By IANS
Islamabad : Current developments in Pakistan could see a transition to democracy or plunge the country into chaos, the head of a US think tank feels.
The dynamics of the war on terror were “not healthy for the development of democracy”, but there were “strong prospects” for democracy taking root in the wake of the struggle by lawyers, students, journalists and teachers for the rule of law and constitutionalism, Carl Gershman said.
The head of the National Endowment for Democracy (NED) presented his assessment Tuesday at a roundtable organised by the Centre for Civic Education on the “critical” situation in Pakistan, the Dawn reported Wednesday.
The NED is a Washington based private grant-making institution whose mission is to strengthen democratic institutions around the world.
According to Gershman, Pakistan is in the spotlight of global democratic experience today because the outcome would have global impact.
“There is an opportunity for democratic growth by virtue of the situation being created,” he maintained.
Speaking on the occasion, Lt. Gen. (retd) Talat Masood, who once headed the Pakistan Ordnance Factories Board, said the military became “a very dominant institution” in the country for historical, political, economic and geo-strategic reasons.
He said it was very difficult for the military to get out of politics because democratic pillars like an independent judiciary and strong and democratic political parties were missing.
According to Masood, military dominance had been beneficial in some areas but detrimental to the growth of other state institutions, leading to a situation that was not in the interest of the military itself.
He held the war on terror responsible for impeding democracy in Pakistan. Extremism and terrorism were the direct result of lack of democracy, he contended, adding: “No war can be won without the support of people.”
At the same time, the retired general noted that NGOs, students, and lawyers were struggling “to build a new Pakistan” and the Jan 8 elections provide the opportunity to realize this dream.
Inayatullah, who heads the NGO Council of Social Sciences (CSS), said the suppression of political parties and political leaders over decades had weakened Pakistan’s democratic culture.
Politicians faced exile and execution and the most brilliant of them was hanged, he stated.
The reference was to former prime minister Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, who was sent to the gallows in 1979, two years after being overthrown in a military coup. His daughter Benazir Bhutto heads the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) her father founded.
On her part, Benazir, who has twice served as prime minister, returned to Pakistan in October after eight years in exile. Another former prime minister, Nawaz Sharif, has also returned home from exile but his nomination papers for the general elections have been rejected.
Athar Minallah, a leader of the lawyers’ movement, said an independent judiciary was essential to bring stable democracy to Pakistan, which was created as a welfare state but had been converted into a security state.
“As long as there is no independent judiciary, elections will be a farce and will be rigged,” he declared.
Mazhar Abbas, secretary general of the Pakistan Federal Union of Journalists (PFUJ), said both elected and un-elected regimes had put pressures on media, in spite of which the print media had exposed the corruption of democratic and non-democratic governments alike.
Journalists in Pakistan had paid a heavy price for writing the truth, he said while pointing out that 25 journalists had been killed in the line of duty.
Since the imposition of emergency Nov 3, the media has been under constant pressure and TV channels on air today are under the complete control of the government, Abbas said.