January 22 2019
Response to KK: Working for progress:- The book ‘Why Nations Fail?’ by Daron Acemoglu and James A Robinson explain that there are other reasons than that of culture, weather and geography that make or break nations. The writers explained with clarity of thought and historical perspective that nations become great when they adopt the right policies at the right time. They further explained that the nations will never fail if their institutions are constructive in nature. This is the time for Pakistan to build its institutions constructively, allow critical thinking and nurture its economic policies in the right direction.
What it means; response to Part 2: A political doctrine that seeks to control all aspects of a society, its economy, its laws and government with its culture is totalitarian, i.e. refers to a system of government in which lawfully elected representatives maintain the integrity of a nation state whose citizens, while granted the right to vote, still have little or no participation in the decision-making process of the government. It’s my understanding that Pakistan is an Islamic Republic, where its political ideology seeks to apply Islamic principles to public policy within a democratic framework, i.e. people elect their leaders, subject to Sharia, who must consult with mosque shura. If the Pakistani military supports Tehreek-e-insaf, which aims to create a welfare state, responsible for education, health and employability of its citizens, then it seeks to enable what is Islamic totalitarianism. Though the Pakistani system involves periodically held elections, the government in which the supreme power is vested is not in the people. Going with the classical definition of democracy, the majority has the voice to dismantle institutions, such as the Pakistani military, and the wealthy risk losing their control over society, e.g. where perhaps, Nawaz Sharif was ousted, as a democracy can easily amount to mob rule, which typically involves violence, intimidation, and trampling on people’s inalienable rights of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. But freedom or liberty and equality oppose each other, and can hardly coexist. So although it might appear as though the PTI party is promoting freedom of thought and dismantling religious discrimination in Pakistan, because Sharia establishes its supremacy as the country’s set of religious principles that form its culture and political system, the movement toward justice or objectivity, the right to be free from religion interpreting life to avoid persecution, the respect for the free will of the people, is yet another cunning plan to enable leaders with a totalitarian edge to their own advantage; and minorities will continue to be punished by penalty or death, so the question of a transparent judiciary is a moot point. An outside force cannot rebuke, or deny people’s natural born, inalienable rights to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. No majority in power should ever derive its power, political system, legitimacy or have the right to violate a person’s inalienable rights in the name of religion to justify its political objectives. Unwavering attachment to a set of irreducible beliefs is in and of itself fundamentalism that breeds extremism, for upholding beliefs in their strict, literal interpretation. Then you wonder? I realize the right to freedom of association is a human right, a political right and a civil liberty, but can you gather the people in your town to come together and collectively express, promote, pursue, and defend your collective and shared ideas to come up with clean water, electricity, etc.? Stand up and lead!