Over the years, Pakistan’s religio-political parties have repeatedly pledged to recreate in the country an Islamic utopia that sidesteps democracy, maintaining this is the only solution to all that ails the country.
On a state-level, however, Pakistan publicly backs democracy both at home and globally, having recently commemorated Sept. 15 as the International Day of Democracy. Meanwhile, scholars of the country define the nature of Pakistan’s polity as “establishmentarian democracy,” wherein the country faces a persistent and devastating conflict between the state elite and the political elite. The former generally refers to the security establishment, while the latter represents the political parties and Parliament, which draw on the constitutional edifice as the supreme source of legitimacy. This is especially relevant for a country like Pakistan that has spent roughly half its existence under varying forms of military rule.
As envisaged by Pakistan’s founder, Muhammad Ali Jinnah, Pakistan is a nation-state that is constitutionally a democratic parliamentary republic. The federal cabinet, led by the Prime Minister of Pakistan, has executive power and the president is the head of state elected by the electoral college. The political system is ostensibly based on an elected form of governance, but it wasn’t until 2008 that a government came into power and completed a five-year term. Prior to this, governments were either dismissed by courts or democracy was disrupted by various military interventions, such as takeovers by General Ayub Khan (1958-1969), General Yahya Khan (1969-1971), General Ziaul Haq (1977-1988), and General Pervez Musharraf (1999-2008).
A partial reason for Pakistan’s start-stop democracy is the plurality of ideologies among its populace. The country’s citizens include secular and Islamists both, though neither group appears aware of the particular circumstances concerning Pakistan’s unique brand of “democracy.” Ideally, democracy is meant to give an opportunity to people of differing ideologies to participate in politics and bring people to power whom they wish to govern them. Unfortunately, Pakistan is currently facing an existential threat from terrorists who misuse Islam to malign democracy in the minds of people unaware of what real democracy entails. Since a majority of the people of Pakistan are Muslim, they see nothing wrong in asking for an Islamic government; yet extremists inflame such views by asserting the state is un-Islamic and must change to ensure public welfare. This is despite aspects of shariah already implemented in Pakistani laws through the Hudood laws and inheritance laws, while Ta’azir laws are applied when the offense committed cannot be proved by the criteria laid down by Islam itself. Such extremists demand harsh punishments such as stoning to death, lashing, amputation of limbs, etc, ignoring the societal advances that have yielded more humane punishments.