Rallies, corner meetings and election offices of liberal parties are being attacked all across the country.
JUBAIL, SAUDI ARABIA: Even if we ignore the entertainment provided by judiciary-appointed returning officers (RO) by applying the Constitution’s Articles 62-63 while interviewing potential candidates for national and provincial assemblies, there are a few serious issues which are going to mar the credibility of upcoming elections. The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) announced that no candidate will be allowed to seek votes in the name of religion or sect. But nullifying its own rules, the ECP allowed all religious and sectarian parties, whose business only runs on religious/sectarian disharmony, to participate in the election process. On top of this, it has now been reported that at least 55 candidates from Punjab, who belong to 10 different sectarian groups, would be contesting the elections. All this is happening despite the fact that their names are listed in the Fourth Schedule of Anti-Terrorist Act 1997 for alleged involvement in terrorist activities. The ECP and the ROs simply failed to stop processing of their candidacy and are now blaming each other for this grave failure. We shall now get ready to welcome a number of people involved in instigating sectarian disharmony to officially and legally run the country during next five years. Their counterparts in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa are not far behind when it comes to achieving the same goal in their own way. The Taliban have been threatening for months to disrupt the election campaign of liberal parties and now they are out implementing their pledge. Rallies, corner meetings and election offices of liberal parties are being attacked all across the country. On the other hand, rallies of right-wing, religio-political parties are going on with full force without any fear or intimidation.
It is horrible to note that some leaders of right-wing parties are justifying these attacks as a reaction by the Taliban and are painting them as the aggrieved party. Apparently, there is a concerted effort to keep the liberals out of the election campaign. This is a sorry state of affairs wherein religious hardliners are going to take over Pakistan.
Masood Khan
Published in The Express Tribune, April 27th, 2013.
