Flying squads of Imran & Nawaz bewildering many pundits

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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.