Flying squads of Imran & Nawaz bewildering many pundits
Free and Fair Elections?
Saeed Minhas
Unknown miscreants and Taliban seem to have earned the blame for
terrorizing MQM and ANP almost out of the current election campaign.
Peoples’ Party has found the safe havens of mini screens and social
media without even holding a single rally with Master Bilawal or any
other leader. Two parties namely, Pakistan Tehrik-e-Insaaf (PTI) and PML
(N), are the only parties holding public rallies, even in KP and FATA
without any fear of an attack from the same forces, besides occupying a
stinging campaign on TV and social media too.
Questions being asked these days by many political observers are
whether these elections will determine a difference between pro and anti
Taliban forces. Will its legitimacy not be questioned because of an
uneven playground?
Whether it is true or not the question holds some ground because no
matter how we look at this phenomenon, it remains a fact that two
parties are hopping around from one political rally to another without
even caring whether they are being blamed, either for having sympathies
for extremists or for having good connections with them.
These elections are so different from any other elections or even any
referendum in the country that for the first time Peoples’ Party,
despite not being banned, is out of the scene. However, on the positive
side we can take some heart from the fact that some rules of the game
have been laid out. No matter how much they are being flouted by almost
all the political parties, at least an effort has been made by the
heavily funded and Supreme Court backed Election Commission of Pakistan.
There have been lots of slips in this entire procedure, not because of
the rules but because of a typical mentally corrupt bureaucracy and
lower judiciary. Other reasons can be lack of cooperation and
coordination amongst various national institutions like SBP, FBR, NAB
and ECP. ECP is also being blamed for many of its discrepancies and
inconsistencies and so are the caretakers for failing to come up with a
workable plan for the conduct of free and fair elections.
According to an independent observer’s report 80 per cent of the
political campaigning is violating the very rules which all of them
agreed to abide by while signing the ECP’s new code of conduct. PML (N)
has been considered as the leading violator of ECP’s purported code of
conduct by the same observers. As usual mudslinging and name calling
remains top of the agenda of political campaigning and leading on this
front is Imran Khan. Though ECP has taken notice of some of the recent
fiery statements of Imran Khan against Sharifs and even those of Sharifs
against President Asif Zardari, no one knows how the ECP will manage to
control this usual election madness. More important is whether these
notices make any difference to the leaders or the final outcome of the
elections.
Another factor which is grabbing the attention of many observers is the
fact that both Nawaz Sharif and Imran Khan have started using the
choppers and cheapest language against each other considering that they
are the only ones left to roam around the country without any threat
from extremists. Details about Nawaz Sharif’s helicopter are that two
Pakistani pilots and an Egyptian technician are operating it. Flying on
the wings of his billionaire friends, Imran Khan seems to be matching
Nawaz League like a proverbial eyeball for an eyeball. Riding in
Jahangir Tareen’s hired chopper, Imran continues to impress the TV
audiences by pulling crowds in Punjab, KP and even FATA. No further
details of the choppers have been provided by any of the parties to the
media while ECP is also just keeping mum on this. But that’s not it; if
Imran has been given a financial cushion by his financial backers then
Nawaz Sharif, despite claiming to have few assets, is showing all his
financial gadgetry by riding in a cavalcade of 15 bullet proof vehicles
donated by none other than the usual suspects of the Pakistani right
wing; i.e. Saudi Kingdom. The gift of foreign government, no matter how
cheap it may sound, is just another open violation of the Pakistani
Election laws. Political Parties Order, 2002 clearly describes this as
follows: “contribution made by members or supporters of any party shall
be duly recorded by the political parties. Any contribution made,
directly or indirectly, by any foreign government, multi-national or
domestically incorporated public or private company, firm, trade or
professional association shall be prohibited and the parties may accept
contributions and donations only from individuals. Any contribution or
donation which is prohibited under this Order shall be confiscated in
favour of the State in the manner as may be prescribed.” Defining the
contribution or donations the same order reads that it includes anything
made in cash, kind, stocks, hospitality, accommodation, transport, fuel
and provision of other such facilities.
“Are Imran or Nawaz behaving any different than other power grabbers?
They are showing off their wealth, distributed party tickets to
influentials, use the same foul language people heard in almost every
election, then what change they want to bring? First it used to be two
parties and now a third one has joined the chorus just to befool the
people” observed Faqir Mohammad, one of the wrinkled local villagers
observing Imran Khan flying above his head in a chopper from Jalalpur in
Punjab. Whether it will be true or not only these leaders can tell but
that feeling was shared by quite a few people in the same rally where
Imran was challenging Sharifs not to amuse many in the dumbfounded
crowd.
Just to add fuel to the fire, Altaf Bhai, President Zardari, Chaudhry
Shujaat and even Asfandyar Wali have all started calling the entire
election process foul. They have all questioned the Election Commission
of Pakistan’s inability to control these violations as well as failing
in providing an even, level playing field to all the contesting parties.
Altaf Bhai has even raised eyebrows by asking the most pressing
question that “only Punjab seems to have elections.” It may sound like a
usual cry from an ally of a recently deposed government which failed to
bring any relief to the people but it is likely to haunt the legitimacy
of the elections in the coming days, observed many pundits.
