March of interests or ideas?

Byline: Umair Javed

THE JUI-F's march to and as yet unspecified sojourn in the capital has instigated considerable debate around issues of political stability, civil-military relations, and the health and future of democracy in Pakistan. It has also invigorated a particularly fertile (normative) debate among liberal/progressive sections of the commentariat on the value, if any, the march may serve towards the democratisation of the Pakistani state, especially considering the regressive and exclusionary tendencies that tend to populate Islamist politics in the country.

Some of these issues are worth parsing through, not necessarily because this march is going to result in some drastic change to the political system, but because Islamist parties like the JUI-F are reasonably well entrenched, and any type of political future will likely see them remain as key stakeholders.

The first question worth raising here is abstract in nature - can a march led by a religious party that excludes women from participation, and one that raises flammable conspiratorial discourse regarding minority communities, be considered a vehicle for democracy?

The answer is contingent on the definition of democracy deployed. It would be 'yes' if one takes a narrow procedural view of democracy, which involves basic adherence to constitutional principles on free and fair elections and civil-military relations. The history of Islamist politics across much of the Muslim world shows such movements and parties playing a key role in democratic mobilisation (of excluded populations), often against 'secular' authoritarian governments. While the outcomes have only occasionally been successful - with authoritarian clampdowns and repression being far more common - it would be incorrect to assert that religious parties are somehow hardwired against democratic politics.

Is the JUI-F, specifically in its current incarnation, a vehicle for procedural democracy?

However, if one deploys a wider definition of democracy to include liberal principles of inclusion, tolerance, and equality in the experience of citizenship, then religious parties are more often than not a vehicle for regression rather than progress. This would be true even on the broader issue of women's right to vote and participate in political processes, which are not liberal values per se.

The second question worth asking here is empirical in nature - is the JUI-F, specifically in its current incarnation, a vehicle for...