A report on the recent 2018 elections, a Lahore constituency reported 58% turnout. That is indeed creditable. Likewise the various reports on the recent elections have reported considerable empowerment and they have contested general seats as against being nominated on the women's quota. All these indicate Pakistan edging slowly but surely and steadily towards the modernity track.
This must be encouraged since it is one of the critical endorsement towards the modernity model enunciated by Daniel Lerner in his study on "Passing of the Traditional Society: Modernizing the Middle East", in 1948. Lerner based his countries which included: Turkey, Egypt, Israel, Lebanon and Syria among others. It is a five-step model which includes urbanization, literacy, empathy, economic participation and finally political participation. He fixed urbanization at 20%, literacy at about the same percentage before the population steps on empathy, economic and political participation.
Modernity picks up after urban population reaches 20%, then literacy also begins to rise and to be effective it must also reach 20% deadline with ease urbanization and literacy percentage the population begins to develop empathy when it begins to answer intelligently the questions as to what he would do if he were to be put in-charge of a situation or of the country. He does not anymore feel startled by the questions and say as to how it could happen. He begins to take for granted that one day he could be in-charge of the whole situation - like "Bachay saqqa" in the traditional Afghan anecdote. This means that the population has reached a stage that it can take effective economic decisions and participate in economic activities. When the populace has passed successfully through all these stages, then it is in a position to undertake political activities and indulge in political decision making.
Thus, political participation is at the apex of the modernity model. This model was assessed at East West Press Institute Seminar at Honolulu in 1965. The participants looked at it in the light of the Indian Experience whose political participation had tended to proceed economic activity, so they took note of this change in the steps of modernization. In view of the Indian experience they felt that the steps were right but the order in which they occur may change according to the situation obtaining in various lands. I had met Daniel Lerner at Honolulu and discussed at length his model and the changes that could occur off and on and I feel that the model is still in place.
For now, coming back to Pakistan. It is coursing in the right direction and at a satisfactory pace. However, it direly needed in banishing terrorism from our extremists and religious parties and till such terrorism is banished once and for all, our political participation would be of no avail since it would lead to the extremist growth like the Islamic State which would use the modern appliances to push Pakistan out of modernity and towards medievalism. What an irony that the misuse of modernity appliance should push Pakistan into medievalism.
During the Lerner's 1958 - 1964 study the Turkish farmers, when asked what they would do if they were made rulers for a while to solve their problems, they responded in astonishment as to how could they conceive of such a role when they were mere farmers and assigned the role to participant rulers to conceive such a role for them and decide what they should do.
In the present set-up, the National Assembly of Pakistan holds 272 seats. Of these the various political parties hold the following number of seats - Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf 118; Pakistan Muslim League-N 64; Pakistan People's Party 43; Muttahida Majlis-i-Amal 11; Muttahida Qaumi Movement-P 6; Grand Democratic Alliance 2; Pakistan Muslim League-Q 4; Balochistan Awami Party 3; Balochistan National Party-M 3; Awami Muslim League 1; Independent 12; Awami National Party 1; Results awaited 2; Election postponed 2. Islamabad registered the highest voter participation at 58%, while the national average was 55.8%.
All this are positive signs for the construction of a "Naya Pakistan" which Imran Khan has pledged to the voters. Unless, Imran Khan turns out to be a Trump at escalating and de-escalating his candidates at will and without much ado, Imran Khan is finally bound to succeed in raising a "Naya Pakistan". May Allah bless his efforts, and may we help him to the bitter end. The Pakistani experiment changes the bars and the benchmarks and the steps to modernism, and from now on economic activities come out of political participation and not otherwise. This is the contribution of Business Recorder to the ongoing debate on "Naya Pakistan".
(The writer is HEC Distinguished National Professor, who has recently co-edited UNESCO'S History of Humanity, vol. VI, and The Jinnah Anthology (2010) and edited In Quest of Jinnah (2007); the only oral history on Pakistan's Founding Father).
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