The Quality of Pakistani Democracy
September 15 is celebrated every year as the International Day of Democracy to review the state of democracy in the world and uphold the principles and values of democracy. It is therefore apt to review the quality and state of democracy in Pakistan on this day....
The State of our Democracy
Democracy is an evasive idea, an ideal that all polities are trying to achieve but somehow fall short of. Countries in transition to a democratic rule, presumably from authoritarianism, use the term democratization to describe their journey. It would be interesting to...
Democracy in Pakistan: Consolidation or Recession?
Two years ago, Pakistan completed a decade of democracy after returning to a democratic set up in 2008. For the second time in our history, a democratic period had lasted for a decade. In that year Pakistan also passed Huntington’s ‘two turnover test’. According to...
The Battle for Media Survival is a Fight to Safeguard Democracy
A democracy is as good as the state of freedom of expression and right to information that is functionally practiced in a society. The latest in the series of transitions back to democracy from direct military rule in Pakistan started in 2008 and is a process still...
Path to Parliamentary Supremacy
Let me begin by telling two stories. In the aftermath of the Sino-Indian war of 1962 President Ayub Khan sent a message to the Indian Premier, Jawaharlal Nehru, through A.K. Brohi, who had served as Pakistan High Commissioner in New Delhi. Nehru said he had no time to receive Brohi as the Lok Sabha was holding a debate on the failure of the foreign policy. Eventually he invited Brohi to see him in his room at the parliament house at lunch time. Brohi noticed that the Lok Sabha proceedings were being relayed to the PM’s room. He asked Nehru why he exposed himself to bitter attacks in the Parliament while he could listen to the debate in the comfort of his special room.
