'Real Democracy'

On ‘real’ democracy....................I watched General Musharraf’s speech at Liaqat Bagh on T.V last night in which he claimed that he had given Pakistan the ‘real democracy’. General Ayub had given Pakistan a ‘basic democracy’, which was also ‘real democracy’ as far as he was concerned. Then, General Yahya had also given us his version of a ‘real democracy’ till the country broke up. Yahya had even gone to the extent of giving Pakistan his own new constitution, which he said, would put Pakistan on the road to democracy. Still later, came Zia, another general, who gave us a partyless, but ‘real’ nevertheless, democracy in 1985. Take a look at what happened to all these versions of the ‘real democracy’ the moment their founding fathers in uniform left the scene. All went to the gutter where they belonged. So, I think, this is what is going to happen to present new version of the new General’s ‘real democracy’. Pakistan has lost much during these ‘real democracies’ of generals. Ayub sold three rivers to India and created a sowed seeds of hatred between the two wings of the country. Yahya broke the country in two pieces. Zia further broke the country in many more pieces by creating ethnic and sectarian divides. Now Musharraf is breaking up what is left of it.–ZULFIQAR ALI BUTT, London, UK, via e-mail, March 28. (as published in the Daily Nation, Lahore, Pakistan on March 31st,2007)