Pakistan’s strangest elections

A report in the local media that Pakistan may finally be rid of Al-Qaeda elements has caused quite a stir among policymakers. The report describes Egyptian President Muhammad Mursi as the principal peace-broker and states that Mursi’s visit to Pakistan last month was focused on fighting terrorism. Despite official quarters maintaining a complete silence, there is a growing feeling within the army that the terror activities have to be curbed because they are taking a heavy toll on the country.
The May 11 parliamentary polls will probably be the strangest of their kind because of some very cogent and powerful reasons. Firstly, the blunders of the Election Commission as it strives to come up to the expectations of its people, followed by limiting the campaigning to just one of the three provinces of the country and thirdly, because of the unceasing bloodshed by the Taleban in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Balochistan and Sindh. Yet, the people are willing to vote in the face of heavy odds while their politicians commit to restoring democracy thereby heralding hope for the future. The credit for this unwavering solidarity for civilian ownership of the country goes to both the electoral body and the public.
Pakistan’s political map is replete with military interventions, which though promising at the start, have invariably ended in disaster. There has always been a fear that the army is not trained for civilian dispensation. It is rightly being acknowledged by critics, historians and analysts that the cornerstone for civilian rule has, for the first time in the checkered history of the country, been laid by the PPP government or President Zardari and that it has drawn strength from the maturity of its politicians. The government’s weakness and incompetence in its five years in power are undeniable, but the opposition preferred to bide their time unwaveringly setting their sights on their goal, even though it was at the cost of their reputation.
Now that terrorism is at its worst with 26 blasts in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KPK), over 40 dead, and both candidates and their electoral offices targeted in Quetta, Karachi and Hyderabad, casting a gloom over the country, and making elections doubtful. Rumor factories, working round the clock, are beginning to churn out conspiracy theories about powerful personalities attempting to block these elections. However, the rumors were quickly countered by quoting examples of the assassination of Benazir Bhutto in December 2007, one of the most powerful figures in Pakistan politics, the wars between Iran and Iraq in the 1980s, and the terror attacks in Afghanistan. In the face of difficult challenges, a people’s will not be deterred from continuing the march to a brighter future.
It is a fact that cities like Quetta, Karachi and those in the northern KPK, have almost halted the election process because of the terrorist activities. Their streets, houses, shops and residential districts have virtually turned into killing fields. In Hyderabad, candidates have been killed by blasts and election offices attacked with loss to lives and property. In Sindh, the cities of Karachi and Hyderabad, the MQM, the Awami National Party and even the PPP, which treats the southern province as its bastion of power, have been victims of naked aggression, forcing them to suspend their electioneering. MQM canceled what was envisaged as one of its biggest shows — a ladies convention right in the heart of its stronghold of Azizabad— and PPP has yet to launch its campaigning. All it has been able to do so far was to have a video conferencing by the party leader, Bilawal Bhutto. The courts have barred Asif Ali Zardari from the elections lest the respected office of the presidency becomes controversial. The rather young and inexperienced Bilawal is therefore forced to shoulder the responsibility. He has been addressing small gatherings of voters from telephone lines, along the pattern set by the exiled MQM leader, Altaf Hussain after the June 1992 military action on his party.
The politicians of smaller provinces are slightly bitter at the unhindered electioneering in Punjab province, which comprises 60 percent of the country’s total population of 180 million. However, leaders in Sindh, Balochistan and KPK have exercised maximum restraint, and although Altaf Hussain has been in the forefront of the protest, the PPP and the ANP leadership is keeping quiet. Nevertheless, they seem united on the complaint that the extreme right parties of Nawaz Sharif, Imran Khan and Jamat-e-Islami have been spared by the terrorists while the secular or progressive forces like MQM, ANP and PPP have been prevented from mobilizing support for their candidates.
Some analysts and the media have suggested that Nawaz Shariff, Imran Khan and Jamat-e-Islami leaders should address meetings in terror-hit provinces to reassure the population there about the country’s unity and to boost their morale as this may cause problems in the future. Despite the unfavorable situation in Pakistan, people still have faith in democracy believing that it is the solution to all their problems.