Democracy in Pakistan is still a question mark

Its internal army dominance makes it difficult to relieve resource allocation of a military calculus. Imran Khan's trial must get a fair review, just as its polls must reflect real choices

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The law applies to all. A democratic society may accord some privileges to holders of top office, but, as John Rawls noted in his theory of justice, this is conditional on everyone having equal access to such offices. The principle sounds clear enough. The complexities of public life are such, though, that when politicians have run-ins with the law, confusion tends to reign over whether it's a bona fide case or one of political persecution. India just saw Rahul Gandhi of the Congress party get a stay from the Supreme Court on his conviction by a lower court for his alleged defamation of people named Modi. In the US, Donald Trump faces a battery of charges that range from a conspiracy to defraud the US, obstruct an official proceeding and deny citizens their rights, all related to the storming of its Capitol on 6 January 2021, to the former president's alleged theft of state secrets and misreporting of hush money paid to an adult film star as a business expense. While India is the world's biggest modern democracy, the US the oldest. Neither's judiciary is