Simply making the details of this election rigging public is not enough. Neither is heaping all the blame on the politicians who accepted the money from intelligence agencies. There should be some kind of accountability of those in the military who indulged in these shenanigans so that a clear message is sent to all and sundry that they cannot simply buy an election. This is important, not least because of the sorry record of the military and its intelligence agencies in manipulating the outcome of elections in this country.
At the same time, it is important to know which politicians were the beneficiaries of military largesse. The Islami Jamhoori Ittehad was formed by the establishment with the express purpose of dislodging the PPP and those of its leaders who took military money need to be named and shamed. The 1990 elections were expected to be too close to call, yet this right-wing group somehow managed to get more than twice as many seats as the PPP and its allies. The role played by the establishment in this surprising landslide needs to be investigated. The Supreme Court should also broaden the terms of the Asghar Khan petition and look more deeply into the military’s role, not just in the 1990 elections, but in subsequent elections as well.
Published in The Express Tribune, July 28th, 2012.
COMMENTS (10)
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The forces that succeded in rigging the election then are still active They have created a the issue of NRO swiss account etc to weaken the PPP and are indirectly helped by the judiciary They are afraid of a strong democratic government in case they are held accuntable What they have done is TREASON aginst the state of pakitan and its peoppe , a crime uncompareable to so calld phony swiss case
A pre-planned propaganda against Pakistan Army to malign it in the eyes of Pakistanis. But one should remember that We love our Army to the tooth & nail. They will be bad for someone but they are Excellent to us in everyway. We respect them and we are proud of them. Long live Pakistan. Long Live Pak Army.
Since Supreme Court dug out old graves of NRO, some sort of eye wash will have to be done on this more grave issue. Any how digging out old gaves donot give positive results. Except for earning by lawyers, precious sources are used indiscriminatory including time of judiciary, presecuting agencies.
@observer: {Today you are demanding that the SC looks into the creation of IJI by the ISI.
Tomorrow you would like to do the same with Taliban, LeT , LeJ and the whole cornucopia of Lashkars and Tanzeems.}
I salute your patience and forgiving nature. It takes a truly large hearted person to imply "Let bygones be bygones" inspite of being a witness to the murder , mahem, slaughtering and above all cultivating intolerance / bigotory / stone age fundamentalism / sponsoring hate for minorities etc. One can forget the killings over time, but the biggest and perhaps irretriveable damage has been the warped mindset and tearing of social fabric. This may take a couple of generations to rectify if we start now.
@observer:
Yes Yes Yes We need to know the creators of all terrorist outfits such as those named by you. Please note that inspite of world wide condemnation and putting our Foreign Office on a permanent backfoot, I have not read anywhere that the security establishment has indeed learnt the lesson and stopped patronizing / condoning these outfits.
All we need is a simple statement that "Yes we created them in the larger national interest / strategic objectives but having outlived their utility / blow back etc particularly post 9/11 scenario, we disowned them and our now actively engaged in their ruthless elimination"
When they dont own their creation (which every TOM, DICK and HARRY in the world believes including our close allies) their denials of current sponsorship does not convince anyone in the world. Its like a thief saying that presently he is not stealing without acknowledging his past thefts. Thereby his present stance looses all credibility.
First time I agree with Mirza.
Why can't the generals responsible at that time can be called on TV and should be told to accept responsibility and apologise. It will be a great way forward out of present mess.
Today you are demanding that the SC looks into the creation of IJI by the ISI.
Tomorrow you would like to do the same with Taliban, LeT , LeJ and the whole cornucopia of Lashkars and Tanzeems.
Where will all this end?