A wasted year.

Byline: I.A. Rehman

THE year 2019 is likely to go down in history as a wasted year in terms of democratic development. This is mainly because the government addressed the challenges of running a democratic dispensation by devaluing or diluting democratic principles, conventions and practices.

The PTI acceded to power in August 2018 but no questions about its performance during the remaining months of 2018 were valid because as a party without experience, it was entitled to acquire some understanding of democratic practices. From January 2019 onward, however, it had no excuse for not doing its job properly, which above all meant upholding the Constitution and democratic principles. At the beginning of 2020, the government may well ask itself how it has fared in meeting the demands of democratic governance.

Has the government shown parliament the respect due to it in a parliamentary system that Pakistan has adopted? Even the government's most loyal defender will find it hard to reply in the affirmative.

The barrage of presidential ordinances confirms utter disregard for parliament. The government does not like the fact that the opposition has a majority in the Senate, but instead, of finding a consensus with the opposition on legislative matters, as is done in several democracies, it has chosen to bypass the Senate altogether. Even the constitutional obligation to convene a Senate meeting within 120 days of the end of the preceding session was not honoured.

The government should ask itself how it has fared in meeting the demands of democratic governance.

The government has failed to secure the opposition's agreement on the choice of a new chief election commissioner and it does not have a two-third majority support for its nominee. Instead of resolving the matter through democratic give and take, the government is planning to change the constitutional provision and provide for decision by a simple majority.

Parliamentary democracy in its essence means rule by the cabinet. The present government has strange notions about the cabinet's role as the dominant decision-making body. It has earned much goodwill for holding cabinet meetings with a regularity unknown in Pakistan's history. It also deserves credit for leaking information about the agenda for a cabinet meeting. This is as it should be. But a tendency to avoid cabinet discussion on crucial issues is clearly discernible.

While the appointment of the CEO, Small and Medium Enterprises...

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