Earlier this week, South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol declared a martial law in the country despite opposition from his own party. Within hours, the country’s Parliament mobilized, reversed his declaration, and re-established democratic rule. He now faces impeachment.
South Korea is no stranger to martial laws. Since its establishment in 1948, the country has seen various forms of military rule before transitioning into a presidential system in 1987. In the 37 years since, the country has largely adopted democratic principles, as reflected by the protesters who gathered outside the South Korean National Assembly on Tuesday night to demand a reversal of Yeol’s declaration.
Bolstered by the public anger and their own recognition of the Assembly’s power to reject any martial law, South Korean legislators—including those from the president’s own party—united to ensure the country’s democracy did not derail. There are lessons in this for Pakistan.
Pakistan’s last military rule formally ended in 2008, with Pervez Musharraf resigning to avoid impeachment. The return to democratic rule struggled from its onset. Within months of the PPP-led government assuming power, its rival PMLN facilitated a strengthening of the judiciary at the expense of Parliament. The party was “rewarded” for its actions with a return to government after the 2013 general elections—before swiftly being repaid in kind by the PTI.
In 2014, the PTI staged a 126-day sit-in at D-Chowk in Islamabad. The establishment, consistently intolerant of civilian leaders, supported this. The courts, acting on PTI’s petitions, further diminished Parliament’s authority.
The PTI’s rise to power saw further weakening of Parliament’s authority. The party has admitted it failed to pass even simple legislation without support of the establishment. It, too, was “repaid” for its “services” with Imran Khan’s unceremonious ouster through a vote of no-confidence. The resulting setup, which largely persists to-date, has made no secret of its heavy reliance on the establishment.
South Korea proves that only an empowered Parliament can counter undemocratic ambitions—of civilian and military rulers alike. This requires all political stakeholders to unite and improve the system from within, inch-by-inch and step-by-step. The journey will be fraught, and require our political leaders to eat crow more than once and stop seeking shortcuts to power. They must also stop relying on courts or “street power” to dent democratic principles. Pakistan must choose whether to continue tolerating its perpetual cycle of political instability or to follow South Korea’s example, where a united legislature and an engaged populace stand as the last bastion of democracy.