WHENEVER there is a political deadlock in a democratic setup, political parties can easily resolve it on the floor of the parliament through consensus in favour or against a motion, or through a vote of non-confidence against the ruling party. There are only two sections of a parliament: ruling party led by the prime minister, including its coalition partners, and all opposition parties, led by the leader of the opposition.
The latter not only keeps all opposition parties intact, but maintains a constant pressure on the treasury for good governance etc.
The Charter of Democracy, on the contrary, disrupted the given mechanism of checks and balances, compromising the unity and integrity of the opposition parties. The way condemnation and boycott was meted out to the MQM in 1990s and the PTI and PAT recently by all other political parties are glaring examples of the disrupted democracy.
The connivance of the two major parties, including their coalition partners, turned into a political cartel, whose numerical strength surpassed the two thirds of the majority in the parliament, enabling them to bring any number of amendments to override the Constitution, bypass the judiciary, etc.
During two tenures each in l989-99, these two major parties pushed the external debt burden from $20bn in 1989 to $38bn by 1999, while the value of rupee depreciated from Rs21.80 to Rs63 a dollar in the same period.
Again during PPP rule (2008-13), the debt burden jumped to $72bn in five years, and the dollar’s value sky-rocketed to nearly Rs.105. The present PML(N) government added $3bn more during the last 15 months, that too on a very high rate of interest.
All economic indicators suggest that the economy is in dire straits.
Rafiuddin Ahmad
Karachi
Published in Dawn, October 16th, 2014
