Many people feel that democracy
has not been given a fair
chance in Pakistan by the military
dictators and their foreign
supporters. And some people
wonder why the modern democracy
has not been successful in Islamic
countries. And some of them
feel that Muslims should consider
adopting secular and
democratic principles for their
countries. Relgious parties
are clamouring for Islamic system
without defining its
practical applications. But
many of us tend to agree with;
"Democracy substitutes election
by the incompetent many for
appointment by the corrupt
few."_George Bernard Shaw .
Double Standards
Pakistan has been facing sanctions
and pressures for
restoration of democracy inspite
of bad experience with the
parliamentary system. Few disagree
that the democractically
elected rulers governed more
ruthlessly than the military
tyrants and destroyed the national
character and economy due
to misrule, selfishness, nepotism
and corruption. But the
Western powers that preach democracy,
freedom and human rights
often negate their own values
because of their selfinterests,
hypocricy and double standards.
They support kings and
dictators for the sake of their
narrow interests. Because of
internal pressures they also
support those countries who defy
the UN Resolutions with impunity
and suppress the freedom
struggle of indiginous poplulation
with brute force and commit
war crimes to crush the freedom
struggle.
Secularism
The belief that secular and democratic
State is ideal for peace
and progress needs to be corrected.
Secularism and democracy
can not guarantee good governance,
law and order or progress
and prosperity. That is
merely a method for the transfer of
power according to popular mandate
allowing maximum
participation of the electorate.
Everything depends upon
the character and ability of
the leaders elected and their
policies and objectives!
Ignorance, illiteracy and poor
civic sense among the masses
obscure the democratic values
and prevent election of the
competent candidates. That is
why democracy has not been as
beneficial in Asia and Muslim
countries as it has been in
the West. But the West
does not owe its progress and
prosperity soley to secularism
and democracy . It was the
attitude of their people towards
work, law and order, mutual
cooperation, exploration, education,
research and training
that has contributed in over
all progress in all spheres
including sports, literature,
leisure besides trade, industry
and commerce as well as science
and technology. But their
material progress has not been
without loss of spirituality
to some extent and morality
to great extent.
Morality and Freedom
Many lament that our rulers,
politicians and bureaucrats have
generally been among the most
corrupt ones. Indeed the pace of
progress would have been much
better and our economic condition
would not have been so beleaguered
if we were following the
principles of honesty and fairplay.
But let us not despair or
draw consolation from the fact
that corruption is rampant in
most of other countries. For
instance in India tehlika.com
rocked the nation by exposing
the corruption among the rulers.
Indian movies depict the wide
spread corruption in their society
so vividly that that makes us
to believe that our champion players
of the game of corruption are
mere novices.
We admire the system of accountability
prevalent in the West
specially US. How they impeach
their Presidents and other
officials. Recently the
bankruptcy scandals are rocking
the US and the world markets.
American political experts
say that there will be more
scandals like this, even more
devastating, as many senators,
congressmen and some members
of the Administration allegedly
received favors from the
now bankrupt companies. Us industrialist
William Vanderbilt
used to say;
"When I want to buy up any politician
I always find the
anti-monopolists the most purchasable
they don’t come
so high."
There is a growing concern about
morality in the West. Many
blame MTV and popular sex symbols
in the entertainment field
for distorting and obscuring
the social values and promoting
obscenity which is prohibited
in Islam, Christianity and
Jewish faith also. The crime
rate in the West is much
higher than Islamic States.
Despite spending billions on
contraceptives, the number of
abortions is alarmingly high.
The ratio of illegitimate births
in US has jumped to almost
one-third as compared to about
60 % in Scandinavi and some
African countries and millions
of unwed women become pregnant
and resort to abortion. Teenage
pregancy is becoming a great
social problem. Few politicians
can dare to take stand
against the existing moral values
toward wine, gays and extra
marital affairs.
Generally the Westerners have
a distorted view of Islamic values.
And they do not realise that
the system of governance in the
United States, as compared to
most of the other countries in
the world, is closer to the
values of good governance under
Islamic ideals. The attitude
of Westerners toward pursuit of
knowledge, research, their approach
to human rights, fair play
and justice and various aspects
of life conform to the teachings
of Islam. But their citizens
enjoy more freedom than necessary
for a clean and healthy society
and they have shunned the values
taught by the Holy Prophets
Moses and Isa. Freedom to drink
alcohol, consumption of pork,
night clubbing, their outlook
toward sex, gays and some of
their social values are looked up
on with disfavor not only by
Muslims but good smaritans also.
These evils are considered to
be precursor of more to come.
Ideology of Pakistan
Quaide Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah
advocated equal rights for all
citizens of Pakistan irrespective
of cast or religion but he
was very clear and firm that
Pakistan was to be an Islamic
Republic This is evident
from the following extracts
(a) Speech at the meeting of
the All-India Muslim League Council.
Karachi, December 14-15, 1947
"Let it be clear that Pakistan
is going to be a Muslim State
based on Islamic ideals.
It was not going to be an
ecclesiastical State.
In Islam there is no discrimination as
far as citizenship is concerned.
The whole world, even UNO,
has characterized Pakistan as
a Muslim State.
(b) There must be a Muslim League
in Hindustan. If you are
thinking of anything else, you
are finished. If you want
to wind up the League you can
do so; but I think it would be
a great mistake. I know
there is an attempt. Maulana Abul
Kalam Azad and others are trying
to break the identity of
Muslims in India. Do not
allow it. Do not do it."
(c) Speech in Lahore, October
30, 1947
(The Civil & Military Gazette,
October 31, 1947)
"All I require of you now is
that everyone of us to whom
this message reaches must vow
to himself and be prepared
to sacrifice his all, if necessary,
in building up Pakistan
as a bulwark of Islam and as
one of the greatest nations
whose ideal is peace within
and peace without".
(d) Quiad-I-Azam Mohammad Ali
Jinnah inaugurated the State
Bank of Pakistan on July 1,
1948. In his inaugural address
the father of the nation emphasized
upon the need for evolving
banking practices compatible
with the Islamic ideals of social
and economic life. Talking about
economic system of the West
he went on to say:
"It has failed to do justice
between man and man and to
eradicate friction from the
International Field."
But State Bank had its teething
problems. They continued to
follow the practices of Reserve
Bank of India and the advice
of the Father of the Nation
was forgotten.
Quiad-I-Azam Mohammad Ali Jinnah
also emphsized upon
equal rights for minorities
and elimination of all
forms of exploitation.
Islam and Good Governance.
Continued in Part
2
