A New Experiment in Democracy in Pakistan

Abstract

The parliamentary system of government which Pakistan inherited from Britain proved itself inadequate to the political needs of the country. Even under colonial rule this system was only partially implemented, and the government was occasionally forced to resort to extraconstitutional meas ures. After independence, while Quaid-i-Azam Mohammad Ali Jinnah or Mr. Liaquat Ali Khan were at the helm of affairs, the parliamentary system worked tolerably well. When men of lesser stature succeeded them, it invited political chaos and eco nomic ruin. In October 1958 I became responsible for running the administration. I promptly restored political and economic stability, then proceeded to build democratic institutions. As early as 1959, I introduced the System of Basic Democracies, a comprehensive structure of local councils composed largely of elected members. Then, after a referendum which gave me a mandate to give my country a new constitution, with the advice of a constitution commission, I promulgated a system of gov ernment which follows the presidential pattern, and which rests upon indirect suffrage. Our political system perhaps does not conform in all its details to the Western pattern of democracy. Indeed, some critics decry the existence of differences. In this the latter are doing immense harm to the cause of democracy. After all, democracy is a means to an end, and its details have to be adapted to the needs of each country, and especially so in the newly emergent countries.