Democracy or Dictatorship 1

Subject: Pakistan Studies

Topic: Democracy or Dictatorship

Submitted to: Miss Asma Javed

Submitted By: Badar Muneer Khan Baigal (BS 2K8)
Date: 13-6-2009

DEMOCRACY OR DICTATORSHIP

➢ Introduction
Democracy or Dictatorship 2

The word democracy is derived from two Greek words (demos = the people; kratein = to
rule) which literally mean "rule by the people." Democracy may, therefore, be described
as a political system in which the people are entitled (through some form of
constitutional arrangement) to make the basic determining decisions on important
matters of public policy (Holden, 1994)
A dictatorship is defined as an autocratic form of government in which the government
is ruled by an individual, the dictator, without hereditary ascension. It has three possible
meanings. A government controlled by one person or a small group of people. In
contemporary usage, dictatorship refers to an autocratic form of absolute rule by
leadership unrestricted by law, constitutions, or other social and political factors within
the state.

➢ Establishment, role and relation of military with Politics

In Pakistan history, military has ruled the country for about 33 years. So definitely they
have been deep rooting in decision making and they have control nearly every matter of
the country. Here, we have to understand the role and relation of military with politics.
The Pakistan military resumed its independent role in 1947 when the British withdrew
from south Asia and divide the British Indian armed forces between the newly
independent states of India and Pakistan. They inherited the British military traditions
and their officer corps was trained in British military institutions or the institutions
established by the colonial rulers in India. This stressed military’s subordination to the
civil authority and their aloofness from politics. These traditions were the corner-stone of
military organization in Pakistan.
The erosion of these traditions was set in motion by the gradual decline of the political
institutions in the mid-fifties. The military began to expand its role and (along with the
civil bureaucracy) soon emerged as an important factor in the decision making at the
national level. The first conspicuous change in civil-military relations took place in 1958;
When Ayub khan took the power. The second coup took place in 1969(General Yahya
Khan) and the third coup in 1977(General Zia-ul-Haque) and the fourth General Pervez
Musharaf (from 1999 to 2008). With the exception of the temporary phase of 5.5 years
Democracy or Dictatorship 3

of civilian rule (1972-77), the military have exercised power directly under the cover of
Martial law or the civilianized regime of the former army commander ruled the country.
The analyses show that three factors explain the transformation of the civil-military
relations.
i. The nature and problems of the civil society.
ii. The nature of the military.
iii. The interactions across the boundaries of the civil and military domains.
The military’s position was strengthened by Pakistan’s acute sense of insecurity caused
by regional security pressure. The military e\received (and still receives) the largest
share of the national budget and was the main beneficiary of Pakistan’s participation in
the western alliance system in the fifties and the sixties. The reinvigoration of Pakistan-
American relations in the backdrop of the soviet military intervention in Afghanistan
(1979) proved a boon for the military. It acquired greater confidence and improved its
efficiency and strike capability which reinforce the institutional imbalance between the
under=developed civil institution and the well-developed military. The military profession
also enjoyed respect in Pakistan, partly because of the marital traditions of the Punjab
and NWFP, and partly due to Islam’s stress on ‘holy war’ and concepts like Ghazi and
shahid.
The coups in Pakistan ere proceed by law and order situations and serious challenges
to the then governments. In 1958, the opposition political parties had built strong
pressure on the civil government which relied on the military’s support for its survival. In
1969, the nationwide mass agitation paralyzed the Ayub regime. In 1977, the violent
street agitation immobilized the Bhutto government. Initially the military extended
support to the besieged cavil government and helped the contain agitations, The
persistence of agitation, the inability of the civil government to over come the crises led
the military commanders to conclude that they were protecting a government which
would not survive if they withdrew their support. This encouraged them to play a direct
political role and assume power. There were no resentence to the coups in 1958, 1969,
1077.1999; the governments capitulated and the opposition leaders welcomed the
change for their personal benefits.
Democracy or Dictatorship 4

The Ayub regime, often described as the ‘showcase’ of economic development and
stability, was unable to cope with the participatory and distributive pressures on the
political system. It came to an end under worse conditions than those which brought
Ayub Khan to power. General Yahya Khan lacked political prudence and ability to steer
to Pakistan out of the East-West Pakistan conflict. His failure to maintain a balance
between the diverse political, economic, social and regional forces indulged the country
into one of the most unfortunate civil wars of he 20th Century. The failure of military to
create stable political system and institutions, facilitating the participation of the people,
Socio-economic justices were once again the problems of the periods of Zia-ul-Haque
and Musharaf’s martial law.
The repeated military interventions in politics since 1958 and especially the military
rules of Zia and Musharaf, has altered the traditional pattern of civil-military relations.
The military commanders have been arguing that, in addition to their role of defense
against external aggression and provision of necessary assistance to the civil
government, the military is the guardian of the ‘ ideological frontiers’ and ‘ideology’ of
Pakistan. This argument helped them to expand their way to reserve the right to step
into domestic politics any time in the future without any resistance. They also demanded
some institutional arrangement enabling them to share decision-making power with the
political elite at he national level. For this they created National Security Council(NSC)
and made it super decision making body. Later this body was abandon with an
agreement with members of National Assembly to obtain their support for amendment
bills in favor of military.
Mr. Bhutto did try to assert civilian supremacy by strengthening political institutions
because of set back due to 1971 debacle in East Pakistan. However, his objective was
defeated by the very policies he adopted to achieve this. The military not only overcome
the temporary set-back but it also acquired greater confidence by its expansion and
modernization during the Bhutto period. The regional security pressure made it possible
for them to obtain lion’s share of the national budget which facilitated the modernization.
This was augmented by the reinvigoration of Pakistan-US relations after the Soviet
military intervention in Afghanistan.
Pakistan can now be described as a praetorian state where the military has acquired
the capability, will and sufficient experience to dominate the core political institutions and
Democracy or Dictatorship 5

processes. Their principal ally is the civil bureaucracy who shares several organizational
attributes and perspectives with them. As the political forces are disparate and weak,
the military’s disposition (whether in power or not) is crucial I shaping the course of
political change and facilitating transfer of power from one elite to another.

➢ Failures of Democracy

a) Spread of Fundamentalism
The fundamentalism grows and spreads in those countries where there is some sort of
democratic system and opposition id allowed to play its part. In such a system,
fundamentalists are allowed to form their won parties, publish their literature,
demonstrate for their demands and use media for their propaganda. We can see all this
in FATA, where Tehrik-a-nafaz-e-shariat-e-muhammadi (TNSM) has introduced its
own “Brand of Islam” that aims at destroying girls colleges, burn the CD shops, and train
people for suicide attacks. They are all doing this in the name of Islam.
The presence of fundamentalist parties in the body politics of the Muslim countries
changed the whole scenario. As a result of their aggressive politics, religious-oriented
parties are successfully mobilizing the people, and forcing the secular and enlightened
elements to recede from main political activities. As we can see, during the MMA
government, the extremist groups were allowed to pursue their function regularly. This
has resulted into a situation, as we can see now in Pakistan.

b) The Politics of Hatred

Pakistan came in existence in 1947. It came to be known as sovereign independent

state but most of the people did not know that it was still in the hands of few powerful
people. 22 families acquire more than 90% of wealth of Pakistan and almost all of them
are feudal.
The feudals played an important role in the creation of Pakistan. Once Quaid-e-Azam
said on one occasion, “I had got fake coins in my pocket.”
These feudals have the political and economic power. People had been greatly and are
being exploited in this system from the past 60 years. These few corrupt people are
Democracy or Dictatorship 6

using common people purely for their own cause. They don’t want to give up their power
and authority for the uplift of Pakistan.
In a feudal culture, either there is intense friendship or intense enmity, but no middle
course of toleration. Criticism is regarded as personal insult and defeat as humiliation.
Honor and respect is due only to those who are physically powerful. These values have
contributed in shaping our political culture, where power is only way to become
respectable.
Pakistani politics is full of hatred. Democracy is a system in which political power shifts
intermittently. A loser has the chance to win the mandate of the people in the next
election. But it depends on his commitment and dedication. To remain in power for a
long period, like a king, is very difficult in democratic society. A real power lies in the
people’s verdict. It should be accepted. Opponents should be tolerated and not
eliminated. Opposition should not blame ruling party for ragging. The difference
between politicians encourages the army to interfere. The people loose trust on the
politicians. But unfortunately in history of Pakistani politics we not see such a good and
healthy activity. The clashes between PPP and PML in 1990, not only destabilize both
the parties but above all it harmed Pakistan. And currently we can also see the political
uncertainty, when chief minister of Punjab was dismissed from his post. The PPP should
respect the mandate of PML-N in Punjab

c) Inherited Politics
Unfortunately in Pakistan the politics is inherited. The feudals, sardars and Wadaira
have occupied the markets, economy, industries, and simply they have power in do
anything. In rural areas they don’t allow the people to get education as these people can
revolt against them. So they rule the innocent people while keeping them ignorant. The
Pakistan political system has been dominated by few families, who are in parliament
and in upper house. Take the example of PPP. We have a leader Bilawal Bhutto. But he
has never lived in Pakistan, his education is from abroad, he has never seen the
suffering of the common people in Pakistan, he has never traveled in Pakistani public
transport. How can I expect him to be a great leader of this country? Our politicians
have no faith in our institutions. They called upon Scotland Yard or UN to resolve their
domestic issues. Most of the parliamentarians are illiterate and they are there to make
law for the people of 160 million people.
Democracy or Dictatorship 7

➢ Role of democracy and dictatorship in today’s perspective

Today, unfortunately, Pakistan is passing through difficult, delicate and sensitive phase
of its history. It’s now become not a question of ruling the country, but the intensity of
problems demands that now it has become the question of survival of Pakistan.
Pakistan is facing intense external and internal problems. The biggest problems that,
now, Pakistan is facing are terrorism suicide attacks. It has completely failed to control
this meaner. It’s challenging the security of Pakistan. A sense and feelings of insecurity
is expanding among the people of Pakistan and now they are no more trusting on
government for provision of security.
In order to end the terrorism military operation is at its full scale in FATA areas. But this
operation has resulted in displacement of nearly three million people from this region.
Now the government is trying to manage one of the biggest displacement of the world
has ever seen, over three million people have left the tribal areas and Malakand
division. These people are now in various camps in Sawabi, Mardan and other parts of
NWFP. The provision of food, shelter, health facilities has the biggest problems that now
Pakistan is facing. These people are living a very pathetic life, as there is no clean
water, lack of electricity and hot climate is unbearable to the people. Children are
becoming ill. This is the biggest displacement of mass of people after independence.
The issue concerning the internal displaced people (IDPs) is not simply that of
displacement; but it’s also of poverty. Friends of Pakistan have promise to give 4 billion
dollar to help IDPs but till now we have received only fraction of it. Then there is
problem of rehabilitation of these displaced people. There have been rallies against the
rehabilitation of these people in Sindh, which last question of the unity of Pakistan, as
these people are Pakistani.
The law and order situation has blocked the way of investment. Rather people are
shifting their assets to foreign countries due to uncertainty instability in the country. This
has also badly affected the economic situation of Pakistan. Recently the budget has
been announced for year 2009-10. Total outlay of Budget 2009-10 is Rs2.489 trillion,
out of which Rs50 billion has been allocated for the displaced of operation in Malakand
Division. In order to fulfill its demand Pakistan has borrowed money from IMF. In budget,
budget deficit is 4.9% of GDP. The government is aiming to fill this gap partly with help
Democracy or Dictatorship 8

of Friends of Pakistan and partly from internal resources. If friend of Pakistan would not
be able to help then it would borrow from IMP which further burden our meager
economy. Similarly there are other issues which seek attention.

➢ conclusion
Pakistan is facing many internal and external problems. There is American pressure and
now the war against terror has become our own war and our politicians have to accept
this. They should unite on one plate form. Imran khan and MMA should support military
operation because it’s a question of survival of Pakistan. The politicians should forget
internal conflicts and should think for Pakistan first and foremost.Today, being a nation,
we have the challenges of inequality between provinces, regional disparities, economic
imbalances, poverty, and inflation and many other issues. Every institution of Pakistan
should work with collaboration and cooperation. Military should respect the power of
vote of people. They should give the time for democracy to flourish. But it today’s
difficult time they both must work with each other and should support each other. The
issues should be resolved through negotiation and bilateral diplomacy. Our foreign
policy should be free and it should take decision in keeping countries benefits. Being a
nation we have to pass this phase of history with courage. Such times come in the
history of great nations. We have to prove ourselves as a nation, we have to fight this
war, we have to save Pakistan, we have to once again sew the seed of peace, love,
cooperation, respect, equality and above all seek help from Allah Almighty.

May Allah help us to face this difficult time with courage, prayers and above all as one
Muslims and one nation…AMEEN!
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