A number of assumptions here I see.
1. Its not so much that the system fails to deliver as its that people and institutions fail in patience.
2. Our obligations to families and individual institutions matter more to us than the rights and interests of Pakistan.
3. Nobody lives in a vacuum. The problems of governance have an effect on us all.
4. Your observation about democracy somehow being applied in perfection while transitioning between absolute power (kingship) to people power fails when one looks at Latin America. All those countries struggled with dictatorships and army rule. Not one of them is a dictatorship now. They went through painful transition, and we would be deluding ourselves if we think that it should not be painful for us. We are not special in anyway that laws of social and political evolution should not apply to us. There is absolutely no substitute to determined effort to make it work.
NS of yester-years was an immature dramabaz and hungama politician. What happened? He is still the same person with the same failings, but seems to have learned some lessons about hungama-bazi and instability of confrontation. Do notice the glacial calm with which he has played his hand in this crisis. Had he not matured, we would have seen blood on the streets and a military wrap-up.
BB and NS had both learned that their mutual enmity brought so much instability that petty politicians black-mailed them both. That is why they agreed on constitutional amendments that limited the ability of MNAs and MPAs to blackmail leaders. They decided not to sacrifice system to open the door to army rule.
IK does not realize all this. He has not experienced any of it. He knows, but willfully ignores. This is what we have seen so far in this whole drama.
I have absolutely no problem with dynastic rule, as long as we are able to go through at least 2-3 more regular election cycles. Once a semblance of democratic institutional framework is established, we can then take a stand. The system would be stable enough and provide enough choices for us to go through another shake-up and reforms.
First things first! We need to establish whether we should resign ourselves to an unstable mix-up and successive cycles of inept civilian rule followed by martial law. If this fills you with abhorrence, like it fills me, then you have to agree to give an imperfect democracy a chance and put aside the efficiency argument and instead back the legitimacy argument. Crying about efficiency (corruption, merit, development) to sacrifice legitimacy is the direct route to Martial Law. And this always comes back to bite us in the rear.
We've lost half the country because our parents and grand parents did not understand the value of 1956 constitution. Pakistan broke the day that constitution was abrogated. The efficiency gains made until 1971 did not save us from the inevitable collapse. With 1973 constitution, so far it is a similar story. Until and unless we back the legitimacy or our constitution, efficiency gains will remain temporary and ephemeral.
Does anyone care what people in Baluchistan, Sindh, Southern Punjab, and Gilgit are thinking about a largely Punjabi & Pashtun drama in Islamabad? Would they not resent all this? Does GT Rd get to decide fate of Paksitan's politics? With all this hungama, we are already alienating the South and the North. The very same thing happened in 1965 too. Our Bengali brothers felt cheated by decision makers who resided in West Pakistan and acted as West Pakistanis, rather than United Pakistanis.
I can not be any more clear about this. I have given examples, laid out arguments, and referenced History. If still someone does NOT 'get' it, what can one do?
