Political situation of pakistan

 

Politics & government in pakistan

Pakistan is a country that enjoys wide-open space for political, social and cultural development. The recent changes in the socio-political sphere have been characterized by an unprecedented trend towards democratization of Pakistani society. However, as at today, the situation of political power in Pakistan remains polarized, because of several different factors. This is the reason why it is important to analyze current state of affairs that are related not only to politics but also to economy, which affect all spheres of life. In the following article, we will review main features of contemporary context that affect current state of affairs and explain reasons of emergence of such atmosphere in the country. We begin with overview of present state of country-political situation.

Political Aspect

Pakistani Republic (PKR) is governed through constitutional system. It has democratic form of legislature, where elected members from upper house (Senate or National Assembly) make laws and regulations on behalf of people, who vote for it. Legislative acts are then approved by both houses and they become law without any further deliberation. All legal actions, including legislation and administrative decisions are carried out by legislative branch and their implementation is provided by Ministry of Law, Justice & Security.

In accordance with Constitution of PKR, every four years, there is general elections, in which parliamentary election is organized. Federalism is at the core of democracy in Pakistan. Parliamentary democracy is the basis of Pakistani Republic as well. During last two elections, no party managed to win seats in Federal Parliament, so both parties remained divided in Federal House and none managed to gain more than 3% of total votes. This fact indicates that even though political polarization has increased over time, it still does not threaten overall stability in the nation. Because of this, democratic structure dominates the country.

Social Aspect

The rapid economic growth of Pakistan in past 25 years has resulted into population explosion in the country. More than 80 million people live in Pakistan. They enjoy high standards of living with low unemployment rates, which means that they can afford the cost of education and food. Despite increase population density in the past 25 yrs, the quality of life increased. These factors attracted foreigners to the country. Many newcomers settled in Sindh and Punjab, while others moved to urban areas like Karachi. This led to demographic change. Population density was higher than one in three people lived in the rural area. Now almost 90% of the population lives in cities (Karachi, Peshawar, Faisalabad, Multan and Quetta). Almost 70% of adult males and females have completed school: 97% of children attend primary schools, 68% of secondary schools students complete and 50% of them finish lower secondary schools.

Pakistan’s national identity, based upon its rich historical background, is closely connected to religious values and traditions cherished by majority of citizens. Thus, many aspects of life in Pakistan are influenced by strong feeling of Islamic consciousness, expressed in various forms of festivities and rituals. For example, religious festivals celebrate the arrival and return of spring, summer solstice, Eid ul Fitr and other events. Muslim belief is represented by strict dress code and a distinctive set of taboos and customs to be followed in public places. Since 1979, there has been growing interest among youth to express their opinion on political issues and to express their opinions during elections.

Military Force

Pakistan possesses large nuclear weapons (NWS) and conventional arms (CASA) by virtue of its status as a nonaligned country. As a consequence, the international community regards Pakistan as states with deep strategic importance. Nevertheless, in practice, Pakistan does not possess NWS and CASA; moreover, their maintenance implies huge financial and human resources. A number of civilian deaths occur in situations involving use of dangerous nuclear weapon or firing of harmful ammunition. Such incidents demonstrate that despite these facts, the government does not possess adequate weapons of deterrence for immediate retaliation, except with respect to limited level of war games. There are no indications that the government has sufficient capability to prevent future nuclear attacks (for example, in Iraq, North Korea and South Sudan). Military forces may respond to hostile threats and protect themselves within country borders, but cannot carry out complex exercises against enemy bases located in neighboring countries. Furthermore, recent reports indicate that Pakistan’s armed forces, along with numerous police and paramilitary groups have suffered considerable casualties in operations against militant organizations. Consequently, international community takes measures aimed at limiting militarized activities in the region, but this has led to greater reliance on foreign intervention and, hence, to military support for certain governments.

Economic System

Pakistan was the pioneer member of GATT agreement concerning free trade. Until now, it continues to follow its own path to enter WTO membership. Its participation in International Monetary Fund (IMF) started in April 1988, when the IMF agreed to extend credit facilities to the country to cover five years. Under these conditions, the Central Bank of Pakistan could not obtain loans from private financial institutions; instead, IMF had to provide funds to meet short-term financing requirements. By 2000, the bank owed USD $40 billion. At the same time, the government had borrowed more than USD $80 billion, leaving few opportunities for investment and export growth. Moreover, oil revenues declined, and the debt, accumulated in fiscal year 1994, grew to nearly 100 percent. To cope with increasing costs and difficulties, the government began implementing reforms, leading to significant shift of focus from agriculture to industry and services sector. Today, Pakistan ranks first among developing countries in terms of per capita production of natural gas, coal and petroleum products. Nonetheless, the major part of exports to China, India, EU, Russia and Japan is made up by imports; therefore, exchange rate between local currency and United States dollar is relatively low. This imbalance makes some companies reluctant to invest in Pakistan. The lack of effective and efficient banking system can hinder business development. Besides, a weak institutional framework and inefficient management of financial assets create a favorable environment for corruption and misuse of public resources. In particular, the absence of central database and databases that would help track the movement of money abroad, as well as poor accounting practices, contribute to the problem of tax evasion. Finally, due to slow economic recovery after the crisis of 1991, Pakistan has faced multiple recessions. Hence, the economic stability of Pakistan depends on the governmental policies and regulations, as well as investments, which can stimulate economic growth. Recently, positive indicators of economic growth in Pakistan include decrease in poverty rate from about 18.4% to 13.8% and improvement of living standards and the availability of basic services.

The abovementioned figures give us a glimpse of trends in Pakistani economy. Yet, in reality there is a mismatch between official data and real indicators. According to Global Firearm Prices Index (GFPI), prices of firearms rose approximately 20% from June 1999 to March 2000, while prices were falling gradually. If this trend remains unchanged, in the next five years the annual pace of inflation could reach 33%. Unfortunately, most analysts agree on the forecast of 17% inflation. Indeed, inflation is one of the key determiners of confidence in Pakistan’s economy. Therefore, it is vital to assess the risks of hyperinflation and maintain appropriate macroeconomic policy stance in order to achieve desirable outcomes. Although these data suggest that price rises in the near future are likely to be temporary, they do not change our assessment that, in spite of moderate nominal GDP growth, real income growth will remain a challenge to maintain stability in Pakistan’s monetary system.