Badi Soch: Pakistan’s next government
This daily column includes Gateway House’s Badi Soch – big thought – of the day’s foreign policy events. Today’s focus is on the elections and new government in Pakistan.
This daily column includes Gateway House’s Badi Soch – big thought – of the day’s foreign policy events. Today’s focus is on the elections and new government in Pakistan.
Pakistan’s national elections will take place in the backdrop of a troubled economy, severe energy crisis, and frequent terrorist attacks. Can these problems be solved if the next leadership agrees to open its territories for trade and transit purposes between India and Afghanistan?
In the closing remarks of the online debate, titled ‘The civil-military equation in Pakistan,’ Daniel Markey concludes that the question for civilian leaders is not whether they can stave off military rule, but if they can find a way to put their country on a better path for the future.
Gateway House’s Ambassador Neelam Deo, in a debate, titled ‘The civil-military equation in Pakistan has begun to tilt in favour of civilians,’ argues in her closing remarks that Pakistan will need sympathy and support as it confronts the complex choices that the democratisation process continually throws up.
In the second round of the online debate, titled ‘The civil-military equation in Pakistan,’ Daniel Markey argues that although the power equation may not have titled completely in favour of the civilian government, today, the military’s influence in administrative affairs isn’t as strong as it previously was.
Gateway House’s Ambassador Neelam Deo, in a debate, titled ‘The civil-military equation in Pakistan has begun to tilt in favour of civilians,’ argues in her rebuttal that the changes in Pakistan resemble a one-step-forward-and-two-steps-backwards process rather than a move up to the next level.
The national election in Pakistan looks like a game of polarisation, but if democracy is meant to provide some relief and prosperity, all political parties have flopped, bottom up. The field is now wide open, and anything can happen - including a hung parliament.
This daily column includes Gateway House’s Badi soch – big thought – of the day’s foreign policy events. Today’s focus is on the election process, viewed through the Karnataka election in India, and the general elections in Pakistan and Iceland.
With Pakistan geared for a defining general election scheduled for May 11, Council on Foreign Relations' Daniel Markey, in a debate, titled ‘The civil-military equation in Pakistan has begun to tilt in favour of civilians,’ argues for the motion.
With Pakistan geared for a defining general election scheduled for May 11, Gateway House’s Ambassador Neelam Deo in a debate, titled ‘The civil-military equation in Pakistan has begun to tilt in favour of civilians,’ argues against the motion.