Assessing quality of democracy in Pakistan

To the participants of a discussion at the Institute of Legislative Development and Transparency (Pildat) on "Assessment of the Quality of Democracy in Pakistan" the fact that this government is about to complete its five-year term in office was a milestone in itself. The government likes to ascribe the credit for this achievement to its 'politics of reconciliation'.
Given the chequered history of this country, what constitutes a milestone is uninterrupted march of the democratic process rather than the ruling coalition staying intact. On that score, different players made their respective contribution. The judiciary demonstrated a strong resolve to defend and protect democratic dispensation when it passed its judgement burying the infamous 'doctrine of necessity' forever, standing steadfastly on that resolve in the face of General Musharraf's fresh declaration of 'emergency' - effectively, a mini martial law. With a view to lending stability to the democratic system, the main opposition party, the PML-N, stood behind the government through crucial moments at the risk of earning the sobriquet of "friendly opposition".
And of course, the independent media and civil society played their respective roles to strengthen democracy. It is a measure of advancement in that direction that despite a clash between the executive and the judiciary over NRO implementation, which resulted in disqualification of prime minister Yousuf Raza Gilani, the government came out of the dispute without any bruises. The two state institutions continue to lock horns, but their arguments for contestation are derived from the Constitution. With the passage of time they will surely learn to keep to their constitutional limits.
As for quality assessment, presidential spokesman Farhatullah Babar and other speakers used different measurement criteria. To him, the key criterion was whether or not the federation had weakened while most others based evaluation on the progress of both democratic processes and performance. Babar, of course, claimed the federation is stronger. Indeed, there has been much improvement on processes vis-a-vis relations between the federation and the provinces. The passage of the 18th Amendment gave greater autonomy to the provinces whilst the consensual approval of the National Resource Distribution formula, which replaced the single factor of population with multiple resource distribution criteria, has resolved the major causes of discord between the federation and its units as well as among the units. Yet judged by the government's preferred standard, the federation remains weak. Balochistan has stayed restive and alienated from the federation.
Everywhere issues that influence public assessment of a government's performance are matters of bread and butter, service delivery, and law and order. Over the last five years, prices of essential consumer items have hit the stratosphere. Meanwhile, economic activity has suffered major disruptions because of an unending energy crisis. Countless people have been rendered jobless due to long periods of power and gas outages and resultant business closures. Pakistan Railways, an efficient and cheap mode of passenger and goods transportation, is in a shambles. Several trains have gone off the old routes, the ones still operational do not run on time. Same is the case with the once proud national flag carrier, PIA. And the government has little to show for its efforts to fulfil its basic responsibility of protecting life and property of citizens. Violence is widespread all over the country. That is the view from the perspective of the public - the ultimate judge of a democratic government's performance.