Pakistan: A Fragile or Fabricated Democracy?

DESCRIBED BY MANY GEOPOLITICAL ANALYSTS AS EITHER FABRICATED, FRAGILE, OR BOTH, PAKISTANI DEMOCRACY EXISTS IN A PARADOXICAL STATE. IF DEMOCRACY IS PRESENT, IT IS FRAGILE; IF ABSENT, IT APPEARS FABRICATED. SINCE INDEPENDENCE, DEMOCRACY IN PAKISTAN HAS BOUNCED FROM ONE EXTREME TO ANOTHER—MUCH LIKE THE IDIOM "FROM PILLAR TO POST"—WITH FRAGILITY BEING ONE PILLAR AND FABRICATION THE OTHER.

- SYED SHOWKAT

Pakistan, a country carved out of British India during the traumatic partition of 1947, was founded primarily on religious lines. More than seven decades since its inception, Pakistan has grappled with nearly every conceivable crisis—political, economic, and internal—yet stability remains elusive. The greatest casualty of this turmoil has been Pakistani democracy. Described by many geopolitical analysts as either fabricated, fragile, or both, Pakistani democracy exists in a paradoxical state. If democracy is present, it is fragile; if absent, it appears fabricated. Since independence, democracy in Pakistan has bounced from one extreme to another—much like the idiom "from pillar to post"—with fragility being one pillar and fabrication the other. The forces undermining democracy in Pakistan are numerous: entrenched corruption, weak political and economic institutions, internal strife, religious extremism, rampant human rights abuses, public disorder, and above all, military overreach. An often-overlooked but significant factor is Punjab's dominant presence in the country's bureaucracy and politics, which has fostered favouritism, lobbying, and systemic imbalances since 1947.Two of the most potent threats to Pakistan's democratic framework have been religious extremism and the military—often referred to as a "state within a state."