The
October 10 elections will see the start of another tenure of an
elected government, with hopes of it being the beginning of a road
to true democracy. The elections are hoped to hand over the
country to clean, capable, educated politicians bringing to an end
the never ending era of mis-governance, political corruption and
military interference in politics, which plagued the nation for
decades. That ofcourse is the ideal post-October scenario every
Pakistani would dream of. According to the government’s
interpretations of how things stand, Pakistan has never been in
better hands and the outlook for true democracy is very positive.
This message is ofcourse broadcast with full vigour on the
government controlled television channels.
Coming back to the real world things may not appear to be as
depicted by the military government. Cutting a long story short,
the military government is seen to have clearly deviated from its
agenda of implementing ‘true democracy’ shifting to one of an
‘autocratic democracy’. This term may not be familiar to many
as it may seem to be a contradiction in terms and inexistent but
sadly for Pakistan, it is very real and will soon become a
reality. All political parties have realised that after the
referendum General Musharaf has been working head over heals to
enforce a post election setup that will keep the army in power.
As far as the election is
concerned, it is the view of many that it is just a staged drama
to fool the international community, as General Musharaf has no
intention of handing over the governance of the country to the
elected government. Rumours are rife in political circles that the
government will be fully rigging the polls to bring to the
assemblies exactly who it wants.
Well the words ‘elected government’ should not be used for the
post October setup as many political leaders have termed it to be
a ‘selected government’. Dr Tahir-ul-Qadri however has gone
further by saying that the election will not even be a
‘selection process’ but an ‘appointments process’, with
all members of the assemblies to be appointed by the military
government not elected by the Pakistani people. That will not come
as a surprise to anyone, not least the electorate, as they are
aware of the fact that every election in Pakistan has been heavily
rigged by the establishment.
With the added assurance that the
same lot of corrupt politicians, which plagued the country in the
nineties will be allowed return, the question arises that exactly
what has the military government achieved. Its claims of
implementing true democracy fall to deaf ears as the blatant open
support it is giving to the PML(Q) is there for all to see. Be it
‘pre-poll rigging’ or election day rigging, it is clear to all
that the results announced by the ‘TV station’ will not
reflect those cast in the ‘polling station’.
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About
Writer:
Mr. Jawed Iqbal, is an independent writer and a
political analyst. His articles appear in printed and
electronic media of Pakistan
eMail : JAWEDS_WORLD@HOTMAIL.COM |
The Pakistan Awami Tehreek (PAT)
has been practically begging all parties opposed to the government
to unite against the kings party in the polls, if not for the sake
of unity at least for the sake of democracy. It seems as though
the government will successfully brings its kings party to power
through a strategy of ‘divide and conquer’, to the peril of
democracy in Pakistan. As the establishment needs a puppet
parliament and government to carry out its agenda with out any
hiccups.
A political party such as the Pakistan Awami Tehreek (PAT) with
it’s massive support in the masses, is clearly being blocked
from coming to power by the military government.
Other parties that may seem to have a notable vote bank may not be
able to reach the corridors of power (in the unlikely event of a
fair election) due to a corrupt leadership or other violations of
the constitution by the party hierarchy.
With the military government resorting to state terrorism by
carrying out an armed raid on Dr Tahir-ul-Qadri’s motorcade and
consequently filing false charges against him shows the fear which
the military government has over a PAT victory. Fearing the
difficulty in rigging polls against PAT due to its popularity, the
government has realised that ‘pre-poll rigging’ nor
‘election day rigging’ will be successful in keeping PAT out,
as it would lead to a public out cry thus it has resorted to its
last available option of ‘pre-poll shifting’.
The military government should be given credit for pursuing this
strategy as, obviously, if PAT is barred from taking part in the
elections through false disqualification, then it cannot win. The
government is also indirectly causing problems for Imran Khan,
who’s party does not seem to have a percentage of the support
which PAT has. It has to be mentioned that the military government
does not leave anything to chance as was evident in the
referendum.
What ever the military government may be able to muster up, one
thing is clear, it will not be able to deny the wishes of the
masses, in bringing PAT to power, for very long. As a puppet
parliament cannot hold out for very long, eventually clearing the
way for the peoples’ choice.
This
article published in;
Local Media
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Pre-poll ‘shifting’ -
path to a puppet parliament