Bloody build-up to vote

At least 166 deaths have occurred in three horrific attacks on canvassing campaigns before the General Elections 2018

At least 166 deaths, including those of two prominent election candidates, in three horrific attacks on canvassing campaigns tell the tale of a bloody-up to the general election in the country, which is coming up just days later, on July 25. One of the attacks, in Mastung, alone sent 149 breathing beings into eternal slumber, turning out to be one of the deadliest attacks in the country’s history. That clearly speaks of the failure of the caretaker governments in provinces and at the Centre to provide security to members and leaders of the various political parties as well as their supporters and the public attending their rallies. Politicians, meanwhile, deserve a pat on the back for the bravado they have put up despite the serious threats to their lives, of which they have been warned repeatedly by the National Counter Terrorism Authority (Nacta). Party heads, in particular, have been carrying on with their election campaigns undeterred and undaunted.

The situation is not much different from the last time, ie, the 2013 election, when suicide attackers, gunmen and bombers were out to unleash death and destruction. Election candidates and rallies were targeted at will by militants whose main aim was to strike fear in the hearts of the people of a country that was to witness its first transfer of power from one democratic government — which had completed its term — to another one, and cause political turmoil thereby. So grave was the situation that some of the leading secular political parties had had to eschew campaigning in public.

This shows the lack of achievement to control even the anticipated election violence, in a period of no less than five years. And as caretaker Prime Minister Justice (retd) Nasirul Mulk, while chairing a meeting at the Governor’s House in Lahore, urged the Punjab government to take special care of the safety and security of the political leadership, and caretaker Chief Minister of Punjab Dr Hasan Askari assuring of his best efforts, one can only pray that the election move past us without further bloodshed.

Published in The Express Tribune, July 21^st, 2018.

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