The fraud of calling Pakistan a democracy

Reader N. sends a Stanley Kurtz column on Pakistan, which begins:

Pakistan is not a democracy. Pakistan has never been a democracy. Should Pakistan adopt the electoral trappings of democracy in the near-term, that would not make Pakistan an authentic liberal democracy. Free and fair elections just might dissolve Pakistan into chaos, and/or begin a process of evolution toward Islamist domination. Elections or not, if Pakistan achieves stability any time soon, it will not be due to democracy. Pakistani stability in the near-term can only be the result of a precarious balance between political factions that are largely illiberal and undemocratic. Elections, at best, will throw a veil over a complex and fragile behind-the-scenes political deal. Pakistan’s 1970 election—the freest and fairest in the nation’s history—resulted in civil war, war with India, and the partition of the country into Pakistan and Bangladesh.

Then this:

In all of Pakistan’s history, there has never been a peaceful transfer of power between two elected governments. Every elected Pakistani government has been deposed or summarily dismissed. Most elections have been manipulated by Pakistan’s intelligence services. Only Zulfikar Ali Bhutto completed an elected term in office, and he was subsequently hanged after a military coup. From independence day to the present, Pakistan political trajectory has been one long evolution away from the democratic ideals of its founding. [Italics added.]

N. adds:

Pakistan has never been a democracy in the sense of Britain, or Japan, or even Spain. With an illiteracy rate of around 50 percent, it cannot be such a democracy. Yet “democracy” is supposed to solve all of Pakistan’s problems. The lessons of Pakistan ought to be pointed out, because they apply to many other Moslem countries and have profound implications for those Western countries that allow Moslem immigration.

Posted by Lawrence Auster at November 26, 2007 10:49 AM | Send