1 Illustrate the differences in world
views between India and Pakistan.
Answers
Answer:
One key to India's democracy is its development of strong institutions. Its Supreme Court and its election commission have ...
Answer:
The World; India and Pakistan: So Close but So Different
By David Rohde
May 16, 2004
IN the Indian capital of New Delhi on Thursday, a cherished tradition played itself out to a spectacular conclusion.
Waiters watched television screens for the latest election results and ignored their customers. Drivers sat in stifling afternoon heat listening to radio bulletins. Pedestrians stopped to watch vote tallies on a large news ticker.
Excitement, disbelief and shock bubbled. Indian voters had hatched a huge upset, giving an alliance led by the opposition Congress Party victory over the country's ruling Hindu nationalist coalition.
In a speech on national television, Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee conceded defeat and gave up power. He did not question the results or accuse his opponents of unfair tactics. ''The people have given their verdict,'' he said. ''I accept it.''
Here in Pakistan, a different reality played out last week. On Tuesday, Shahbaz Sharif, the younger brother of the elected prime minister overthrown by Gen. Pervez Musharraf in a 1999 coup, tried to re-enter the country. Within two hours, he was deported.
Riot police arrested hundreds of Mr. Sharif's supporters in Lahore, the city where he landed. Journalists were beaten, and government pressure prompted an independent television station not to broadcast a recorded interview with Mr. Sharif. Cellphone service in Lahore was cut for two hours.
India and Pakistan are neighboring countries that share much in history and culture. But the dramas of last week could not have been more different.
The difference between the two does not appear to be in law. Both have constitutions that enshrine parliamentary democracy as the law of the land. It does not appear to be in people. Both have talented, thoughtful and deeply patriotic populations eager to see their nations thrive.
Explanation:
The difference appears to be a culture of democracy that has evolved in India over the last 57 years, while in Pakistan, democracy remains stillborn.
Democracy has emerged unevenly in South Asia. So Pakistan is not alone. In Nepal, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh and sometimes even in India, efforts to establish democracy have to fight a winner-take-all, no-compromise mentality among politicians. Parties furiously work to undermine one another, derailing development projects and damaging the country's economy in the process. Corruption remains chronic, and generals or monarchs often cite it as the reason they must seize power for themselves.
Such skepticism about democracy was on exhibit here last week, when a close aide to General Musharraf praised Mr. Vajpayee's grace in defeat, but said democracy was not right for Pakistan at this time. He said the only successful models of economic development in the developing world were countries that had long periods of stable, semi-authoritarian rule. He gave Malaysia and Indonesia as examples, ignoring democratic Japan and South Korea.
A powerful precedent was set, and the next time Mrs. Gandhi wanted to rule she had to seek re-election. (She did, in 1980, and she won.) So has every leader since.
In Pakistan, by contrast, the country's political father, Mohammed Ali Jinnah, died only 13 months after the country's founding in 1947, and the assassination of his closest associate four years later set a precedent for political violence. Thus, Pakistan was denied the early stability in which India had been able to build strong institutions and democratic habits.
In 1958, after a series of weak civilian governments brought Pakistan close to economic collapse, the army's commander, Gen. Mohammad Ayub Khan, seized power in a coup. Since then, despite periods of democratic rule in the 1970's and 1990's, military leaders have ruled Pakistan for most of its history -- with American backing as an ally for much of the cold war.
Today, opposition politicians say American support of General Musharraf gives the Pakistani Army free rein to suppress them. Two days after Mr. Sharif was deported, Assistant Secretary of State Christina Rocca visited Pakistan and expressed concern about the police crackdown on Mr. Sharif's party workers. But she reaffirmed American support for General Musharraf's rule.
Close aides to General Musharraf said the failure of Mr. Sharif's deportation to spark large street protests showed that average Pakistanis have lost faith in politicians. ''You will notice that the average Pakistani is no longer obsessed with politics,'' one aide said. ''They have been disillusioned by the way politics is run in this country.''
''I suspect the great drama of democracy next door,'' he wrote, ''leaves many Pakistanis (let me not presume to speak on behalf of all) with a sense of sadness, because it's a reminder of what their country is missing out on and where it has gone wrong.''