Law and order challenge: Agencies fear ‘violence’ in poll

Say terrorists are plotting attacks against high-profile political leaders in an effort to disrupt election process.

ISLAMABAD:

While the government insists the next parliamentary election will be held on time, intelligence agencies have warned that it could be riddled by large-scale violence hitherto unseen in the country’s poll history, The Express Tribune has learnt.

The ominous warning came in the backdrop of a recent upsurge in terrorist attacks, including the assassination of prominent Awami National Party (ANP) politician Bashir Ahmed Bilour and the abortive attack on Peshawar airbase.

The parliamentary elections are scheduled for early next year after the Pakistan Peoples Party-led coalition government completes its five-year constitutional term.

However, in their assessment shared with the concerned authorities, intelligence agencies said that maintaining law and order during the elections would be a huge challenge, sources told The Express Tribune.

According to them, insurgents were plotting attacks against prominent politicians in an effort to disrupt the election process. However, it is not clear whether or not security  agencies have advised the government to delay the polls.

“The assassination of Bashir Bilour could be the beginning of a new wave of terrorist attacks in the country,” said one intelligence source.

Bilour, a senior minister in the Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa government, was assassinated by a Taliban suicide bomber in Peshawar on Saturday in an attack that also killed eight other people.



The attack came days after 10 terrorists mounted an audacious attack on the Pakistan Air Force base, adjacent to Peshawar airport. Police and army commandos successfully fought off the attack and killed all the assailants.

Terrorist attacks have claimed more than 40 lives in the past week, raising fears of a possible delay in elections. Though the government insists that the elections will be held on time, it has not announced the schedule as yet.

The country’s main opposition party – the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz – says it would not accept any delay in the elections. “We don’t trust the government. They are just trying to find lame excuses. The best solution to the law and order problem is to have an early election,” said the PML-N spokesperson Senator Mushahidullah Khan.

In a recent television interview, senior PML-N leader Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan also said that the government appeared to be seeking a delay in election on the pretext of the ongoing unrest in the country.

The Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) also says it would not brook any delay in the elections. “If elections could take place in Iran even when its parliament was bombed, then there is no reason for delaying polls in Pakistan,” said PTI Dr Israr Shah. “We want elections to be held within 90 days no matter what,” he told The Express Tribune.

President of the Punjab chapter of PPP Mian Manzoor Wattoo said on Sunday that an interim government would be installed on March 17 to conduct the elections.

Political observers say a strong caretaker set-up could ensure a peaceful election. “There is still time left in the polls and one hopes the situation will improve,” said Ahmed Bilal Mehboob, who heads an Islamabad-based think tank working for the strengthening of democracy in Pakistan.

However, he warned that if militants continued to target high-profile leaders, this would certainly discourage people to come out for voting. If this happens, Mehboob argues, the whole election process will be considered as flawed.

Published in The Express Tribune, December 25^th, 2012.