KARACHI: Governance in democratic and non-democratic countries was the subject of the talk delivered by Dr Tahera Shahid Khan at Irteqa Institute of social sciences.

The talk was based on the prevailing socio-political conditions in the two major South Asian countries, pakistan and India. Dr Tahera posed the question as to why the democratic form of government failed to find its roots in both the countries.

India, she said, fulfilled the major demands of a democratic order; a constitution, a system of periodic elections, with political parties engaged in it, an elected parliament, a free press, and a judicial system. Pakistan, she said, as compared to India, was in a disadvantageous position in may ways, and had been under martial laws and direct military rule. And yet, Dr Tahera said, the social conditions in both the countries were very much similar, with minor differences.

Quoting figures in education, public health and education sectors, she said the economic disparity in both the countries was appalling and the horrifying gap between the rich and poor was amazingly much wider in India than in Pakistan. Dropouts in schools from primary to secondary level in Pakistan was slightly more than it was in India. The level of mass education in that country, though comparatively higher was, nevertheless, a matter of pride for a socalled democracy.

Dr Tahera said she should not be misunderstood for denigrating democracy or favouring non-democratic order, but the fact was that the issue posed here needed close study. Our intellectuals had a habit of taking things on their face value without delving deep into their merit, she remarked.

The constitutional parliamentary system in England and the West had a history spread over centuries with social classes fighting to uphold it. That urge for democracy was lacking in us, she said though agreeing with a questioner that a democratic order whenever brought on the fore was sabotaged by the classes who had their interests in an undemocratic order.

Dr Tahera said democracy could not be established without a change in the country’s political norms and social practices. How could the political parties in Pakistan adopt democracy in governing the country when it was lacking in the parties themselves, she asked and advised that the climate and soil should first be prepared by the people and intellectuals for the seed of democracy to sprout.

Dr Tahera Shahid Khan, formerly associated with the University of Karachi, is a researcher in socio-political studies. —Hasan Abidi