Electoral anxieties

The Interior Ministry has briefed members of a Senate standing committee on the possibility of ‘fringe elements’

Given the currently volatile nature of politics and political parties in Pakistan, it is entirely understandable that there be concerns in various quarters about the upcoming elections. Some of the concerns are in the realms of wilder conspiracy, but others are very real. The Interior Ministry has briefed members of a Senate standing committee on the possibility of what was described as ‘fringe elements’ seeking to disrupt the campaigns of all parties by mounting attacks on their leaders and other less obvious attempts to subvert the polls or disrupt them. Targets will include political figures and electoral staff. These disruptive elements were said to be both foreign and domestic.

The chairperson of the committee, Senator Rehman Malik, inquired if the reports referred to were ‘confirmed or just apprehensions’ to which the Interior Ministry representative reluctantly replied that he was unable to share details in an open forum — suggesting that there was actionable intelligence. The chairperson suggested that the Interior Ministry update the Election Commission of Pakistan and that the ECP could then brief the committee in camera, his concern particularly being that ‘foreign elements’ were possibly at work.

Such concerns have to be taken seriously if for no other reason than there are international precedents for such possibilities, most recently allegations of Russian interventions in the last American presidential elections. They are as yet definitively proven, but there is mounting evidence. India has long meddled in the affairs of Balochistan; and continues to do so. Allegations that the USA wishes to sow electoral discord in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa need to be treated with considerable caution but cannot be entirely discounted. Various terrorist groups are no lovers of democratic process either and though terrorism has receded it is not dead, and cellular infrastructures remain. In some urban areas, Karachi in particular, it is not impossible to imagine that powerful criminal elements would wish to influence the polls. Some of this is going to be smoke and mirrors — but some not and the polls are vulnerable to disruption. A warning to be heeded. 

Published in The Express Tribune, June 22^nd, 2018.

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