Democracy and the idea of citizenship is based upon a social contract between the state and the citizens. Pakistan has never had a social contract over the last 77 years and the ubiquitous military establishment’s control over the state means there is little likelihood of any such contract until and unless there is a new political contract.
According to columnist Huma Yusuf, for most Pakistanis “their negotiated expectations extended to their families, tribes, feudal lords. The state never had anything to do with it, and so the state’s failings and excesses now remain irrelevant.”
Yusuf argues that if “a nation’s citizenry cannot agree on the base terms of a social contract among themselves, and the state is not willing to participate in contracts with all its citizens, then fragmentation is inevitable. We must halt this terrifying trajectory. The state must renegotiate its social contract with Pakistani citizens, and they, in turn, must collectively seek an equal and inclusive contract among them.”
