Was the Charter of Democracy Meant for Democratic Stability, or for the Continuation of Political Dynasties of Two Parties Only?

Abstract

The article explores the political moves of two-mainstream political parties e.g., PPP and PML-N during 2022 in the purview of ‘Charter of Democracy’. Both parties mutually agreed to curtail the usurpers’ interference in the future political spectrum. The accord was signed against the interference of non-political forces in Pakistan since last Seven decades. The article mainly focuses on two questions. At first, PTI was an emergent political force so why did the PML-N and the PPP dismantle the elected government of PTI during April 2022? As per the spirit of the CoD, both were committed to stabilize democracy against the non-political force. Therefore, they showed complete intolerance towards PTI, which is a third emergent force on the political horizon of Pakistan. This situation created a second question, are PPP and PML-N not willing to share political power with any of the third political force? The author explains, how did they formed an alliance during PTI reign to dismantle it. The paper also works on the assumption that both political parties signed the said accord of mutual trust to retain political power within themselves. It is appeared that the said accord was aimed to strengthen their political powers instead of restoration of democratic culture in Pakistan. In this context, a scholarly review of the CoD is needed to ascertain its true implications. It is concluded that PPP and PML-N are unwilling to share the regime with any of the third emerging political forces. Furthermore, both parties’ political decisions during 2018-2022 went against the vision of their own accord which was aimed to assure the oscillated democracy on stable path.