[Editorial] Democracy is the guarantee for future stability of Pakistan

The political environment of Pakistan is changing fast. The rhetoric, manoeuvres, ‘meetings’, and the upbeat judicial activism, aided by a fiery and sensationalist mainstream media, have for the past several weeks successfully shaped an environment where people have almost prepared themselves for a military coup, yet again.

This feeling, of fear,  got a voice when PM Gilani spoke about ‘conspiracies being hatched’ against his government, which he equates with democracy. He also went on to criticize the military establishment, albeit indirectly, while counting the instances when, according to him, the civies came to save the Khaki grace. His seemingly defiant rhetoric also had the undertones of an appeal, based on past ‘favours’.

While not downplaying the importance of fair investigation into the so-called Memogate scandal, we would also like to underscore the fact that there is no room for military interventions in today’s Pakistan.

Faced with external and internal conflicts – in WANA, Baluchsitan and at the Pak-Afghan border, the country cannot be expected to progress under a repressive, autocratic, governance structure, a ‘default’ character of any military regime.

The present coalition government, despite of all its short-comings, has successfully gelled small and large political parties with otherwise divergent propensities at a single national platform.

We need to remind ourselves that democracy, like all other forms of governments, is an imperfect system. However, history proves that the countries where democracy, even if fragile and flawed, prevailed for longer periods have been more successful in containing descent, as compared to the others.

We think that democracy is a guarantee for the future stability of Pakistan and the present set-up should be allowed to complete its tenure. In the meantime, the government should make all facts regarding the Memogate issue public and own their mistakes, if any. That is the true spirit of democracy and only that type of brave democracy can ensure Pakistan’s future stability.