Pak Spring?

A A

Shekhar Gupta : Jan 16 2012, 03:06 IST

Quetta, if the notion that armies guarded not merely the territorial but also the ideological frontiers of nations was not outdated. Anybody who knew anything about Pakistan knew that moment that she had written her dismissal order. No politician in Pakistan can ever question the very basis of the formulation that gives its army its pre-eminence in power and society. And if she does, she must go. In comparison to her minor traffic offence, her lightweight husband and his doddering government have run their car into the cavalry’s lead tank, and, to use the cavalryman’s favourite line on both sides, are bashing in regardless.

So, the question we dare to ask now is, have the Pakistanis, in this decade, managed to make their dictatorship much more imperfect? Let me also dare to argue that they have done so.

I will still not take bets on whether the army would resort to the familiar “off with your heads” approach. History would make that look inevitable. Pakistan, after all, is a country where people patiently wait for the next coup during interregnums of bonsai democracy, and where coups take place without a bullet fired, facing no resistance. But what if the brass blinks?

There is, in fact, a serious chance this time that they might. Much has changed in Pakistan and the world in general in the past decade that makes military coups of old so much more anachronistic. And it is not just the Arab Spring.

There is a democratic upsurge around the world. Even

... contd.

Ads by Google

Single Page Format

Previous | 1 | 2 | 3 | Next

Previous Story Creative hotspot Next Story 2012: Turbulent year ahead for global stocks

Reader's Comments (4)| Post a Comment

focus

lilly | 11-Sep-2012Reply | Forward

i l my india

Pak Spring

Ram Subramanian | 08-Mar-2012Reply | Forward

One can only hope that this trend continues... it can only augur well for the region. In reply to sweety's comment, have you heard the saying Absolute Power Corrupts? This is exactly what people started fearing once the Anna movement went beyond protest and stated advocating mob power to get issues resolved. This will only lead to a state of total anarchy. We have to work within the democratic setup... it will change, maybe slowly, but change it will. Issues affecting the nation (esp. one with so many disparate peoples, languages, cultures) cannot be solved overnight nor is a deadline that someone sets practical (as happened with Anna). My two cents or rather rupees on the issue.