Recently held elections in Pakistan saw massive criticism due to various rigging incidents in different constituencies of the country. Observers said that at least 10 percent – or 7,000 – polling stations were reportedly rigged to influence the voters. Bogus votes, pressurizing voters, in-availability of ballot boxes, papers and various other similar problems were reported in different parts of the country. Experts are of the view that overall elections went well and there is no way of making election 100 percent fool-proof, especially at this magnitude and they are right. To be honest, the influence of political parties on the general people is strong, especially in a city like... more

The 2013 elections in Pakistan brought to the fore old faces with new promises to change the country’s fate. The days leading to the elections saw a torrent of content being shared over the Internet and social media, with Facebook and Twitter in particular, becoming an online war zone between supporters of various parties. Now that the storm has settled and the parties have taken their seats in the National Assembly, people are looking forward to a better Pakistan as it is time to act and manifest the promises into action. Over the years, social media has emerged as a Big Brother where all activities of politicians are shared over Facebook and people make comments to make the feedback... more

The presidential elections are taking place in Pakistan today, another major landmark for democracy after the successful general elections held in may and the peaceful transition of power to the new government. There has been very hectic lobbying ahead of the presidential elections with Pakistan Muslim league nawaz putting forth the name of Mamnoon hussain and getting backing from around eight smaller political groups, including Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM), Pakistan Muslim League-Functional (PML-F), Pakhtunkhwa Milli Awami Party (PkMAP), National Party (NP), Qaumi Wattan Party (QWP), Pakistan Muslim League-Zia (PML-Z) and Balochistan chapter of Pakistan Muslim League-Quaid. The second... more

By Abbas Malik Pakistan is a country where every human being is a political expert. The entire country is extremely politicized. Whether we’re in our villages, homes, on the street, at work, on Facebook or on twitter, we are always discussing politics. This is irrespective of age, occupation or financial status. Keeping this in mind, we can safely conclude that everyone wants the country to progress and prosper in peace. Pakistan has been in a bad state for years. Governments have come and gone all saying the same thing yet no government did anything to get Pakistan out of the poor state. Prior to elections 2013, the state of the country was so poor that it made the people realize... more

As Pakistani public celebrate successful transition of power from one elected government to another through 2013 general elections, some very important questions come up in my mind regarding possible participation of minorities which include Shia Muslims, Christians, Hindus and Ahmedies. Approx figures of non Muslim minorities in Pakistan range from 6 to 10 percent of total Pakistani population. Shia muslims make up to 20 to 35 percent. However, the new wave of violence against minorities in Pakistan namely Shia’s and Christians is a matter of concern. Also almost negligible participation of non Muslim minority candidates in elections depicts the trust deficit minorities have in... more

Have we become so disillusioned with the voting process and politics in general, that we have just tuned out from society at large? I have friends that have told me that their votes don’t matter and that the problems are so big that nothing can make it better, but I disagree. They say that nobody “good” runs for office anymore because politics have become so negative. That it doesn't matter who the face is, they are basically all the same. While I agree that things have become very negative and some candidates talk more about their opponents’ weaknesses than sharing their own plans or solutions, not voting is not a solution. Even if we feel that parties in general have lost the... more

Ever since the world wide web came into being and governments around the world slowly but surely realized the adverse effects of communication on regimes which tend to sweep uncomfortable things under the carpet there have been efforts made to control the flow of information. The problem however is that information and attempts to block it nowadays is like water hitting porous sand. As the mediums multiply daily and the flow of data becomes quicker and quicker with the gadgets we use spreading like rabbits around our lives it has become hireto impossible to ebb this flow no matter what any one tries. In the midst of all this we have our Pakistani government which although has provisions in... more

The people bear the biggest responsibility in the democratic system. As defined by the Lincoln, “Democracy is the rule of people by the people for the people.” Therefore, people are the fundamental ingredient that makes up true democracy and any democratic system without effective and intelligent involvement of people would eventually fail. Unfortunately, as we, Pakistanis are great neglector of our duties and responsibilities as a voter to select parliamentarians and keep check and balance once they enter into the parliament of Pakistan. So, are we aware of our obligations to safeguard and nurture democracy in our country? Are we aware of our role in the electoral process in Pakistan... more

We live in a world where each one of us is bombarded with at least a few hundred messages every day. Switch on the television or flip open a newspaper and there’s one brand or the other selling everything from shampoo to happiness! Out in the streets gigantic hoardings insist why we should try a specific restaurant or a new, improved brand of tea. For those of us who have pre-paid cellular connections know too well the menace of a constantly beeping cell phone owing to “mobile advertisements”. Then of course there is the social media where in addition to the paid advertisements the status updates, tweets and even memes have become a way to disseminate messages aimed either at... more

In our previous blogs we’ve spoken about a whole host of topics realted to elections and the voting process. In today’s blog however, we’ll take a break from these subjects and instead talk about two related concepts: youth bulge and democracy. Let’s first start by understanding what the term “youth bulge” means. The youth bulge is a usual phenomenon in many growing nations, and in particular, in the least developed countries. To explain it in simple words, youth bulge refers to a point in a country’s history where the population of young people (i.e. 24 years or below) stands in majority. Thus, a country that is experiencing a youth bulge will typically have a large share of... more

After discussing so many different topics related to democracy and the electoral process, in today’s blog we’ll talk about the system of governance currently in place in Pakistan. But before we launch into the whole discussion, here’s a warning: today’s blog will be just a tad bit academic! What’s that we hear? Boring, you said? No, no, we won’t get boring just a little a-c-a-d-e-m-i-c! Bear with us just a for a few minutes of reading and we promise that you won’t be disappointed! Now without further ado let’s try to understand how the government functions in Pakistan and what processes are followed to keep the system streamlined. The first and most important piece of... more

In the previous blogs we’ve spoken about how the government is run at the federal and provincial levels. In today’s blog we’ll go further down and talk about the Local government institutions, known as “local bodies” in Pakistan. Before going forward it is important to understand that while federal and provincial governments manage things more at the top tier level, it is in fact the local bodies that manage the day to day running of any district and then the tehsils and even villages within these districts. In lay man’s language, local bodies are essential grassroots organizations that perform necessary administrative functions at the municipal level. The primary purpose of... more

Pakistan, as you well know is a Parliamentary democracy with a federal government and four provincial legislatures. In other words, there’s a federal government at the center (i.e. Islamabad) that takes care of national affairs on the whole and then there are four provincial governments that are entrusted with the welfare of the provinces. Have you ever thought why we don’t have Presidential system of governance or any other form and why this particular model was adopted to govern Pakistan? Well, in today’s blog we will discuss precisely that and specifically talk about why “federalism” is important for the country. Let’s first establish a definition for “federalism”.... more

Vote by strict definition means a formal indication of a choice between two or more candidates or courses of action, expressed typically through a ballot or a show of hands. It is also termed as a choice expressed collectively by a body of electors, a specified group or an individual. In political terms, it is the right to register a choice in an election to a political office in any tier of government. Derived from the Latin word votum meaning 'a vow or wish', in political terms it has transformed its meaning to express one’s desire to support an individual, group or party to carry out an agenda(s) or policy(ies) which an individual voter considers appropriate for the welfare of a... more

“Each Provincial Government shall, by law, establish a local government system and devolve political, administrative and financial responsibilities and authority to the elected representatives of the local government”, says article 140-A of the constitution of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan. It has been almost four years since people in three provinces of Pakistan have remained deprived of their representative local governments, one Baluchistan, had LG elections in 2013. Inclusive and participatory government is privy to the definition of democracy and this can only be achieved when people are made part of the decision making process. Pakistan has seen four local government systems,... more