Yesterday, Bilawal Bhutto had a press conference in which he repeatedly implied that Pakistan doesn't have democracy. Nothing new, he and others have been saying this since the last year's election. However, and I am asking this out of complete curiosity and I don't have any political affiliation, what evidence is there of any selection of the PM or poor democratic behavior by Pak army or these kinds of topics? I want to respect Bilawal Bhutto as I have not really heard him say weird things except this democracy thing. Could someone please provide evidence that last year's elections were Shaffaaf (as they say in urdu) or not?
40 years since Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto was hanged it is worth remembering a history of civilian Prime Ministers in Pakistan.
Think how much your opinion of these people is shaped by what you have been told rather than your own critical evaluation of our history.
-
Liaquat Ali Khan - founding father - shot
-
Sir Khwajaza Nizamuddin - Bengali/founding father - government dissolved
-
Mohammad Ali Bogra - forced to resign over regional disparity by Iskander Mirza
-
Chaudhry Muhammad Ali - set forth the first Constitution of Pakistan - dismissed by a vote of no confidence
-
Huseyn Shaheed Suhrawardy - another Bengali founding father - forced to resign by Iskander Mirza
(Next 3 Prime Ministers were less than a year. Worth noting that in this period Ayub Khan also ran a vicious campaign against the mother of the nation Fatima Bhutto because she ran for elections)
- Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto - dismissed then hanged
(Not counting Prime Ministers under Military Dictators)
-
Benazir Bhutto - exiled then killed after returning to Pakistan. Husband also imprisoned and brothers killed. Multiple governments dismissed.
-
Nawaz Sharif - exiled then jailed. Multiple governments dismissed.
-
Yousaf Raza Gillani - dismissed and his son was kidnapped.
No Prime Minister has ever completed 5 years.
Make whatever you want of all this information.
While approval ratings for the King are at an all time high and the Kingdom of Pakistan is growing positively as a nation, the King himself is weary of monarchy as a governmental structure. The recent genocide in Iceland is a horrific example of what Monarchy can result in with the wrong leadership.
Therefore, the King has decided that in order to protect the future of Pakistan once his reign comes to an end, he will allow the people of Pakistan to decide whether the Kingdom should transition to a democracy.
The King has stated that he is open to advice and assistance from the successful and developed democracies of the world, especially from the United States of America.
I'm election law specialist (and UC Irvine law professor ) Rick Hasen ( electionlawblog.org and tweeting @rickhasen). There are many concerns facing us during the 2020 elections including voter suppression, election administrator incompetence (as we've already seen in Iowa), foreign and domestic dirty tricks, and increasingly incendiary rhetoric about stolen elections. I've recently published a book on the subject with Yale University Press called Election Meltdown.
Proof: https://twitter.com/yalepress/status/1232342046268149760
