pagans
BANNED
- Joined
- Nov 8, 2009
- Messages
- 289
- Reaction score
- 0
It really sounds like a joke. A British Council report released on Friday says that Pakistan faces a "demographic disaster" if its leaders fail to invest in a youth population that is disturbingly cynical about democracy. The Pakistani youth, the British Council report claims, "are deeply divided about how the country should be run. Only a third believe democracy is the best system of governance, one third support sharia law, while 7% think dictatorship is a good idea."
I don't know why the British Council had to commission a report to find out what the Pakistani youth thinks about democracy. Anyone who has been to Pakistan in recent times knows very well the mood on the streets of Lahore, Karachi and Peshawar.
In February 2008, soon after I -- and a few foreign correspondents based in Delhi -- landed at Lahore on my way to Islamabad just three days before the country went to elections, we could see the despair in the eyes of the people. "Bahut bura haal hai. Atta bhi 125 rupaye kilo hai (Things are really bad. Even wheat flour is available at Rs 125 per kg)," said a security guard at the Immigration as I casually asked him about the situation in the country.
For the next eight days, including the day of polling and counting of votes, we met hundreds of Pakistanis -- government officials, cab drivers, restaurant waiters and managers, policemen, shopkeepers, school teachers, students, farmers and dozens of people who do something or the other to just survive in the strife-torn country. They all had stories to tell -- sad, brutal stories. They all sounded desperate. They all hated the dictator -- Pervez Musharraf. They all had terrible things to say about Asif Ali Zardari. But, they all sounded quite upbeat about one thing: democracy. In February 2008, it didn't seem that the ordinary Pakistani had lost faith in democracy. And they proved their faith on February 19, when they came out in big numbers (55 to 60%) to vote in the historic election, despite the threat of suicide-car bombings and gun and grenade attacks at polling booths.
One young man from a posh neigbourhood of Islamabad told me that he came out to vote because he wanted to "improve Pakistan's image in the world". A poor labourer working at a construction site voted because he hoped that the "new government will finally look at the condition of people like him." And a young, middle-class girl in Lahore said she had voted because she "wanted to breathe freely, without the fear of gun." In the living room of legendary Pakistani lawyer Aitzaz Ahsan, who led the lawyers' movement against Musharraf and caused his downfall, we met intellectuals, social activists and socialites who wanted just two things for their country: democracy and rule of law.
The funny thing is that the British Council report says the young Pakistanis are losing faith in democracy but it doesn't say why is that happening. I haven't seen the complete report yet but I wonder if it says anything about the role played by the US and other western powers, including the UK, in destroying democracy in Pakistan. All the generals -- Ayub Khan, Yahya Khan, Zia ul Haq and Pervez Musharraf -- were supported completely, if not created, by the US. These dictators, who often behaved like spoilt brats, were showered with arms and weapons and money as long as they played the Americans' games in the region.
In addition to propping up these dictators and keeping them in power, the West always hobnobbed with the 20 families which control everything -- from land to politics to steel mills to stock exchange -- in Pakistan. The Pakistani feudal lords and the army generals (the post-1947 lords) with help from their western masters have systematically destroyed democracy in Pakistan. The west had one simple interest in Pakistan: use it for your geopolitical games. For the Pakistani elite the people are nothing more than cannon fodder to be used and abused and then dumped.
In the past 18 months, since the last election, things have become worse. A discredited person like Zardari has become the president (clearly with active help from the Americans); the militants have moved into the cities; and the US and its allies have increased their interference in the country. Because Pakistan is important for the west in its fight against Taliban-Al-Qaida combine, it will keep manipulating Pakistan and keep in power the corrupt people who don't care two hoots about the ordinary Pakistani.
There is no point in blaming the young Pakistani for losing faith in democracy. They have been victims of a corrupt client state. If anyone is to be blamed, it's the Pakistani elite and their western masters and collaborators.
No doubt, Pakistani democracy is in crisis. It has only one solution: more democracy, real democracy. Sham democracy under the shadow of guns is not going to revive democracy in Pakistan.
Who destroyed democracy in Pakistan? : World : Shobhan Saxena : TOI Blogs
I don't know why the British Council had to commission a report to find out what the Pakistani youth thinks about democracy. Anyone who has been to Pakistan in recent times knows very well the mood on the streets of Lahore, Karachi and Peshawar.
In February 2008, soon after I -- and a few foreign correspondents based in Delhi -- landed at Lahore on my way to Islamabad just three days before the country went to elections, we could see the despair in the eyes of the people. "Bahut bura haal hai. Atta bhi 125 rupaye kilo hai (Things are really bad. Even wheat flour is available at Rs 125 per kg)," said a security guard at the Immigration as I casually asked him about the situation in the country.
For the next eight days, including the day of polling and counting of votes, we met hundreds of Pakistanis -- government officials, cab drivers, restaurant waiters and managers, policemen, shopkeepers, school teachers, students, farmers and dozens of people who do something or the other to just survive in the strife-torn country. They all had stories to tell -- sad, brutal stories. They all sounded desperate. They all hated the dictator -- Pervez Musharraf. They all had terrible things to say about Asif Ali Zardari. But, they all sounded quite upbeat about one thing: democracy. In February 2008, it didn't seem that the ordinary Pakistani had lost faith in democracy. And they proved their faith on February 19, when they came out in big numbers (55 to 60%) to vote in the historic election, despite the threat of suicide-car bombings and gun and grenade attacks at polling booths.
One young man from a posh neigbourhood of Islamabad told me that he came out to vote because he wanted to "improve Pakistan's image in the world". A poor labourer working at a construction site voted because he hoped that the "new government will finally look at the condition of people like him." And a young, middle-class girl in Lahore said she had voted because she "wanted to breathe freely, without the fear of gun." In the living room of legendary Pakistani lawyer Aitzaz Ahsan, who led the lawyers' movement against Musharraf and caused his downfall, we met intellectuals, social activists and socialites who wanted just two things for their country: democracy and rule of law.
The funny thing is that the British Council report says the young Pakistanis are losing faith in democracy but it doesn't say why is that happening. I haven't seen the complete report yet but I wonder if it says anything about the role played by the US and other western powers, including the UK, in destroying democracy in Pakistan. All the generals -- Ayub Khan, Yahya Khan, Zia ul Haq and Pervez Musharraf -- were supported completely, if not created, by the US. These dictators, who often behaved like spoilt brats, were showered with arms and weapons and money as long as they played the Americans' games in the region.
In addition to propping up these dictators and keeping them in power, the West always hobnobbed with the 20 families which control everything -- from land to politics to steel mills to stock exchange -- in Pakistan. The Pakistani feudal lords and the army generals (the post-1947 lords) with help from their western masters have systematically destroyed democracy in Pakistan. The west had one simple interest in Pakistan: use it for your geopolitical games. For the Pakistani elite the people are nothing more than cannon fodder to be used and abused and then dumped.
In the past 18 months, since the last election, things have become worse. A discredited person like Zardari has become the president (clearly with active help from the Americans); the militants have moved into the cities; and the US and its allies have increased their interference in the country. Because Pakistan is important for the west in its fight against Taliban-Al-Qaida combine, it will keep manipulating Pakistan and keep in power the corrupt people who don't care two hoots about the ordinary Pakistani.
There is no point in blaming the young Pakistani for losing faith in democracy. They have been victims of a corrupt client state. If anyone is to be blamed, it's the Pakistani elite and their western masters and collaborators.
No doubt, Pakistani democracy is in crisis. It has only one solution: more democracy, real democracy. Sham democracy under the shadow of guns is not going to revive democracy in Pakistan.
Who destroyed democracy in Pakistan? : World : Shobhan Saxena : TOI Blogs
