The dividends of democracy are incremental; they don’t happen overnight. It’s a process not a destination. That is a lesson the politicians across the board need to learn
Graphic by Naseem ur Rehman
Anarchy or parliament? It’s a pity that a country has to choose such a binary. That’s what the weeks-long spectacle in the capital was reduced to. In the ultimate analysis, it has been a fight to save or break the system. But it has not been easy for anyone in the country to appear to defend the “system” without incurring the charge of being a PML-N stooge — a party that is projected as the most corrupt, brutal and inefficient, and one that the system could do without.
It was rather early in the day that the alternative to the system was brought forth — in the form of an interim government of technocrats. That sent the wrong signals: the country had experienced such a government in a short term before; a long term interim government had unpleasant echoes of the Bangladesh Model.
The retraction came sooner than expected but not without convincing everyone that the PTI-PAT duo had no alternative to the system in place. They only knew what to break and had no clue what to replace it with.
No matter how non-sensical it may have seemed and how damaging it was for the stability of the system, the sheer noise of pure anarchy reverberated in the capital making any sensible political analysis impossible.
If rigging was, indeed, what bothered certain political forces, was the parliament not a better forum to engage the government and strive for reforms?
You can have a disagreement with the policies of the government but in a democratic dispensation the government remains its own biggest defender. You can’t wish a government away for pursuing policies (Motorways or Metro buses) you do not like.
If you agree to work within the framework of constitution, the government must go by the method prescribed within the constitution. If you want to reform the system, you must first attempt it within the parliament before taking to the streets and with such maximalist demands.
The dividends of democracy are incremental; they don’t happen overnight. It’s a process not a destination. That is a lesson the politicians across the board need to learn.
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