A Journey to Disillusionment

"Sherbaz Khan Mazari was about 17 or 18 years old when Pakistan was created, and he says in the book that he was very enthused by the idea of Pakistan. He is a very deeply committed democrat and I think he is probably the most honest politician in the whole of the subcontinent. He thought that Pakistan would have its best opportunity when, after years of military rule, in 1971 Zulfikar Ali Bhutto became effectively the democratic civilian leader of Pakistan. Most of this book looks at how democracy was subverted by those who had captured the state in the name of democracy. There is this disillusionment with the attempt to bring real democracy to Pakistan. Mazari thinks the only solution possible to the problem of Pakistan is democracy, but despairs of securing it when democracy is subverted by democratic politicians themselves. Yes. In South Asia, you cannot have democracy without pluralism. Because Pakistan is a South Asia nation, it has a plurality of languages, of political opinions and a plurality of religious sects. And it is only if you have a celebration of this kind of plurality that you will be able to create a nation out of diversity."