage war on feudalism, poverty and government corruption, and is intent on reforming political parties, which are riddled by administrative and financial corruption.
- The local council experiment can be an initiative taken by the government in response to contemporary and democratic changes; it may also be aimed at serving the country.
Negative points of the measures:
- They violate the rights of parliaments in the provinces (as local councils will derive their political authority directly from the central government) and ignore the terms of reference of local parliaments that ran the provinces and their councils under the old law. This means that decentralization will be counter-productive, as it will lead to a higher focus on centralization.
- The transfer of the terms of reference of the central government to the geographical entities could lead to problems related to inter-provincial conflicts. Nationalist loyalties are still deeply rooted in Pakistan, and giving local councils terms of reference is tantamount to granting them autonomy.
- The socio-political conditions in Pakistan require more examination, so as to avoid a rift in the community. It is feared that a climate may come about where the Bangladesh experience will be repeated. This is particularly true in the Sind Province, where sectarian and nationalist sympathies are on the rise.
However, what is certain is that real democracy, whether it is enshrined in the proposed reforms or will come about with the reinstatement of civil authority, will not bear fruit unless cooperation and understanding exist between the opposing sides in the military government and the political parties. Without it, the result will certainly be negative.
MFA/
