Head of PPP Media Cell
The Election Commission of Pakistan’s decision to hold elections again in Daska, NA-75, on March 26, is a damming indictment of fraudulent election clearly implying the local administration was hand in glove. Suspension of the middle level officials as per directions of the ECP is good omen inferring no one may evade justice no matter how highly they may be placed. Local administration was seemingly pressurised to ensure the desired outcome of the elections in favour of the candidate. The compliance of the instructions was so ridiculous and ham-fisted that left no room even for cherry picking conjectures. The method in madness was clearly missing. It was impossible to believe that such kind of fabrication could be contemplated at the local level administration without the nod from the higher echelon of the provincial administrative set-up. The aftermaths of the elections, particularly the ECP decision to hold election again in NA-75, seemed to have pushed the government on the knife’s edge may be shredded into embarrassment of appalling proportion. The Opposition was fully prepared to settle the scores that had been facing the ferocious witch-hunting under the garb of controversial accountability since 2018.
The subjected elections had put the government evidently on the back foot. It had undoubtedly solidified the entrenched perception of rigged elections held in 2018, the main plank of the PDM protest movement against the incumbent government. The press release of the ECP on the Election Day pronouncing the ‘falsification’ of elections results was indeed daring and appreciable verdict. It was totally in accordance with the constitutional powers the ECP was empowered with. The whole Punjab administration was evidently on its knees with guilty verdict echoing from all directions. The directions of the Commission to take action against the officials who failed to perform their duties might be need of the hour that was badly needed to protect the sanctity of the electoral process. The disciplinary action might set the tone for holding fair, free and impartial elections in the future.
The ECP may, therefore, conduct thorough investigations to dig out the whole truth for the same reason. The culprits should be brought to justice without fear and favour for hatching the conspiracy destined to erode the legitimacy of the elections. This may be deemed as a non-compoundable offence and dealt with iron-hand as per law. The perpetrators must not go scot free. The conspirators should be exposed and punished to make them example out of this to deter the repetition of such crime against the free choice of the people.
The Daska election mishandling may kick more dust in the face of the state institutions that had been on the spotlight since 2018 elections resulting in foisting of the PTI government upon the people of Pakistan. No surprise, the system is not delivering. The unraveling of the government in providing relief to the people has indeed brought back the legitimacy issue with intensity triggering the spat in the context of rigged elections. The international media and the credible human rights organisation of the country, in their reports, had long ago discounted the 2018 elections devoid of fairness and impartiality. They had underlined the tactics used to manipulate the elections by the state apparatus. The petty tactics revolved around forced defections, selective accountability of the political rivals, launching of extremists groups in the mainstream politics including stifling of media.
The New York Times, in its edition of July 18, 2018, had comprehensively summarised the elections of 2018 in the following words, ‘By all accounts his (IK) victory was far from fair. Human rights groups, academia, western diplomats and political analysts have said that Mr. Khan’s political rivals were systematically targeted in the months before the elections helping him to win.’ Human Rights Commission of Pakistan maintained in its report that the elections had already been manipulated. The narrative of ‘selected government’ had indeed assumed the pinnacle of notoriety both within and outside the country. The full-throated assertions encompassing political engineering, manipulation, rigged elections, covert and overt support to ‘King Party,” political crutches, hybrid system, had been swaying across the board with political temperature continued to sizzling without a sign of simmering.
It seems ‘the hybrid system’ may be falling apart under its own weight sooner than later. Its downward spiral is in-built attributed to the want of legitimacy that is the fundamentally the reward of fair, free and impartial elections reflecting the choice of the people and not of the institution. The message was loud and clear after the recently held by-elections indicating the people’s patience had worn thin. Government’s leadership’s misplaced desperation to rescue itself from the people’s vengeance was evident when it ineptly tried to rig elections in Daska by applying third degree tactics of votes stuffing and votes stealing during the six mysterious hours of election night.
The disappeared staff could not be contacted by the ECP despite repeated attempts to find out as what had happened to them. The ECP chairman could not succeed in contacting the top officials of the Punjab government either suggesting something unholy was in the offing. The re-appearance of the ECP staff in quick succession after the expiry of six hours, with the ready-made excuse of fog, was hardly convincing in the face of irrefutable circumstantial evidences. The cock and bull story was obviously so much self-contradictory that the ECP threw it in the dustbin.
PPP Chairman Bilawal Bhutto, in his presser in Lahore last week, was spot on when he condemned the outrageous move of the ruling party to rig elections purporting living up to its disrepute. ‘It had indeed backfired as the people were made so much aware of the problems of the day-to-day life by the persistent and vigorous campaign of the PDM holding the government solely responsible for their woes with no hope of turnaround in the foreseeable future. Their problems could only be addressed by the duly elected representatives of the people not by those who have been carrying the burden of the fake mandate. He described the success of PDM as the ‘success of democracy’.
The chairman extended his deep gratitude to the PDM parties for nominating Syed Yusuf Raza Gilani as the Senate candidate from Islamabad. It had surely created ripples in the rank and file of PTI. It was an excellent choice because during his premiership he had incredibly nurtured very good working relations with the both sides of isle as he was always available in the House to respond to the questions of the parliamentarians. His tenure as the leader of the House was undoubtedly beacon light of the country’s democracy. There was not a single political prisoner, media was free in the real sense, the judiciary was ambitiously independent and the Parliament was the gravity of center of the country’s politics.
The historic 18th Amendment in the Constitution to restore the federal and parliamentary character of the 1973 Constitution along with 7th National Finance Award, were made possible with political consensus. These monumental amendments resolving the long standing issues of provincial autonomy and financial autonomy spoke volumes of the widely respected leadership of the then prime minister. He is going to be the formidable Senate candidate from Islamabad with excellent prospects of winning the seat, the chairman expressed his confidence. His winning the Senate seat may prove the last straw to break the back of the camel.
The PPP chairman was candid when he asserted that the country would prosper and progress only when all the institutions undertake their responsibilities within the ambit of the Constitution. Undoubtedly, trespassing of the domain of other institutions not only creates confusion but also unleash a race of competition among the state institutions for the supremacy that too at the expense of the functioning of the democracy. Its dynamics eventually overtake it with predictable horrendous consequences. The history of government and politics of this country is filled with such awful phases pushing the country in periodic disarrays.
General Ayub Khan abrogated the constitution of 1956, eroding the basis of national unity between East Pakistan and West Pakistan, leading to the dismemberment of the country. General Ziaul Haq’s dictatorship bequeathed the heart-wrenching legacies of communalism, sectarianism, militancy, bigotry including gun and drug culture. General Musharraf’s dictatorship brought the Afghan war into the country that had been taking heavy toll both in terms of blood and treasure. Supreme Court in its historic judgment has aptly described the successive national tragedies in these words, “The principle of trichotomy of power has been trampled upon with contempt. We have come to this unfortunate pass, in most part, because of the repeated and direct manipulation by the undemocratic forces”. The one of the arms of the government that tends to grab the space of the other institutions is indeed perfidiously on the trajectory to unleash hell for the country under the garb of good intentions.
Chairman Bilawal Bhutto struck the right chord when he stated if the Establishment remained neutral, it would be welcomed. If it does not, it will be criticised’. He time and again underscored the indispensability of the state institutions to function within the ambit of the Constitution because without the adherence to the principle of the trichotomy of power the dream of overall development will remain a distant cry. PPP leader Syed Khurshid Shah poured out his bleeding-heart when he observed about a year ago ‘why Pakistan is becoming weaker and weaker with the passage of time’. The nucleus of his observation was the repeated disruptions in the political process inflicted by the democratic those were responsible for weakening the federation and the country.
muhammadshaheedi@yahoo.com
