The social and political circles of Pakistan have been echoing the presidential system for some time now. It is our misfortune that we, as a nation, are not accustomed to far-sighted planning and decision-making in the national interest as a result of consensus through democratic institutions.
Even in our most important strategic matters, those in positions of national leadership make actions, comments and statements that negate national interests and cause them irreparable damage. We are, in fact, a mob, not a nation, where decisions are made not in the interests of the institutions concerned, consensus and the national interest, but in the pursuit of personal preferences, individual aspirations and, in general.
You have often heard Prime Minister Imran Khan say that he wants to create a state like Madinah, or a system like China, or Europe or even Saudi Arabia, but has he ever taken any steps to seriously consider these options? Can the same crop be grown in all kinds of land? Or can the same kind of seed be fertile in every kind of environment?
If that were possible, the United States would have established a free democracy in Iraq, Afghanistan, Libya and Syria according to the Western concept, but unfortunately the human psyche and social system have not yet been subject to any self-made formula.
Let us now try to understand the echo of the presidential system in the context of this preamble. The first and most important point in this regard is that whenever there is talk of changing the system of a country, this simply means that the current system has failed partially or completely.
If this failure is partial, the system needs to be reformed, not changed, and if the total failure is acknowledged, many logical questions arise. Like the system operators have used all the options needed to improve the system? What legislation has been enacted to improve the situation? What efforts have been made to implement the prevailing law?
The authorities who created, operated and maintained this system will also be terminated, because the failure of the system is in fact an indication of their poor planning, incompetence or failure to implement. And this will happen not only through change but also through revolution.
A revolution that will not only overthrow this system but will also send its marginalized people home or, in most cases, eternal home, such as the French Revolution, the Russian Revolution and the Chinese Revolution, or in terms of time and place the closest happened in Afghanistan.
Now let’s turn to these novice players who are ignorant of science, history, politics, current affairs and international relations and are talking about bringing presidential system to Pakistan. And for that they cite examples from China and Turkey to fulfill the unfulfilled desire of an individual or an institution for a presidential system.
For their information, the formula system cannot be applied in human societies. Turkey and China are both inheritors of the world’s greatest empires and free from the effects of foreign slavery and are proud of their national identity, culture, traditions and unity. In contrast, Pakistan is a nascent state free from 100 years of slavery, with a life span of only 70 years, and most of those 70 years have been the victims of opportunistic ordeals, sponsored by global and local colonialists.
If we talk about Turkey and its current President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, then unlike Pakistan, Turkey’s elections are not engineered, the roots of democracy there are relatively strong. The change that has taken place there is not due to the will of a gunman, the intervention of a judge or a rare royal decree, but to the will of the people and the power of the vote.
Erdogan’s government did not talk of bringing a presidential system through the back door as a result of a palace conspiracy, but with the support of the people and a two-thirds majority in the people’s elected assembly. And the military generals, officers and courtiers who have obstructed this democratic transformation have been sent not only home but also to jail.
Now compare this change with your puppet system and tell honestly whether the change, being brought by those who pushed this nation into a dead end, can bring any cure for the pain of this country and people? Or does Pakistan need a team led by Ghazi Recep Tayyip Erdogan, a man of speech and character, rather than a man of vision?
