I have been writing about possible reasons of democracy failure in Pakistan and this is my third such article. In today’s article I shall highlight another important factor that is the possible cause of democracy failure in Pakistan and it is dictatorship within the political parties functioning in Pakistan.
All the political parties in the world have leaders that give vision and lead the parties in achieve the vision. Same is the case in Pakistan however the difference is that while leaders of political parties in the rest of the world are in a way answerable to their parties and voters
and often have to step down due to scandals or poor showing in the elections no such trend exists in Pakistan. In fact opposite is the case and no matter how bad the political party performs or how grave the scandal is the head of the party never resigns. Now the question arises as to why this situation persists in Pakistan. The answer is quite simple because political parties in Pakistan lack democracy within themselves and dictatorship is exercised by the leadership within the party. Let’s have a look at the major political parties of Pakistan.Pakistan People’s Party is perhaps the largest political party in Pakistan. It was founded by late Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto and till his death ruled the party with iron fist. No one contested against him and voiced concern about decision making against him. After him came his wife then daughter and now her daughter’s spouse and all are ruling the party like a dictator. Asif Ali Zardari is the co-chairman of the party and effectively running the party however how he got elected and has any reelection according to party guidelines taken place is not known. Did any elections within the party took place have not been notified by the party and who contested against him is also not
known. Similarly the second largest party is the Pakistan Muslim League Nawaz headed by Mr. Nawaz Sharif. Although elections for electing him did take place some time back however his system of running the party is not different from that of a dictator. No one publically or for that matter in party meetings voices concern against his policies. The third force is the Pakistan Muslim League Quaid-e-Azam headed by Chaudhry Shujjat Hussain. Here too the style is that of a dictator and even the party constitution was amended to allow him to continue as the head of the party which lead to a revolt by some members who formed a forward block in the national assembly too. Then there are other parties like Awami National Party (ANP), Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) and the Pakistan Tehrike Insaaf (PTI) a new force which has gained momentum recently. While PTI is a new force it is difficult to predict whether her leadership would be different from the traditional leadership style or not. ANP and MQM have been in politics for quite some time and follow the traditional style of dictatorship in their parties. I have not considered the smaller parties since they rarely win enough seats to play an important role in national politics.When elections are held these parties come to power and their leadership head the government. Since the leadership is not used to practicing democracy within their parties they fail to make democracy strong. Institution building and ensuring smooth functioning of all institutions within the guidelines as set in constitution is very important for ensuring continuity of democracy and making it strong. So far the political leadership has failed to do so and this is one of the major causes of democracy failures in Pakistan.