Rule of Law, transparency and accountability are the basic fundamentals of true democracy. When these fundamentals are not abided by in elected governments they are synonymous to autocracy. Mother of demcracyBriton and other western functional democracies completed their journey to welfare states by upholding these fundamentals. Unfortunately, in Pakistan the oligarchic political elite after getting mandate from the people ran the system of governance in autocratic manner. The Supreme Court verdicts of 28th July 2017 and 21st February, 2018 will give momentum to the journey from elected autocracy towards true democracy.
The oligarchic political elite, comprising the feudal and mercantile classes, considers entry to the parliament through elections a democratic systems. They are least interested in making legislations for the redressal of the problems confronting the people. They despise the accountability of public representatives with the application of the rule of law. To save the powerful elite from accountability person specific legislation was enacted in the form of Election Act 2017 for the former a Prime Minister disqualified under the Articles 62 and 63 of the Constitution. The former Prime Minister and some sitting federal ministers launched a smear campaign against the judiciary and honorable judges. As though it was not enough, the incumbent Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi made a statement in the National Assembly which was a clear violation of the Article-68 of the Constitution. The former Prime Minister with his remote control of the government wanted to put the state institutions on collision course and thus he is bent upon to weaken the foundation of the state for his personal interest.
In the neighboring country India democracy flourished because their political leadership strengthened the state institutions. Once in the political history of India, Prime Minister Mrs. Indra Ghandi imposed emergency when she was de-seated by Allabad High Court but she regretted that decision and accepted her mistake. Ironically, the seasoned and saner parliamentarian of the ruling party could not persuade the former Prime Minister to give up his campaign against the state institutions in the larger interest of the state. Hopefully, their point of view will now prevail in the decision making of PML-N and Nawaz Sharif will be convinced that his political career as a party chief is now sealed for ever. Change of leadership in political parties is an essential ingredient of healthy democratic culture .The sooner this tradition is accepted and followed the better it would be for democracy in the country.
