Democracy and Dictatorship are two different modes of governance, the difference between which is surprisingly narrowing rather than widening with the passage of time, at least as far as Pakistan is concerned, this is nothing but a harsh reality.
What is a dictatorship? Any soldier, for example, in the case of Pakistan, usually the army chief becomes the ruler himself by overriding the democratic government, and in the meantime, the political leadership of the country goes into obscurity.
A dictator makes various autocratic decisions and imposes his own policies on millions of people across the country. He wants what he said to be the final word, in other words, a dictator can do anything that causes the country’s interests to suffer the most.
On the other hand, the opinion of the people is given importance in democracy, but the history of the last 75 years is a witness that the real democracy was never allowed to flourish in Pakistan.
Suppose that even in 2023, if dictatorship is imposed on Pakistan, what will be the results? This is a big question because many sociologists believe that democracy seems to be taking its last breath in the current setup of the country.
In fact, under the authoritarian regime in Pakistan, suppressing the political opposition, imposing restrictions on civil liberties and the rule of law, and conducting free and fair elections is considered important. It seems similar to being democratic.
Worryingly, authoritarianism has a negative impact on the country’s economy because why would foreign or domestic investor would want to waste their money in a country with an unstable political situation? Progress towards democratic reforms and a free market economy will also slow.
In the event of an authoritarian regime in the future, economic instability is likely to increase, while our country is already failing to maintain its balance of payments, some economists have even said that Pakistan is heading towards bankruptcy.
On the other hand, an authoritarian government is responsible for suppressing civil liberties such as freedom of expression, press and public procession. People cannot even participate in public discourse. If anywhere some people start talking together and if it is political then the dictatorial government can ban them and even arrest them.
Severe punishments can be given as the country’s constitution can be suspended, which can create a situation like the implementation of forest law in the country. The punishment for suspending the constitution is death penalty in the constitution of Pakistan itself.
The development of society will stop. By suppressing the opposition political parties and the media, different ideologies will not be able to flourish in the public sphere and there will be a monopoly of only one ideology which will be the ideology of the dictatorial government.
Sadly, it is becoming more and more difficult for a democracy to flourish in Pakistan. There is a need for the rulers to come together and at least reach a consensus on the issue of allowing democracy to flourish and protecting other basic human rights including freedom of expression so that the people of Pakistan, like other countries, are also Sikhs. Can breathe.
