Democracy is not an abstract miracle
By Ayaz Amir
Democracy is the sum of its parts. American democracy in action is what the Republican and Democratic parties make it out to be. UK democracy is about the functioning of the three major parties represented in the House of Commons. It is simply not possible for political parties to be sick and corrupt and for the tree of democracy to be in robust health.
This is Pakistan’s problem. Barring the civil and military retired classes which are eternally-enamoured of military-controlled democracy, the rest of the country’s mortal population craves nothing more than ordinary, everyday democracy. The problem is, and it is a huge one, that Pakistan’s political parties, all of them, even the most self-righteous, refuse to change. Most things evolve and grow. Even viruses mutate. But Pakistan’s political parties, champions of the hollow word, are incapable of changing.
The Jamaat-e-Islami and the MQM are the only political parties in the country where the hereditary principle—the mantle of leadership passing from one family member to another, usually from doting father to dutiful son—does not reign supreme and unchallenged. The rest are family fiefdoms. While there is an element of comedy in this, it is not very funny for a nation which even after 63 years of its birth is still caught in the throes of trying to fathom the meaning of its existence.Read More »Democracy is not an abstract miracle