Nisar’s guileful handling of Imran’s rigging probe demand
Nisar reiterated his previous offer and stood by it firmly.
Imran Khan could not yet fathom the fact that his loud and repeated claims of massive rigging during the May 2013 elections, lost their steam and potency the day people elected on his PTI tickets took oath in the national and provincial assemblies. After forming the government in a highly explosive K-P, whole energy of his brilliant-sounding aides with so many ideas of good governance should rather have been riveted to generate a flood of feel-good factors in that province. Instead of confronting a clear and present challenge, the passionate Khan kept repeating the story of alleged rigging. And in the process made some remarks that put him in trouble with our hyperactive and image-conscious apex court.
Soon we have to have a score of bye-elections all across the country. The contest for vacant national assembly seats in Islamabad and Peshawar will certainly attract an intense media attention. After the disqualification of Ms Ayla Malik for allegedly presenting fake certificates to prove her academic qualification, the bye-election in Khan’s hometown is also bound to generate many amusing but libelous stories.
Even the dispassionate observers would want to work hard to find out what kind of future the forthcoming bye-elections promised for the PTI. No wonder, seemingly baffled by Khan’s problem with the Supreme Court and not very rosy prospects for their party in bye-elections, some diehard devotees of the Khan have begun a fierce campaign through whispers. They suggest as if the PTI would not accept the results of forthcoming contests with a forgiving heart. We are rather being prepared to see people taking to the streets for changing the current political setup as recently happened in Egypt.
Between you and me, my cynical mind fails to anticipate any PTI-incited mobs taking over streets in the near future. But Nawaz Sharif has an interior minister, Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan. This Pyal Rajput Chakri savoured an intense exposure to the games that visible and invisible elements from within our elitist quarters have been setting in this country to topple successive governments. He loves to act like the ultimate handler of such games and seemed precisely behaving with a preventive strategy in the national assembly Thursday.
Imran Khan had been demanding intense forensic analysis of the electoral process and results of four national assembly constituencies to find out nothing but the truth regarding the allegations of massive rigging in the May 2013 elections. After recuperating from the wounds of his fall during a public rally in Lahore, he pressed the same demand after taking oath as the member of national assembly. Nisar proved too smart in diluting the impact of his emotionally powerful speech of that day by instantly conceding that yes the electoral scene of 2013 deserved a deep forensic probe, but why confine it to four seats only. All parties, represented in the national assembly, should rather shortlist not less than forty constituencies to facilitate a comprehensive and broad-based post-mortem. No opposition member cared to chase Nisar for executing his offer, somewhat vigorously. Imran Khan did not appear to have forgotten and forgiven, however.
On a point of order, Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan volunteered to affirm Thursday that he had received a formal letter from the PTI leader. In the said letter, Imran Khan has recalled the promise made by Nisar on the floor of an elected house to demand that the forensic analysis of the electoral process and results in four national assembly constituencies, named by the PTI, should immediately start in light of the terms suggested by his party.
Like a crafty handler of potentially explosive issues, Nisar reiterated his previous offer and stood by it firmly. He also pretended as if obliging Imran Khan with a large heart. But there also was a subtle trap that he slyly placed to elude the terms of probe as suggested by Imran Khan.
The interior minister sounded too rational and straight in recalling that the PTI is not the only party that had the real or alleged stories of rigging in the May elections. Almost each party, represented in the national assembly, has similar grievances. To address everyone’s concern, the Speaker should form a committee that tries to accommodate each party present in the house and then redraft the terms of reference, which have been suggested by Imran Khan, to ensure a comprehensive and broad-based forensic analysis of the electoral process and results in “at least forty constituencies.” Doing this, the public representatives should also “respect the autonomy of Election Commission” and not appear as if intruding into the process triggered by filing of various petitions before the concerned Election Tribunals.
Frankly speaking, the opposition members failed to recognize booby traps that Nisar had cunningly placed through his sweet-sounding speech. After listening it with an alert and suspicious mind, I have no hope to see anything substantive happening to help a deep and meaningful probe of the election process that we seemed to have swallowed without any significant resistance since the morning after of May 11, 2013.
Published in The Express Tribune, August 16th, 2013.
Soon we have to have a score of bye-elections all across the country. The contest for vacant national assembly seats in Islamabad and Peshawar will certainly attract an intense media attention. After the disqualification of Ms Ayla Malik for allegedly presenting fake certificates to prove her academic qualification, the bye-election in Khan’s hometown is also bound to generate many amusing but libelous stories.
Even the dispassionate observers would want to work hard to find out what kind of future the forthcoming bye-elections promised for the PTI. No wonder, seemingly baffled by Khan’s problem with the Supreme Court and not very rosy prospects for their party in bye-elections, some diehard devotees of the Khan have begun a fierce campaign through whispers. They suggest as if the PTI would not accept the results of forthcoming contests with a forgiving heart. We are rather being prepared to see people taking to the streets for changing the current political setup as recently happened in Egypt.
Between you and me, my cynical mind fails to anticipate any PTI-incited mobs taking over streets in the near future. But Nawaz Sharif has an interior minister, Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan. This Pyal Rajput Chakri savoured an intense exposure to the games that visible and invisible elements from within our elitist quarters have been setting in this country to topple successive governments. He loves to act like the ultimate handler of such games and seemed precisely behaving with a preventive strategy in the national assembly Thursday.
Imran Khan had been demanding intense forensic analysis of the electoral process and results of four national assembly constituencies to find out nothing but the truth regarding the allegations of massive rigging in the May 2013 elections. After recuperating from the wounds of his fall during a public rally in Lahore, he pressed the same demand after taking oath as the member of national assembly. Nisar proved too smart in diluting the impact of his emotionally powerful speech of that day by instantly conceding that yes the electoral scene of 2013 deserved a deep forensic probe, but why confine it to four seats only. All parties, represented in the national assembly, should rather shortlist not less than forty constituencies to facilitate a comprehensive and broad-based post-mortem. No opposition member cared to chase Nisar for executing his offer, somewhat vigorously. Imran Khan did not appear to have forgotten and forgiven, however.
On a point of order, Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan volunteered to affirm Thursday that he had received a formal letter from the PTI leader. In the said letter, Imran Khan has recalled the promise made by Nisar on the floor of an elected house to demand that the forensic analysis of the electoral process and results in four national assembly constituencies, named by the PTI, should immediately start in light of the terms suggested by his party.
Like a crafty handler of potentially explosive issues, Nisar reiterated his previous offer and stood by it firmly. He also pretended as if obliging Imran Khan with a large heart. But there also was a subtle trap that he slyly placed to elude the terms of probe as suggested by Imran Khan.
The interior minister sounded too rational and straight in recalling that the PTI is not the only party that had the real or alleged stories of rigging in the May elections. Almost each party, represented in the national assembly, has similar grievances. To address everyone’s concern, the Speaker should form a committee that tries to accommodate each party present in the house and then redraft the terms of reference, which have been suggested by Imran Khan, to ensure a comprehensive and broad-based forensic analysis of the electoral process and results in “at least forty constituencies.” Doing this, the public representatives should also “respect the autonomy of Election Commission” and not appear as if intruding into the process triggered by filing of various petitions before the concerned Election Tribunals.
Frankly speaking, the opposition members failed to recognize booby traps that Nisar had cunningly placed through his sweet-sounding speech. After listening it with an alert and suspicious mind, I have no hope to see anything substantive happening to help a deep and meaningful probe of the election process that we seemed to have swallowed without any significant resistance since the morning after of May 11, 2013.
Published in The Express Tribune, August 16th, 2013.