Carl Gershman, President of the National Endowment for Democracy, has said that spotlight of global democratic experience is on Pakistan today because there is an opportunity for democratic growth by virtue of the situation being created. Speaking at a roundtable “Challenges and Chances for Democracy in Pakistan”, arranged by the Centre for Civic Education, he said that Pakistan stood at a critical moment with transition and chaos as two possible outcomes which would have a global effect.  
 

“The dynamics of war on terror are unfortunately not healthy for development of democracy,” Carl Gershman opined while acknowledging the strong prospect for democracy in Pakistan in the wake of lawyers, students, journalists and teachers struggle for rule of law and constitutionalism. Carl Gershman said that political growth can only take place in culture of democracy.  
 

Other speakers at the roundtable shared following views. Lt. Gen. (retired) Talat Masood said that due to historical, political, economic and geo-strategic considerations the military has been a very dominant institution in Pakistan. He said it is very difficult for the military to get out of politics. He said military is a dominating institution because democratic pillars like independent judiciary and strong and democratic political parties are missing. The military dominance has been beneficial in some areas, but detrimental to the growth of other state institutions. This is situation also not in the interest of the military even. He said the NGOs, students and lawyers are struggling to build a new Pakistan. The upcoming elections are an opportunity to realize this dream of new Pakistan, he added. Talat Masood said that the war on terror is responsible for impeding democracy in Pakistan. He said extremism and terrorism is direct result of lack of democracy and he added that no war can be won without support of the people.  
 

Dr. Inayatullah, president, Council of Social Sciences said that continuous crackdown on political parties and political leaders have weakened democratic culture. Politicians faced exile and execution and the most brilliant of them was hanged. Athar Minallah, a leader of the lawyers’ movement, said democracy is based on the will of the people. He said Pakistan was created as a welfare state but has been converted into a security state. For stable democracy an independent judiciary is essential, he added. As long as there is no independent judiciary, elections will be farce and will be rigged.  
 

Mazhar Abbass, Secretary General of Pakistan Federal Union of Journalists, said that in Pakistan both elected and unelected regimes put pressures on media. The print media was responsible for exposing corruption of democratic, non-democratic governments alike. He said journalists in Pakistan have paid a heavy price for writing the truth. He said 25 journalists have been killed in the line of duty and in the case of Hayatullah Khan his entire family has been targeted as his brother and wife were murdered. He said after the imposition of emergency media is under constant pressure and TV channels on air today are under complete control of the government. Editorial content is under scrutiny and PFUJ has been implicated in a case on the pretext that in a protest camp, an anti-military pamphlet was distributed by a civil society organization.  
 

Zafarullah Khan, executive director of the CCE-Pakistan, said that undiluted democracy and rule of law are the only ways forward. He said the chances for democracy are great as people are yearning for it and all the military rulers finally had to revert back to some form of democracy. Prof. Khwaja Masud, Mehboob Sada, Aniq Zafar and others also spoke on the occasion. Mr. Brian Joseph, NED director for Asia, was also present on the occasion.