Beauty of Democracy!

No gentlemen, not at all. How a deliberate act of mudding the clean waters of opposite side and causing a damage of credibility and harming the prestige of the adversaries can be held a beauty? If the politicians themselves are in the game of defiling each other how they can be expected to make the nation and country they lead secured of the stains of evils?

A flagrant condition, which got much bitter with the clamours of one of its ally, most recently occurred between the ruling party and main opposition party in the parliament can never be deemed to be the beauty of democracy as construed by one of the senators of PML (N). How amply the politicians may be used of disgrace even then casting dirty clouts out of the door to wash in public is only an insipidity but neither the democracy nor its beauty.

There are some basic things demanding unanimity and compatibility. Emergence of divergences in the ways to handle the problems is not unlikely but defending the ideological and geographical existence of the country, solve the problems proving to be hindrance in raising the living standards of the people must be a common goal of all without any dispute. Priorities of the political parties for addressing the national issues plausibly may be different. What is weird is to letting the situation go beyond the differences of views and policies and openly starting disrobing each other. Character assassination of political opponents has been since long a hobby of the politicians here. Political forces get loggerheads on petty issues up to such an extent that they do not hesitate in discrediting each other through vilifying and mudslinging. If major political players of the country ignore sportsman spirit and get engaged in combat in the name of the beauty of democracy then it is much better to abstain from such democracy because this childish attitude not only diverts the nation from single direction and harms its unity but leaves no chance for our dreams of becoming a prosperous and strong nation to come true.

The Quran lays a golden principle to follow:

‘Help ye one another in righteousness and piety but help ye not one another in sin and rancour.’ (Al Maidah:2)

Applying this Quranic canon on how to deal with the government. Actually performance, way of governance and deliverance is the basic criterion to decide whether to strengthen its hands or to try to lower it to the ground. If sincerity and devotion of the rulers is indubitable, defense of the territories of the country is assured, national assets are protected, country is on the track of progress, moral and cultural values are well preserved, law and order situation is satisfactory, security of life, honour and property of the citizens is guaranteed, facilities of health and education are provided to the people without any discrimination, basic needs of the life are available and in access of all the inhabitants of the country, then there remains no reason to imprecate the government in the name of democracy in which, as one of  its four pillars, opposition’s role is thought only  how to bring the government to its kneels.

And if the ruling elite is incompetent, deceptive and selfish, corruption and plunder is on its high, law and order situation is in its worse, lives and properties of the people are not safe, nepotism and favoritism from lower to highest level is a common practice, national assets are put on sale at cut prices, integrity and security of the country is at the risk, the government fails to stop hoarding of the stocks, black marketing, profiteering and is unconcerned that flour, sugar, pulses and grains and many of other basic needs are unprocurable in the market and the people have hard times to live, government is unable to stop unwanted meddling of the external powers which  endangers the freedom of the country and decision power of the nation, if cultural sway of the big powers is given an easy let, then it would be a facile if the role of a courageous opposition is not played. This condition, according to the Quranic principles, is ithm and udwan (sin and rancour), and very enough for the government to lose its right of getting cooperation and support. If the circumstances are reduced to such a stage then the dissenting voices and resisting the policies of the government is not for the sake of ‘beauty of democracy’ but becomes a moral obligation and religious enjoinment.

In the circumstances when national dignity and interests are put at stake it is the call of honesty, exercise of conscience and demand of patriotism that none from the opposition parties and the members of ruling party should fail to raise their voices against the damaging acts of irresponsible and incapable government. Apart from the difference of manifestos the opposition parties must be committed and resolved to play the role of a watchdog to keep the system of check and balance work properly and keep a vivid and a critic eye not to let the ruling elements go against national interest. Unfortunately we have very different traditions of the relations between the regimes in the power and their opponents. Ruling groups, forgetting the ‘beauty of the democracy’ always get vexed and come on tit for tat terms to drive the opponents to the wall. They are plunged in the evil efforts to disgrace all those who criticize the policies of the government and oppose it for the good. The opposition in our country also has not any enviable track record. It is subject to the exploitation. Mostly tamed, bribed or stoops to the tactics of the government. Expediencies or apprehensions overcome and the daring opposing voices gradually go passive. And all this is done in the name of  ‘the beauty of the democracy.’ The most current attitude of the main opposition party is the fresh proof of this. Munir Ahmed Khalili