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World War II inaugurated the vistas of democracy in the world. The genesis of Pakistan as
an independent state was marked with the same trends. However, the booming democratic
state as envisaged by the Quaid soon fell into the hands of demagogues, feudals, elitist
bureaucracy, under the aegis of the corrupt interest groups, all sorts of mafia and the
invisible foreign hands. Above all the military and the quasi-military rule strangled any hope
of democracy for the developing Pakistan. The deterioration got further impetus by the foul
play in the elections, stagnation of the political process by coup d` tats followed by the
martial laws, sometimes in the name of Islam and other times in the name of modernism.
The fault lines of democracy widened with the caricature of the constitution, corruption of
the judiciary and violation of the human rights.

The seeds of anti-democratic norms were sown , when on August 1947, Khan Sahib¶s
ministry was dismissed along with M.A Khusroo¶s dismissal on April 20,1948 in Sindh and
Fazal-ul-Haq¶s in 1954 in East Pakistan, despite the fact that each government enjoyed a
majority in the assemblies. However, the major blow to the democratic process was the
baffling re-shuffling of the minister ship thrice in a fortnight. Yet the gravest of all was the
abrogation of the constitution for the first time on October 1958 by Iskander Mirza.

The rough path of pseudo democracy brought a series of catastrophic incidents in the attire
of AyubKhan¶s failed federal-provincial policies, Zia¶s grappling with the religion, Bhutto¶s
demagogic rhetoric, Benazir¶s conceited false claims and Nawaz Sharif¶s cowardice. The path
was further furnished by the sham democratic claims in the form of a uniformed
unconstitutional president turning the whole nation topsy turvy to establish an illusionary
democracy.

The mockery of democracy could also be observed by the fact that the so called loyal,
jingoistic politicians could not form a constitution for the first nine pivotal years of
independence. The objective resolution of 1949 , the constitution of 1956 and 1962 , that
tried to save the sinking political raft of dictatorship and martial law ended up in the
separation of Bangladesh. The gift of Bhutto to Pakistan in the form of 1973 constitution
was a child¶s play in the hands of the dictators, the 8th amendment LfO, the seventeenth
amendment crumbled down any democratic signs that were left with country. The
successful democratic countries like England and U.S live with the principle of separation of
powers, elucidated in their constitution and protected by judiciary. On the contrary, Pakistan
leaders devour every thing and any thing that they can lay their hands on and have
likewise, changed the constitution to suit their autocratic, plutocratic whims in such a way
that the constitution has been reduced to a legitimate protective covering for the illegitimate
processes.

Pluralism, is an insignia of democracy. Pakistan has never hesitated to flout such a pivotal
element.Innitiated by Ayub Khan , Zia and in the contemporary world by the so called
Quaid-i-Azam league.in the multi-ethnic and multi-cultural country like Pakistan a non-party
political atmosphere representing the ruling dictators not the voice of the varied cultural
society proved to be only a disaster. Unlike Pakistan, America India or Canada with bi-
partism or multi-partism helps its different regions and groups to be vocal about their
interests , at the same time strong political institutions bound the people together under the
umbrella of a one democratic country.In Pakistan the very opposite has always occurred.
µOne unit¶ formula of Muhammad Bogra usurped the rights of the people giving way to
frustration and disgust. The cynical power politics of the dictators weakened the political
atmosphere, elections fought on non party basis only grew skepticism among the provinces,
specially East and West Pakistan , which ended up in the dismemberment of Pakistan in
1971.The champions of democracy in the present are repeating the notions of their
predecessors and have created same situation where Balochistan is voicing independence
from the non-democratic dictators

The only thing left in the country as an aftermath of the distorted democracy is the regional
parties that only inflict regional, ethnic and sectarian norms, the out come of which is
terrorism , sectarianism, and violence. Something that has taken deep roots in the country
and has become an incurable cancer.

Rigging elections and tampering results is another menace that has damaged the legitimate
populist governments. Unlike ,foreign democratic countries the governments in Pakistan are
always charged of being corrupt, illegitimate that gains powers either through the
patronization of a foreign hand or some worst mafia and interest groups.

Moreover, the coup d¶etat are a plague for the true democracy and such non-political moves
shrouded in mystery reverse any signs of progress the country had undergone .The
perpetual control of the military regimes for the 31 years and other 27 under the quasi-
military rule are the mockery of the Quaid¶s dream who in the last address to the
constituent assembly envisaged a democratic state with a smooth political process in a
tolerant nation.

The sine quanone of an egalitarian country are the rule of the common people , provision
and safety of the human rights , supremacy of law and a free judiciary . Unfortunately
Pakistan lacks them all .The feudals , elite bureaucrats in the form of Tiwanas , Daultanas or
the Bhuttos reigned with an elitist mindset.The nexus of the government with mafia,
suppression of the human rights and their violations distorted the fading signs of
democracy. Deprived people of all their economic , socil, political and now even religious
prerogatives add only fanaticism to country¶s life , nothing else. Moreover, law and judiciary
that are only the tools in the hands of the despots provide nihilistic elements to the society.

Albeit a cruel, yet a true picture was shown to the bragging leaders of Pakistan when Bush
visited South Asian countries. Declaring India to be the oldest democracy Bush had given
Pakistan an instance to ponder over its follies and foibles and to restrain from the errors and
mistakes of the predecessors.

The 58 years of the birth of the nation illuminates same dark aspects of the country¶s life .
The parties as well as the masses have to realize that Pakistan was made in the name of
Islam , slapping away religion in the name of modernism just to gain favours from the anti-
Islamic elements can never bring true democracy .The feigned antagonism established
between Islam and democracy is nothing but a sham propaganda as Islam provides all the
democratic solutions of the issues the world is grappling with.

New countries emerging on the world map as well as the nations of the antiquity with well
established norms have proved to be inconsistent with the modern definition of democracy,
thus the need of the hour is that the phenomenon of democracy should be re defined with
the consensus of the world , rather that preaching and aspiring for the ideals that are
measured by a different yard stick for every country by its proponents. The act of U.S to
favour the dictators in Pakistan and Egypt yet the way it has waged an un visible war
against the democratic and legitimate governments of Iran and Palestine proves that
America¶s definition of democracy is not a universal one. .Hence, a sincere effort is required
to overcome this evil of pseudo democracy and dictatorship not only in Pakistan but globally
in the world to make it a better place for the humans to live peacefully.?