The Passive Voices

Pakistan’s most persecuted minority, the Hazaras of Quetta have exposed the ugly face of country’s so-called democratic dispensation. As against the perception created by media about Army’s negative role in Balochistan, Hazaras have demanded once again that in order to save them from extinction, Quetta should be taken over by the Army. This can be the worst form of no-confidence against civilian leadership so glorified by self-serving politicos, who, instead of demanding action against the mass killers, the LeJ, only issue stereotyped condemnation.

And the Hazaras of Quetta are not alone in their contempt for Pakistan’s democratic set-up.  The failed democracy has dealt a severe blow to the confidence of common man even in rest of the country. Pakistanis have started to hate the system of governance imposed on them through a dubious exercise of polls and ballots in 2008 whose results were engineered courtesy NRO. The injury inflicted by the sham democracy is of a permanent nature. The people have lost all their hope in the democratic system practiced in their country and are looking towards to military, a savior of all times.

This is not a jaundiced view, this is the conclusion drawn by a latest survey conducted by Gallup. According to media reports, a Gallup survey released two days ago makes startling revelations about what the people of Pakistan are thinking. The survey clearly says that most Pakistanis have lost faith in their “democratic” government and instead trust the military. The survey says that the public’s confidence in the Pakistani national government has nosedived, reaching a low of 23 per cent in March and October 2012. This is down from 54pc in December 2008. Conversely, confidence in the interventionist military — the organization that has ruled the nation for over half of its post-independence history — climbed to 88pc in October 2012. The confidence in the military stood at 84pc in 2006, came down to 76pc — the lowest in recent years — by the end of 2008, climbed to 80pc by mid-2012 and peaked to 88pc in 2012.

Gallup, one of the most prominent US surveyors, based these findings on a survey conducted from Sept 30-Oct 16, 2012, in Pakistan. The surveyors predict that the upcoming May elections in Pakistan will be of “seismic importance for the future direction of the country and for US-Pakistan relations”.

The politicos have looted national wealth, plundered national resources and pushed food and security farther from the reach of common man. These are national losses which can be made good and nation put back on the path of recovery. But the erosion of national confidence in the civilian leadership is a scar on national psych which will continue to remain.

The reasons for the loss of faith in democracy are too obvious to explain. We have made people to believe that democracy means choosing kleptocrats, their scions and cronies and giving them a license to do whatever they please. People now understand that democracy means dictatorship of elite. They now realize that in the times of so-called dictatorial regimes, they had jobs, food, shelter and security. They had a system based on some semblance of merit. The governance was delivered without discrimination. They have concluded that they only exist to pay taxes whereas their elitist rulers live on their taxes without giving anything in return. They realize that civilian leadership is a luxury which they can afford no more.

The elections, without reforms, will throw up the same jokers over and over again pushing the country further into abyss and darkness.

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