The Limitations of Democracy

The limitations of Democracy

Right from the time of Plato, political scientists have been writing about democracy. In our country democracy is being proclaimed as some kind of universal panacea. But what we are witnessing right now is a steady, all encompassing decline in our society. Fissures in the body politic are appearing with each passing day to the extent that there is a growing general underlying fear that the country is heading towards disintegration. There is a general lack of confidence in the organs of the state and their functions. But we do have a democratically elected government. What is the problem with us?

The beauty of the democracy lies in its system of feed back. In a democratic set up, disorganized and random public opinion is articulated and organized by the media. The media feeds this organized opinion to the decision makers. This circle is what we call feed back. This feed back provides the rulers and decision makers the information to make mid course corrections to their policies for maximum benefit of the public. This is how a democratic set up sails on an even keel. Fortunately, this arrangement is very much established in our country. But why is it not giving the desired results? What has happened to our democracy, wherein lies our failure, and is there any remedy?

As far as our democratic set up is concerned, despite a poorly framed constitution stuffed with self serving clauses, we are more or less a standard democracy. We have such democratic set ups all around us and they are not only working satisfactorily but are also delivering fruits of democracy to their people. Sri Lanka and Bangladesh are two examples in our neighborhood. What has happened in our case?

The only difference between Pakistan and the above mentioned countries is that of the nature of population. Population of Bangladesh is almost homogenous. That is one important condition for the flourishing of democratic set up in that country. Sri Lanka, just like us, has ethnic groups. But despite that, its democratic set up is well established earning respect from advanced nations. The main reason behind this appears to be the equality with which different ethnic groups are treated by the state.  Another important feature common to both Sri Lanka and Bangladesh is the high level of literacy of their populations.

Coming over to Pakistan, ethnic divisions in the population at the time of inception of the country were quite distinct. But they were swamped by the excitement of the birth of a new country and the new nation. The leadership at that time, which was predominantly feudal,  could not build on this initial fervor, rather it worked to strengthen its stranglehold on the masses. The new born country’s backward slide started when in 1953 the law about compulsory education to all citizens, which was enacted by the Colonial Rulers, was abolished.  This was first deliberate effort to keep the masses illiterate regardless of their ethnic affiliation. The object was to gain a vice like grip on masses in order to perpetuate the rule of the feudal.

The first ones to sense this game were the Bengalis of the then East Pakistan. Even at the time of birth of Pakistan, Bengalis of the then East Pakistan were more homogeneous, literate and organized. They reacted sharply when Quaid-e-Azam declared Urdu as single language of Pakistan. It was a critical mistake by Quaid-e-Azam which sowed the seeds of secession of East Pakistan and birth of Bangladesh. The last and final mistake was feudal lord Bhutto’s non acceptance of election results of 1970.

After Bangladesh debacle, the feudal lords of Punjab, Sindh and Balochistan continued their policy of dominating the masses. Constitution of 1973 is a document which strengthens the feudal grip on masses. Even after 38 years of its inception and after umpteen amendments, it is a defective document which promises the masses nothing. In no way does it bridle the power of the feudal. Rather, it puts a cross over the whole democratic system by empowering the unelected party chief to disqualify any elected member of the Parliament whimsically and arbitrarily.  It is not an accident that the present Parliament is a horde of morons. The Constitution deliberately designs it like that. 

The first effect of feudal stranglehold on the masses resulted in the dismemberment of country in 1971. Now a days we are witnessing further effects of this stranglehold. The most profound effect of this feudal dominance is that our nation’s mass literacy rate is steadily going down. This is not only increasing the religious intolerance but also the ethnic intolerance. A stage has now reached that all four provinces of the country are teeming with illiterate population, and  the people of one province feel that they have nothing in common with the people of the other provinces. This mindset now seems to be seeping down to district level. Perceptible cracks are appearing   in the body politic of the country. All this is happening in a country which vehemently claims itself to be a democracy.

In a true democratic set up, leaders or the system train their masses to live in a democracy. The prime condition for this is universal education. In a true democratic system the education of masses is one most important activity of the State. A democratic set up simply cannot work without educated masses.

I remember reading a book that I borrowed from United States Information Service (USIS). This book was about nuclear waste produced by nuclear power reactors which are used for generating electricity.  The book was published by the U.S. Atomic Energy Commission and unlike other American books, carried a nominal price. While the small book was full of technical information, it was written in very simple language. But the most important sentence was written in the introduction of the book, and I quote the same,

 “This book has been written to provide correct and up to date information to the general public about the problem of nuclear waste produced by the large number of nuclear power stations generating electricity in the U.S., and the methods of disposal of this waste. This book clearly discusses the risks and hazards involved in the generation of electricity from nuclear energy and the advantages of nuclear energy. This book is not an attempt to convince the general public about the use of nuclear energy. It is rather an attempt to educate general public about nuclear energy so that they can decide for themselves whether they want to have nuclear energy despite its risks and hazards or they consider the alternatives more safe. The general public can then vote according to their ideas.”      

Actually, this is the spirit of a democratic set up. First, it educates the people about a problem and then asks them to vote on the matter. This example clearly demonstrates the role of education in a democracy. A democracy simply cannot work without mass education. This is also the limitation of democracy. This is the real malady from which our democratic system suffers, not by accident, but rather by design.

With Pakistan’s literacy rate steadily going down, the democracy is also weakening. Illiterate people also suffer from lack of confidence, and consequently become the prey of the obscurantist. To the great misfortune of our people, most of the feudal lords also double as spiritual leaders. A cursory look at the parliamentary membership will reveal that barring a few,  most of the parliamentarians are, in addition to being big land lords, are Peers, Gaddi Nasheens or otherwise spiritual leaders of their constituency. All the time in our county we have conferences about Spiritualism and Soophism with zero impact on the well being of the people. In fact, these activities blunt even the meager desire the people have for modern education. I have talked to many illiterate people and was very much perturbed to discover that they had little or no desire for modern education.

With illiteracy on the rise, Pakistani democracy is in decline. As the time passes there will more illiterate people around with greater grip of religio-feudals on them. Thus Pakistani democracy is bound to slide more and more toward feudo-theocratic dictatorship with each general election in this country.

Democracy is not absolute in its character. Contrary to general impression in our country, it cannot improve every kind of people under all circumstances. Democracy requires certain conditions to work for the well being of a people. In most of the successful democracies, these conditions were created by their visionary leaders having an eye on the future and no pockets to their garments. Unfortunately for Pakistan, this has not happened and there is no chance of it ever happening in foreseeable future. Pakistani democracy is expected to degrade into a feudo-theocratic dictatorship in the long run.

After reading this blog some would complain that I acted as a doomsday prophet and did not offer any remedy. My blog points to the disease. Remedies are adopted by wise people who are conscious and care about themselves and their future. Have you ever seen an ox munching aspirin tablets?    

Fayyaz Mahmood