Cultivating Hope for Political Process …. (by Aejaz Karim, Washigton DC)

Kindly read the extracts from speeches of MHI appended in the following lines:

Democracy And Its Essentials

“Democracy is young and still relatively ineffective in support of modern development activities. While a strong civil society can and does help to counter-balance such ineffectiveness, the processes of democratic government must also receive more attention and support.”
“Political situations with a theological overlay are causing disaffection or antagonism between communities of the same faith, and even more so among different faiths,” he said. “At the centre of this turbulence is Islam. We cannot let this continue. On the other hand, the sheer scale of the problem added to its complexity, making it an issue which the Ummah in its entirety can better address, rather than individual schools of interpretation within it.”
“Tolerance, openness and understanding towards other peoples’ cultures, social structures, values and faiths are now essential to the very survival of an interdependent world,” he said. “Pluralism is no longer simply an asset or a prerequisite for progress and development, it is vital to our existence.”

“Pluralist societies are not accidents of history. They are a product of enlightened education and continuous investment by governments and all of civil society in recognizing and celebrating the diversity of the world’s peoples.”
In a vigorous exhortation to “governments, civil societies and peoples of the world,” His Highness the Aga Khan, Imam (spiritual leader) on Saturday night suggested that enhancing “pluralism is as critical for the welfare and progress of human society as are poverty alleviation and conflict prevention.”
“The attempt by communal groups, be they ethnic, religious or tribal groups, to impose themselves on others” aims to “eradicate the cultural basis of group identity” said the Aga Khan, citing Central Europe, the Great Lakes region in Africa and Afghanistan as examples. “Without cultural identity,” he said, “social cohesion gradually dissolves.”

“Actions to enhance pluralism, “the Aga Khan noted, “have to be matched in the developing world by programmes to alleviate poverty because, left alone, poverty will provide a context for special interests to pursue their goals in aggressive terms. “Urgent humanitarian assistance is indispensable,” he said, “but should be conceived as part of a long-term strategy of helping the recipient community develop its own resources” to improve socio-economic conditions of the poorest. “Development,” he warned, “is sustainable only if the beneficiaries become, in a gradual manner, the masters of the process.”

Ladies and gentlemen, I put it to you that no human development initiative can be sustainable unless we are successful in achieving three essential conditions.
• First, we must operate in an environment that invests in, rather than seeks to stifle, pluralism and diversity.
• Second, we must have an extensive and engaged civil society.
• And third, we must have stable and competent democratic governance.
These three conditions are mutually reinforcing. Taken together, they allow developing societies gradually to become masters of the process and make that process self sustainable.
I will speak first about pluralism.
The effective world of the future will be one of pluralism, a world that understands, appreciates and builds on diversity. The rejection of pluralism plays a significant role in breeding destructive conflicts, from which no continent has been spared in recent decades.
In this effort, civil society has a vital role. By its very nature, civil society is pluralist because it seeks to speak for the multiple interests not represented by the state. I refer, for example, to organisations which ensure best practices such as legal societies and associations of accountants, doctors and engineers. The meritocracy they represent is the very foundation of pluralism. And meritocracy is one of the principles of democracy itself.
Village organisations, women’s and student groups, micro-credit entities and agricultural co-operatives help give access and voice to those who often are disenfranchised.
Journalist associations also play a key role, explaining the political process, guarding against corruption and keeping governments accountable. Responsible reporting and competent comment on critical issues, and the hard choices that society must address, are an essential element in the functioning of a democracy.
Civil society organisations make a major contribution to human development, particularly when democracies are failing, or have failed; for it is then that the institutions of civil society can, and often do, carry an added burden to help sustain improvements in quality of life.
I believe strongly that a critical part of any development strategy should include support for civil society.
Take as an example the phrase “clash of civilisations” which has travelled far and wide. I have said many times previously, and I would like to reconfirm today my conviction that what we have been observing in recent decades is not a clash of civilisations but a clash of ignorance. This ignorance is both historic and of our time.
The challenge is therefore, clear. We must create the human and institutional resources to build and sustain young democracies.
“Elections and the existence of political parties do not by themselves guarantee stable governments, competent political leadership and respect for the constitution. Nor do they guarantee good economic management and the absence of corruption,”

“The replacement of fear by hope is probably the single most powerful trampoline of progress,” he said. “When hope takes root, then a new level of tolerance is possible, though it may have been unknown for years, and years, and years.”

“Instead of shouting at one another, we must listen to one another and learn from one another,” he said. “As we do, one of our first lessons might well centre on those powerful but often neglected chapters in history when Islamic and European cultures interacted cooperatively – constructively and creatively – to help realise some of civilisation’s peak achievements.”

Three concepts seem to me to be essential in creating, stabilizing and strengthening democracy around the world, These concepts are meritocracy, pluralism and civil society.

A democracy cannot function reasonably without two preconditions.

The first is a healthy, civil society. It is an essential bulwark that provides citizens with multiple channels through which to exercise effectively both their rights and duties of citizenship. Even at a very basic level, only a strong civil society can assure isolated rural populations, and the marginalized urban poor of a reasonable prospect of humane treatment, personal security, equity, the absence of discrimination, and access to opportunity.
The second precondition is pluralism. Pluralism means peoples of diverse backgrounds and interests, coming together in organizations of varying types and goals, for different kinds and forms of creative expression, which are valuable and deserving of support by government and society as a whole.

Dear Ejaz,

your thought provoking article compelled me to ask a few questions.
What is the political asset that the political leaders in Gilgit-Baltistan or on a lesser extent the political leaders in Hunza strive for?
Where is the political mechanism that our political leaders need to embrace and follow.?
What powers a political process would bring to Politicians in Gilgit-Baltistan?

We have lots of politicians who do the “thana and kacharee” politics and the politics of “funds and development”. But what we need is politics of “Legislation, governance, rights, power and authority”. A strong civil society would do wonders but it is not a substitute for any political system.

Dear Aziz,

Political process is the essence of democracy. It is this same process that is taking Afghanistan, Nepal and Kenya out of the medieval, despotic and cruel form of governance towards a more civilized rule. Why are you forgetting that this political process is the basis of great democracies like Great Britain, the USA and other Western European countries. The absence of a genuine political process is the cause of the current malaise of Pakistan and a real Political Process will lead the people of Gilgit-Baltistan towards achieving their fundamental rights.