A deal with the people

                                                      

                

                     A NATION is free when it is able to govern itself and the best mechanism for a people to govern itself is democracy. If democracy is the body of freedom, then the free and independent judiciary and the media are its soul and blood.
                  An independent judiciary assures that decisions will be based on laws and the constitution, not on the pressures of a temporary majority. Thus an independent judicial system in a democracy serves as a safeguard of the people’s rights and freedoms.
                  Democracy thrives on freedom of speech. It depends upon a literate, knowledgeable citizenry whose access to information enables it to participate in the public life of their society and to criticise unwise government policies.
                   The recent movement of judicial activism was nurtured by the media. It was the media which brought to light the political maturity of the nation and showed the world that it has awakened from the deep slumber and would support those who would go for the movement.
                   The mood of the public forced the political parties to support the movement initially, but most transgressed later. Political parties aspiring to come to power would not like to have an independent and strong judiciary and media. They supported the movement then because they were not able to muster any support from the public on issues other than the judiciary.
                  The U-turns of the three pundits (Musharraf, Benazir and Nawaz) about each other, the judiciary and the media reminds one of the story of three friends who wanted to cheat a man of his hide.
                  The first one came to his prey and asked him if he wanted to sell its hide. On an affirmative reply, he asked the man as how he tanned the skin.
                  He replied that he tanned it under the sun. The cheat exclaimed that he had destroyed a perfect skin by tanning it under the sun instead of a shade.
                  His reply to the second friend was that he had tanned it under a shade. The man was told that he had committed a mistake as skin is tanned under the sun.
                  The disappointed man’s reply to the third friend was that he tanned the skin half under a shade and half under the sun. He was dismayed when he was told that skin is either tanned under the sun or under a shade.
                  The way the three big are dealing among themselves and with the international players suggests that Pakistan was a deal between the ruling class and the masters: the ruler would enjoy ruling the masses and the masters would get unhindered cooperation.
                   The Muslim of South Asia voted for one thing: government of the people, by the people and for the people. Would there be anyone who has the acumen, the aspiration, and the will-power to make a deal with the masses: the owners of Pakistan?
                   One would dare remind those who matter of a saying: “You can fool all of the people some of the time, and some of the people all of the time, but you can’t fool all of the people all of the time.”