Democracy in Pakistan: Headlines vs Trend-lines

With the country's parliament completing its second term since 2008, is Pakistan truly on the road to democracy? How do the headlines compare with the trend-lines? Are there any significant potholes in this road to democracy? Are the persistent negative headlines justified? Do oft-repeated dire forecasts about Pakistani state's survivability make sense?

Do Pakistani political party leaders practice democracy within their own parties? What accounts for attempts by the political party leaders and candidates to resist full financial and other disclosures? Why did they try to escape accountability by passing Election Act 2017?

Who are the "electables"? Why are political parties trying to recruit them to run as their candidates in the coming general elections scheduled for July 25, 2018? Can such "electables" bring about much needed reforms in the political parties? What are the downsides of putting up electables in terms of widening political participation and voter turnout?

Viewpoint From Overseas host Misbah Azam discusses these questions with Sabahat Ashraf and Riaz Haq (www.riazhaq.com)


https://youtu.be/Tx8hKH0Ae8U





Related Links:

Haq's Musings

South Asia Investor Review

Pakistan Elections Act 2017

US DoD 1999 Forecast: "Pakistan Disappears By 2015"

Democracy's Disappointing Report Card

Nawaz Sharif's Report Card 2013-18

CPEC Transforming Pakistan's Least Developed Regions

Pakistan: The Other 99% of the Pakistan Story

How Pakistan's Corrupt Elite Siphon Off Public Funds

Bumper Crops and Soaring Credit Drive Tractor Sales

Panama Leaks

How West Enables Corruption in Developing Countries

Declining Terror Toll in Pakistan

Riaz Haq's YouTube Channel

Comments

Riaz Haq said…
Bill Clinton: "The trend lines are better than the headlines." —President
@BillClinton
http://live.clintonglobalinitiative.org #CGI2016

“Follow the trend lines, not the headlines," said President Clinton.

Good news about what is going right in the world is hard sell today.
But look at the trend lines; more than a billion people have been lifted out of extreme poverty since 1990. We have dramatically reduced people dying of tuberculosis and malaria on all continents. Infant mortality is going down.

https://youtu.be/SQZ6JmpFrfs

https://twitter.com/ClintonGlobal/status/778718461539196932?s=20&t=6EdtIchA6cJ6hrX6O2Kr5w


Media headlines

The media once deemed flight, both in air and space, impossible or an act of egotism. Perhaps most infamously, the New York Times predicted that airplanes would take one to ten million years to develop. Merely nine weeks later, the Wright Brothers achieved manned flight. The pathologically cynical always will find a reason to complain.
https://www.nytimes.com/1903/10/09/archives/flying-machines-which-do-not-fly.html
June 10, 2022 at 12:08 PM
Riaz Haq said…
While the majority of people surveyed consume news regularly, 38% said they often or sometimes avoid the news – up from 29% in 2017 – the Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism said in its annual Digital News Report. Around 36% – particularly those under 35 – say that the news lowers their mood.

https://www.reuters.com/business/media-telecom/more-people-are-avoiding-news-trusting-it-less-report-says-2022-06-14/
-------------------

Positive News | Good journalism about good things - Positive News

Positive News is the magazine for good journalism about good things.

When much of the media is full of doom and gloom, instead Positive News is the first media organisation in the world that is dedicated to quality, independent reporting about what’s going right.

We are pioneers of ‘constructive journalism’ – a new approach in the media, which is about rigorous and relevant journalism that is focused on progress, possibility, and solutions. We publish daily online and Positive News magazine is published quarterly in print.

As a magazine and a movement, we are changing the news for good.

https://www.positive.news/
June 15, 2022 at 9:51 AM
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