MULTAN: The Pakistani nation has a long history of military coups. We have been deprived of the real essence of democracy. “Democracy is the government of the people, by the people, and for the people.” This famous quote has been a very hard thing for the Pakistani people to understand because of the repeated events that caused setbacks to the country. The events hurt the economy of the nation and also sent an unequivocally detestable gesture to the international community that the country and its politicians had failed to come up to the expectations of the masses.
The crux of the matter is to investigate whether a coup brings what the nation expects or the contrary to it. History has a way of repeating itself and by keeping this in mind, we must also take into account the aftermath of the recent coup staged in Guinea where the repressiveness of Lansana Conte’s government resulted in a coup soon after his death and the people took a sigh of relief and welcomed it as a respite. But it was not much later when their hopes were badly dashed by the military. Incidents of arrests, detentions, and especially restrictions on citizens’ political rights were reported. Elevated violence against those participating in anti-government protests resulted in international condemnation and ended with sanctions. This event highlights the possibility that coups can have damaging consequences for citizens beyond regime change.
Moreover, coups in the past had proved to be unnecessary for the nation which has resulted in a deadly civil wars in Algeria (1991–1999) and Rwanda (1994). Though Pakistan has no dictator looming over it, the aftermath of past coups can be taken as cautionary tales to refrain from any action by the media or the politician that ends in a military coup.
The need of the hour is to ponder upon the fact that no country has ever developed on fast pace under a military coup and it most likely exposes citizens to higher levels of repression. Therefore, the future of Pakistan lies in educating the youth in the consistency of democracy and repeated elections are the mere remedy for the country to get rid of the problems it is currently facing.
Junaid Lodhi
Published in The Express Tribune, July 20th, 2016.
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