Reflections

I wonder if democracy IS the best form of governance. The fact that today’s world is not tolerant of any other form of governance does point in that direction. That the West which is accepted as a model of democracy and the rest of the world which agrees that the democracy of the best form of governance will not accept, say a dictator in Pakistan is an important argument. The world after all is too interlinked today for any country to not conform to generally accepted norms about human rights and governance systems. But then what if the world WAS tolerant of a form of governance other than democracy? What if we had an undisputed right to choose the form of governance that was most suitable to the socio economic fabric of our country? Would democracy have still been a better form of governance? Let’s imagine an alternate system of governance; let’s take an autocratic form of rule as an example. It would be beyond argument that one person making all decisions according to his personal j...

For the second time in me life, I went to a political jalsa. The first time was when MQM first won elections in Karachi. I remember stuffing into the trunk of my car with my cousin, both males and females, chanting slogans “Mahajiroan ka superman, Altaf Husain Altaf Husain”. But the Superman has really disappointed so many of his supporters who came in large numbers at the Pakistan Tehreek I Insaaf Jalsa. This disappointment is largely because of the lack of any principles or political stance that this party has displayed, trying to hide this wavering under “expediency”. Politics IS the art of the possible but to constantly stay aligned with the ruling party and keep changing its stance to do so reflects defensive posture of a party which feels that to survive , it must stay in power. This behavior has alienated a lot of MQM voters which have found an alternative party to support in PTI. Let me tell you a thing about Imran Khan. I have never been a big fan of his. I found him to be ...