This post is also available in: العربية (Arabic) اردو (Urdu)
Teacher to the 8th grader: “What is democracy? And what are its principles?”
Student: Democracy is the system of government in which state is governed by the elected representatives. It’s for the people by the people and from the people. Its principles include power distribution, limited government, and neither government nor the ones who govern are above law.
This is something that democracy is meant to be “for the people by the people and from the people”. Democracy in its true form is a bliss, where everyone is held accountable and a place where injustice is never served. On contrary Pakistan a rotten form of democracy where no one is accountable and where justice is served often. The key features of this form are cracked pillars of state, weak law enforcing bodies and overwhelming corruption. In fact, corruption acts as a catalyst in the decomposition of democracy.
It all starts from the time when a kid asks his/her parents for Rs.100 to buy a copy. Whereas the copy costs the only Rs.25, the kid keeps Rs.75 for his own party (Aiyashi). At this point and time, the parents do not hold that kid accountable. The falsehood becomes a habit and this is how the student in prologue becomes a corrupt official.
We ignorant, ignore our powers. Everyone has its own but we choose to waste it. Public wastes its power by not voting the right person. The policeman wastes his power by not enforcing the law. Courts waste power by delaying justice and at times denying it. Politicians waste their power by not reforming. Media wastes its power by desensitizing. So when we are busy wasting power there are people abusing power and that’s them whom we call “corrupt officials”. They are the ones who work as bacteria for this democracy. They bribe away the anti-skeptics to become resistant.
Democracy in Pakistan is being killed slowly by the corrupt officials and we are responsible for it. It’s us who brood them, it’s us who let them become what they are, it’s us who let them strive, It’s us who waste our powers to let them abuse theirs.
Leave a Comment