Free And Fair Elections In Pakistan:
A Dream Or A Reality?By Dhrubajyoti Bhattacharjee
21 December, 2007
Countercurrents.org
Those who were accepting the fact that Pakistan was going to experience a free and fair election, has woken up to the rude fact that in the forthcoming period too, Pakistan is going to witness one more tutored election fiasco. Though Musharraf has shed off his General's uniform, but he still remains to be at the helm of affairs, more powerful than any of the two wings of democratic governance, the legislature as well as the judiciary, as he retains the power to maneuver elections according to his will, and has suppressed the judicial machinery to the maximum.
Constitutionally, Benazir Bhutto as well as Nawaz Sharif cannot run for the Prime Ministerial elections as the Constitution has prohibited a candidate from such elections who has been the Prime Minister of the nation twice. But still can one prescribe that allowing Benazir Bhutto or Nawaz Sharif to run for the elections (by amending the Constitution) will bring forth a new democratic phase for Pakistan, which would bring political and social stability? During both their periods of governance, Pakistan experienced one of the most unstable political phases of the nations. Be it the rise of the Taliban in Afghanistan, rise of terrorism in Kashmir, the nuclear dimension, the proliferation of nuclear technology, the Kargil episode, the mass killings of Mujahids in Karachi and Sindhi, rampant political corruption, nepotism and the like, the previous democratic phase of the nineties was marred by political immaturity and instability. How can such leaders ensure that the future will be different?
The other political leaderships that have not yet tasted real power, like the MMA and the MQM remain to be immediate benefactors of the forthcoming elections as no political parties remain to be in the position of gaining full majority in the National Assembly. Naturally, the coming back of the PML (Q), as a major coalition partner, will be to the liking of the President as he will be able to mould, remould and reshuffle the pseudo-democratic structure to his advantage.
Giving more power to MMA remains to be dangerous as they, a coalition of six religious parties, have successfully changed the social fabric in NWFP and Balochistan, where they are in power. The other political parties are not in the good books of the President unlike MMA and PML (Q), and it seems unlikely that they will be able to force their way up to get hold of national power.
For the first time in many years, the Pakistani leadership has diverted its attention from India as well as Kashmir. Even the process of dialogue between India and Pakistan has not been thwarted, even after experiencing one of Pakistan's worst domestic political turbulences. But with the lingering political instability, it would be natural that such peace process would not last long, as history foretells that such political instability has been addressed by initiating some sort of a low scale conflict with India as it immediately diverts the attention of the Pakistani masses from domestic political affairs.
Musharraf has also started to fortify his position before the January 8th 2008 elections. By a Presidential Ordinance he has reinforced the National Command Authority's "complete command and control" over all aspects of the nuclear program and granted the chairman, that is President Musharraf himself "all the powers and functions of the authority." He has also been extremely cautious in allowing media the freedom that they enjoyed before the emergency was clamped in Pakistan on November 3, 2007. While selecting his successor Musharraf showed that he might have learnt from the mistakes of his predecessors. It has been commented by a senior political analyst that "it must be said to the credit of Musharraf that he did not supersede any officers senior to Kiyani. He went purely by seniority and merit. Kiyani was on the top of the seniority list and had the reputation of being a professional to his finger tips."
When Musharraf will step down from power remains vaguer, when he mentioned that ""When there is no turmoil in Pakistan, I will step down. I am not a dictator, I want democracy." The arrival of such a situation might not be imminent. But if a solution to this deadlock is sought and that too on terms of the principles of democracy, then the mass popularity of Benazir Bhutto and Nawaz Sharif cannot be overlooked. There remains no leader in Pakistan who can overshadow the popularity commanded by the two leaders, how corrupt or inefficient they might be.
There is an immediate need for fresh candidates, either from the PPPP, PML (N) or from a party having a mass base amidst all the strata of the society, who will have a backbone of their own but as well as will have the support of their present leaderships. There is no necessity though that they must belong from the same families, but the dearth of leadership must be met with by leaders and not by clans.
Dhrubajyoti Bhattacharjee
Lecturer
Department of Political Science
Siliguri College
Darjeeling
West Bengal
734001
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