Opinion Pakistan has no right to comment on Indian democratic process

Pakistan Foreign Office’s statement read: “Mr Sartaj Aziz strongly condemned the brutal killing of 8 youths, including a 12th grade student by Indian forces (Sunday) when they opened fire on ‘peaceful demonstrators protesting against the sham Indian parliamentary elections”. It added that the “abysmally low” voter turnout, was a “tangible indication” that Hurriyat leadership and the people of Jammu and Kashmir have categorically rejected the “sham elections”.

It is strange that with a poor record of running a democratic government with repeated failures to abide by their constitution, Pakistan seems entitled to comment on Indian democratic practices. Pakistan has had three coups in the past and its own failed attempts at being a democracy are something that shows it is in no position to comment on Indian democratic processes. Pakistan’s first constitution was written in 1956 but it was abrogated in 1958 after General Ayub Khan’s coup d’etat. The second constitution was approved in 1962 which allowed supreme powers to the President. It abolished Prime Minister’s office and gave institutional authority to the military to intervene in matters of governance. That constitution was suspended in 1969 and scrapped completely in 1972.

In 1973, 26 years after its independence, Pakistan wrote its first constitution that was drafted and formulated by elected representatives. That was the closest to a democracy Pakistan had ever had in the past. Another coup followed in 1977 and the constitution was suspended but brought back with an amendment which again shifted parliamentary powers to the president. Another amendment in 2004 dissolved the powers further and any semblance of a parliamentary democracy returned to Pakistan only in 2010.

Further, till date, its government has been controlled largely by General Headquarters, Rawalpindi, base of Pakistan’s higher military establishment and its Inter-Services Intelligence. It has resorted to proxy war with India and promoted violence in its own country in places like Northwest Frontier Province, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa region and Balochistan to name a few.

Pakistan-sponsored militancy has tried to derail the electoral process in Kashmir on many occasions. But, the violence, even if it emerges in any other part of India during elections, is clamped down as it needs to. Pakistan foreign office’s statement that India denies fundamental rights to the people of India is a blatant meddling into Indian affairs with unfounded allegations. The low voter turnout in the elections, though, could understandably be in solidarity to the hundreds of people injured in Kashmir last year during the curfew months. Separatist boycotts also create a sense of fear in the public. In hindsight, Jammu and Kashmir saw the highest voter turnout in 25 years when Assembly polls took place in 2014. A huge turnout was seen in Lok Sabha polls as well. So, this elections, seems at best a situational aberration and Pakistan’s claims seem only aimed at inciting unrest among Kashmiris.