Lahore, January 27; In a year of turmoil marked by several challenges, democracy in Pakistan has made incremental progress. The Democracy Assessment Group convened by PILDAT has carried out a detailed assessment of the Quality of Democracy in Pakistan during the year 2011. The report released by the Group assigns an overall score of 49%. The Group had assessed the Quality of Democracy at 45% in September 2010.

The Assessment has been carried out based on an international framework that rests on four pillars and 15 sub-pillars divided under 75 questions. As per a detailed, systematic evaluation by the Democracy Assessment Group convened by PILDAT, Civil Society and Popular Participation received the highest score of 53% with no change from 2010. Democracy beyond the State received the second highest score of 52% compared to 43% in 2010. Citizenship, Law and Rights received a score of 49% which is an improvement compared to 46% in 2010. Representative and Accountable Government received the lowest score of 47% compared to 43% in 2010.

As a �process,� democracy has made tangible progress in Pakistan during the past four years (2008-2012). Therefore, Public support for democracy, despite poor governance by the Executive, needs to be celebrated. There is a consensus in all quarters of the country that the democratic process should continue without interruption. It is also particularly comforting that all political parties publicly support the continuation of the democratic process. The unfailing commitment of the citizens of Pakistan will eventually sustain democracy.

Six factors energise the process of democracy. They are:

1. The 18th Amendment to the Constitution is a major rectification of deviations of the past and a step towards a more democratic future. The 18th Amendment not only removed the distortions introduced by General Musharraf through the 17th Constitutional Amendment but even more importantly, it opened the door for the devolution of power to the Provinces. Devolution of power to the Provinces and to the grassroots holds the key to the promotion of democratic processes in Pakistan.

   However there are serious issues of implementation as also other questions relating to uniform education curriculum, protection of labour and the maintenance of health standards across the country in which the Federation must exercise a coordinating, regulatory role. There is also a need to activate the Council of Common Interests with a full-time secretariat to revive the Federation�s regulatory role.

2. The independent and activist role of the Judiciary: The Court has asserted its role as a custodian of holding the Government accountable whenever it forms the view that the concerned institutions are not performing their due role. Despite the view in some quarters that the Supreme Court sometimes oversteps its Constitutional mandate, the higher Courts have caught the imagination of the citizens as their instrument to hold rulers accountable. On the whole the Supreme Court serves as a strong deterrent against excesses. As long as the Supreme Court stays within its Constitutional role, this is a welcome development for the process of democracy. The Superior Courts also need to attend to improvement in the working of subordinate Judiciary to provide timely justice to the citizens.

   The freedom of the Courts from interference has received a score of 67% which is an improvement from 60% in 2010. The superior Judiciary is largely appreciated for taking up many cases involving corruption as there is a general impression that the Government is not serious in this matter. There is also a general consensus that the Federal Government is employing deploying delaying tactics on implementation of some of the Court orders, there is also a general consensus in the Democracy Assessment Group that all institutions of the State, including Executive, Legislature and Judiciary, must work effectively within their respective Constitutional domains.

3. Political Parties move ahead on road to maturity: During the past four years almost all major political parties have not become part of any covert attempt to bring back undemocratic, non-elected elements as the ruling forces. Despite some shortcomings, political parties have refrained from strengthening any counter-democratic trends.

4. Members of Parliament have enhanced their professional competence to legislate: Despite the perception about Parliament comprising members with limited abilities in statecraft, legislators have demonstrated that they are capable of enhancing their skills.

   A major concern, however, is that Parliament continues to remain an ineffective forum for the resolution of major crises. While this Government uses the name of Parliament in media sound bites to claim legitimacy for all its actions, Parliament is not the forum which has effectively played its role in holding the Government to account or in influencing policies of the Government.

5. Fairness of the Electoral system to elect a reasonably representative Parliament: Year 2011 has seen developments that have improved the prospects of a free and fair election. The holding of a free and fair election through a non-partisan, transparent and competent body holds a key to the process of democracy. The formation of the Election Commission through a bi-partisan Parliamentary Committee and the electoral reforms undertaken by the Election Commission of Pakistan are largely commendable. The Election Commission�s efforts to make comprehensive Electoral Rolls and its attempts to achieve the goal of �one CNIC one vote� are steps in the right direction. The electoral rolls are subject to greater scrutiny by the Judiciary as well as political parties and civic groups.

   The Group also noted that the appointment of the new Chief Election Commissioner is due in March 2012 and advised that bi-partisan consultations should begin in the earnest to identify and appoint a consensus Chief Election Commissioner in line with the provisions of the 18th Constitutional Amendment.

   The sub-pillar of Free and Fair Elections in the matrix used by the Democracy Assessment Group received the second highest score 58% compared to 50% in 2010.

6. News Media and Citizen Connectivity: The news media have become more pervasive, diverse and competitive, even if they are not always transparent in matters relating to their financial sources or fair and balanced in their treatment of various political forces. They have successfully engaged large sections of the population in the affairs of the State. Interestingly, while the engagement appears to be passive (e.g., just watching TV) they build up citizen power by connecting millions in cyberspace. Some of that �connected power� spills over into telecom connectivity and in the social media. Taken together the mass media and telecom have connected the citizenry and thus empowered them to become a check on state power.

   The news media must, however, develop an objective and transparent policy to publicly acknowledge their sources of funding � an aspect in which citizens must move to hold media to account. While media remain generally free of executive control, there is an alarming increase in the threat to the lives and safety of journalists from state and non-state actors.

Thus while these six factors have improved the overall processes and prospects for sustainable democracy in Pakistan, the democratically elected Governments have yet to deliver �good governance,� �economic growth� and �welfare�? The answer is No.

Poor governance remains the most potent threat to the quality of democracy in Pakistan sliding from bad to worse in 2011. The harsh reality of continuing inflation and food prices have undermined the provision of basic services to people. The energy crisis has deepened in Pakistan without the Government offering any credible and practical solutions for its resolution. Railways has became largely dysfunctional compounding public transport problems. Pakistan�s public debt increased by 13% during 2011 and elected governments did not take any tangible steps in increasing Pakistan�s tax-to-GDP ratio, which at 8.5% in 2010-2011, became the lowest in Asia and developing countries. The Government�s inability to raise revenue to meet its rising expenditures and liabilities such as circular debt is the core financial problem. In the assessment of the quality of democracy in 2011, the sub-pillar Economic and Social Rights received a low score of 41% while access to work and social security and protection of health scored 37% and 32% respectively recording deterioration from the previous year.

Lack of uniform application of, and adherence to the rule of law remain the biggest challenges for the quality of democracy in Pakistan. The application of the rule of law in society received a low score of 43% by the Assessment compared to 33% in 2010.

Balochistan remains a major area of concern notwithstanding the Government claims that 80% of the work on the Aghaz-e-Huqooq-e-Balochistan has been completed, the commitment that no new cantonments would be established in Balochistan and that the control over Frontier Corps will be transferred to the provincial Government. Insurgency continues in Balochistan while the issue of missing persons remains unresolved. The Baloch nationalist parties have not been brought into the democratic mainstream.

Regrettably Karachi has also witnessed intermittent violence which has political, ethnic and economic context. Last 4 months have seen improvements after the Judicial intervention and deployment of Rangers.

The perceived rampant corruption in the country and the Government�s reluctance to make any efforts to control it are major causes of embarrassment for supporters of democracy in the country. In 2011 the Hajj scam, the NICL scam have further dented the credibility of the incumbent Government. The appointment of the Leader of the Opposition as head of the PAC for the first time in Pakistan in the 13th National Assembly was celebrated as a major positive step towards deepening democracy. As the PAC is set to commence reviewing the audit reports pertaining to the term of the current Government, the appointment of a controversial Auditor General by the Government has not been received well. The Democracy Assessment Group assigned the sub-pillar of Integrity in Public Life the lowest score of 34%. Similarly public confidence in Public Officials and Services received a score of 28% which is the lowest of all indicators of democracy assessment during 2011.

Civil-Military Relations showed serious deterioration during the year 2011. The issue of the alleged Memo, seen by some as the civil Government�s wish-list to contain the Army, and by others as a storm in a tea cup, has come to be at the heart of the estrangement in civil-military relations at the end of 2011. The same elected Government, which continually came to the public rescue of the military after the killing of Osama bin Laden, US targeting of the ISI and the NATO attack of November 2011, has resorted to an open confrontation with the Army. 2011 also witnessed a civilian Prime Minister, seen as being relatively weak, unexpectedly breaking conventional barriers on official comments about civil-military relations in Pakistan by terming the military as a �State within the State� � an open public position that has never before been taken by any other Prime Minister of Pakistan. During the Assessment the effectiveness of civilian control over armed forces received a score of 36%.

Beginning its fifth and final year of the 5-year term in March 2012, the inability of the Parliament to pass an effective Accountability law remains, so far, one of its major failures. As there remains serious difference of opinion between the ruling PPPP and the opposition PML-N on the draft of the Holders of Public Offices (Accountability) Bill 45%9, perhaps the Parliament should consider strengthening the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) by revising the NAB Ordinance 1999 to make NAB a transparent, objective and even-handed body. The Parliament may consider revising the NAB law to make the appointment of the Chairperson NAB through a Parliamentary Committee equally representing the Treasury and the Opposition benches instead of the present mere �consultation� with the Leader of the Opposition.

During the Assessment the democratic effectiveness of the Parliament received a score of 52% compared to 50% last year. The question regarding the powers of Parliament to legislate received a score of 60% - a slight deterioration from 61% in 2010. Parliament�s oversight of the Government�s international policy received a score of 39% while the question of Parliament�s ratification of the Government�s international negotiating positions and treaties/ commitments received a score of 39%. 2011 marked the end of the 4th year in which Provincial Assemblies and Governments have failed to establish elected Local Governments, a crucial third tier of democracy. As these have been mostly established by the military rulers, Local Governments enjoy little political support by parties. However, the 18th Constitutional Amendment passed in April 2010 by all parties represented in Parliament had retained Article 140-A relating to devolution of power to local governments and expanded to provide that elections to local governments shall be held by the Election Commission of Pakistan. In the past four years, however, new legislation for establishing a sustainable democratically-elected Local Government system in Pakistan has been hampered by sharp differences on the nature of the system among different provinces. The resultant delay has led to the re-emergence of the old bureaucratic system that denies the right to people to govern themselves at the local tier. This runs contrary to the very principle of democracy, devolution and decentralisation that the 18th Constitutional Amendment upheld and through which provinces got their due rights. Whereas the Provincial Governments are entitled to make Local Government laws keeping in mind their own circumstances, the failure to revive these through Local Government election is a violation of Article 32 and 140-A of the Constitution. Concentrating powers at the provincial tiers, without devolving to the local tiers is denying the dividends of democracy and devolution to the public. In the view of the Democracy Assessment Group, the sub-pillar on Decentralisation received a score of 44%. Civil society and citizens groups remain vibrant in the country and have countered, to an extent, the militancy and extremism in the society, which, nevertheless remains a potent threat. However, some of them operate without effective application of common standards of audit, accountability and transparency. In this year�s assessment, the question of citizen participation in voluntary groups and public activity received a score of 57% compared to 53% last year.

Despite the efforts made by the Government, militancy and extremism continue to be a potent threat. The Group has raised serious questions over the absence of a well-thought-out and coherent national security strategy. Violent religious extremism is already visible in some parts of society and threatens democratic stability.

A Democracy Assessment Group, convened by PILDAT has overseen the process of the Assessment of the Quality of Democracy in Pakistan that is based on an international democracy assessment framework reflecting the experience of democracies around the world. The Members of the Democracy Assessment Group include Mr. Omar Khan Afridi, former Federal Caretaker Minister, Mr. Iftikhar Ahmad, Senior Journalist, Mr. Cyril Almieda, Assistant Editor, Dawn, Mr. Sartaj Aziz, Senior Vice President PML-N, former Federal Minister, Senator Hasil Bizenjo, Vice-president National Party, Dr. Khalida Ghaus, Analyst, Dr. Ijaz Shafi Gilani, Chairman Gallup, Pakistan, Mr. Javed Hafeez, former Ambassador, Lt. Gen. (Retd.) Moinuddin Haider, Former Federal Minister for Interior, former Governor Sindh, Mr. Shahid Hamid, Senior Advocate Supreme Court, former Governor and Federal Minister, Dr. Parvez Hassan, Senior Advocate Supreme Court, Sardar Khalid Ibrahim, Politician, Mr. Javed Jabbar, former Senator, former Federal Minister for Information and Media Development, Mr. Wazir Ahmed Jogezai, former Deputy Speaker National Assembly of Pakistan, Dr. Hasan-Askari Rizvi, Defence and Political Analyst, Mr. Ghazi Salahuddin, Senior Journalist, Mr. Mujib ur Rehman Shami, Editor in Chief Daily Pakistan, Mr. Illahi Buksh Soomro, Former Speaker, National Assembly of Pakistan, Dr. Mohammad Waseem, Academician, Ms. Nasim Zehra, Senior Analyst, Mr. Ahmed Bilal Mehboob, Executive Director and Ms. Aasiya Riaz, Joint Director of PILDAT.

The framework used to assess the quality of democracy in Pakistan is a tool to promote democratic reform. The Group had earlier prepared and released a Mid-Term Assessment on the Quality of Democracy in Pakistan in September 2010. The framework does not assess the government alone but assesses the entire society looking at how democratic is the country and society of which the Government is a part.

The objective of the Assessment of the Quality of Democracy in Pakistan is to identify strengths and achievements and to also identify the weaknesses so as to propose reforms to address those weaknesses. Drawn from all provinces and regions of Pakistan, the Democracy Assessment Group or DAG represents the broad diversity of the Pakistani Society. Province, Gender, Profession, Language and Political Affiliation are some of the features of the DAG members� profiles. The framework and the assessment by the DAG have been shared in a national workshop comprising over 50 participants each from different walks of life in Pakistan.

PILDAT gratefully acknowledges the support and cooperation of the Democracy Assessment Group. PILDAT sought and received partial support of the Foundation for the Future in carrying out the assessment of democracy which it gratefully acknowledges.