DEMOCRATIC TRANSFORMATION IN SOUTH ASIA: EMERGING TRENDS A Dissertation submitted to the Central University of Punjab For the award of Master of Philosophy In Centre for South and Central Asian Studies By Mudasir Gulam Supervisor Dr. Bawa Singh (Assistant Professor) Centre for South and Central Asian Studies School of Global Relations Central University of Punjab, Bathinda 2014 July DECLARATION I hereby declare that the work embodied in this dissertation entitled “DEMOCRATIC TRANSFORMATION IN SOUTH ASIA: EMERGING TRENDS ” has been prepared by me under the guidance of Dr. Bawa Singh, Assistant Professor, Centre for South and Central Asian Studies, School of Global Relations, Central University of Punjab. No part of this dissertation has formed the basis for the award of any degree or fellowship previously. Mudasir Gulam Centre for South and Central Asian Studies School of Global Relations Central University of Punjab Bathinda -151001. Date: ii CERTIFICATE I certify that the work entitled “DEMOCRATIC TRANSFORMATION IN SOUTH ASIA: EMERGING TRENDS” was carried out by Mr. Mudasir Gulam for the award of M.Phil. Degree under my supervision and guidance at the Centre for South & Central Asian Studies, School of Global Relations, Central University of Punjab, Bathinda. Dr. Bawa Singh Assistant Professor Centre for South and Central Asian Studies School of Global Relations Central University of Punjab Bathinda-151001 Date: iii ABSTRACT DEMOCRATIC TRANSFORMATION IN SOUTH ASIA: EMERGING TRENDS Name of student: Mudasir Gulam Registration Number: CUPB/MPh-PhD/SGR/SCA/2012-2013/07 Degree for which submitted: Master of Philosophy (M. Phil) Name of supervisor: Assistant Professor Dr. Bawa Singh Centre: Centre for South and Central Asian Studies School of Studies: School of Global Relations Key words Democratic transition, Constituent Assembly, South Asia, Political Parties, Monarchy, Authoritarianism, Military Rule. The South Asian region has experienced authoritarian and autocratic rule since its inception. India is the only country in South Asia to become a successful democratic country after independence. Sri Lanka has also adopted the similar model with presidential type of government. While the other countries of the region like Pakistan, Bangladesh, Nepal and Bhutan have experienced ups and downs in their political systems. Pakistan after attaining its independence witnessed a rapid erosion of hopes to move the new nation to a democracy. The general elections held on 11 May, 2013 in Pakistan brought the first transition between civilian governments in a country which clearly shows the transformation of democracy in the country. Bangladesh came into existence in 1971 and since then many pro- democracy movements were observed in the country. These movements led to the multi- party democracy since 1991 till late 2006. It is evident that after 2009 the country has moved towards marginal political stability in its political affairs. Nepal, a kingdom, had monarchy which kept on flip-flopping between absolute and constitutional monarchy and vice-versa for many years. Democratic regimes proved to be short lived and unstable. The Nepalese movement in 2007 created a history in the country and moved ahead towards the consolidation of the democracy and General Election 2008 was the first step towards democratic transition. This way the Constitutional Republic was adopted in Nepal with the iv collapse of monarchy rule. Bhutan has transitioned from an absolute monarchy to a multi-party democracy. The growth of Bhutanese democracy has been marked since 1950s. The first democratic elections in Bhutan began in 2007, and all levels of government had been democratically elected by 2011. All this explains the transformation from an absolute monarchy to democracy in the Kingdom of Bhutan. It is now clear that the South Asian region has experienced a democratic resurgence in the recent past. All the South Asian countries now have a democratic system but this transition to democracy is still fragile and susceptible. Mudasir Gulam Dr. Bawa Singh (Assistant Professor) v ACKNOWLEDGEMENT All with the blessings of Almighty Allah, the most beneficial, benevolent and merciful, I am able to fulfil this challenging task. I hereby take this opportunity to convey my deep sense of gratitude and indebtedness to my visionary and praise- worthy supervisor Dr. Bawa Singh, Assistant Professor, School for Global Relations, Centre for South and Central Asian Studies, Central University of Punjab, Bathinda for paving the way for me and giving inspirations, courage and energy for successful completion of my dissertation. In terms of my academic activities, no one has played a greater part than him and he every minute supported me for the research work. I consider myself fortune enough to have his supervision. I am highly thankful for his skilful guidance and motivation he provides me throughout the course of this work. Without him this dissertation would not have been possible I am also most grateful to the faculty members of the Centre namely Assistant Professor Dr. V.J. Varghese, Assistant Professor Dr. Nishtha Kaushiki, and Assistant Professor Dr. Kiran K. Singh for their kind encouragement and support during the course of present work. I would like to express my sincere gratitude to my Parents (Ghulam Mohamad Rather & Hafiza Begum) for their tremendously important role in my educational path. I would also like to thank my elder brother Mr, Farooq Ahmad for everything he taught me. To him I am greatly indebted. My sincere thanks goes to Hilal Ramzan, Sameer Ahmad, Raoof Najar, Rizwan Lone, Parvez Ahmad, Mohammad Hussain, Mansoor Lone, Mohammad Sadiq, Ghulam Mohiudin and Sheetal Meenia for their support. I thank to my colleagues Manpreet Brar, Kumari Nidhi, Amandeep Kaur, and Fayaz Ahmad for their cheering support and guidance. Finally, I would also like to thank all the near and dear ones for their cheery and appreciated assistance during my M. Phil research period. Mudasir Gulam vi TABLE OF CONTENTS Sr. No. Content Page Number 1 (Chapter-1) Introduction 1-10 (Chapter-2) 2 Review of Literature 11-18 (Chapter-3) 3 Democratic Experience in South Asia: Historical 19-40 Moorings (Chapter-4) 4 Problems and Prospects of Democratic Transformation: 41-75 Contextualising Imperatives (Chapter-5) 5 Democratic Transition in South Asia: Emerging Trends 76-102 (Chapter-6) 6 Conclusion and Recommendations 103-107 7 References 108-118 vii LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS Sr. No. Full form Abbreviation 1 Aam Admi Party AAP 2 Awami League AL 3 Bangladesh Krishak Sramik Awami League BAKSAL 4 Bhutan Centre for Media and Democracy BCMD 5 Bangladesh National Party BNP 6 Constituent Assembly CA 7 Civil Society Organisation CSO 8 Care Taker Government CTG 9 Druk Chirwang Tshogpa DCT 10 Election Commission EC 11 Election Commission of Pakistan ECP 12 European Union EU 13 Human Development Index HDI 14 Indian National Congress INC 15 Legal Framework Order LFO 16 Liberation Tigres of Tamil Elam LTTE 17 Members of Parliament MPs 18 Nepali Congress NC 19 Non-Governmental Organisation NGO 20 Official Development Assistance ODA 21 Pakistan People’s Party PPP 22 Provincial Constitutional Order PCO 23 People’s Democratic Party PDP 24 Pakistan Muslim League PML viii 25 Right to Information RTI 26 Royal Nepal Army RNA 27 Sri Lankan Freedom Party SLFP 28 Unified Communist Party of Nepal UCPN 29 United Nations UN 30 United Left Front ULF 31 United National Party UNP 32 Unified-Marxist-Leninist UML 33 United National Democratic Fund UNDEF 34 United National Development Programme UNDP ix CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION Great thinkers of the Enlightenment, such as Rousseau and Kant ostracized democracy because it put the legislative and executive powers in the same hands and they feared it would lead only to popular despotism, civil war and a breakdown of society, and yet they become strong advocates of democracy (Urbinati, 2006). Today, it is often seen as the only legitimate way of running a country, even in regions and states generally labelled autocratic. Irony is that, despite its popular form of government, still it is not practiced in most of the countries in general and South Asia in particular. Except India and Sri Lanka, rest of the South Asian countries are still not mature enough to adopt democracy. They are half way. Authoritarian and dictatorial regimes have curtailed the liberties of the people, media is under restriction, and judiciary is not enjoying full freedom. People of these countries are loaded with socio-economic problems in such conditions; people are aspiring for democratic transition. But there is a question mark on democracy itself as India and Sri Lanka are democratic countries since their independence but socio-economic problems of these countries are as these are in the non-democratic countries of the region. Large parts of the world seem to consider democracy as the ideal and the only acceptable form of governance in theory if not in practice. Democracy means “rule by people”. It is that system of government in which people elect their rulers by voting them in an election (Ober, 2007). The Greeks are regarded as the first people in the history of mankind as they were the people who initiated to create states as communities of citizens. During those days every citizen had equal opportunity of having in turn a share in the government. Those were the democratic conditions of Greece at that time. The Athenian democracy from the middle of the fifth century was a remarkable system, unprecedented and unparalleled in world history (Raaflaub et al. , 2008). With the passage of time, democracy has been adopted by many countries of the world and some countries are under the process of transitioning to democratic form of government. 1 Democracy in England has started in the 9 th century. That time it was ruled by Anglo-Saxon tribes. 1 They ruled in consultation with the people. King Alfred formed a Consultative Council, known as the ‘Witenagemot’ (meeting of wise men) which was composed of several, learned men.