ELECTIONS 2013 Fiasco. Yesterday two conflicting but alarming views regarding the US wants assurance to have a safe exit for its withdrawal from Afghanistan came : one was the Shaheen Sehbai’s column which was published by the daily ‘Jang’ . Towards the evening Zaid Hamid wrote his viewpoint and posted on his page. The salient features of the former’s column were as follows :- 1. The US withdrawal plan was discussed in a meeting between the US Secretary of State , John Kerry , and the top Us General in Afghanistan, General Kelley . 2. The first stage of the deal for Pakistan was before the announcement of the date of the elections 2013 3. The civilian and the Pakistan Army must be on the same page for the US ease in withdrawing. 4. President Zardari is given another term of five years . 5 US will be very happy if the President and the Army Chief are given extensions for one to two years at least. 6 The Army High Command supports the idea . 7 The Chief Justice of Pakistan , Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhary, has been sounded but he declined to be a part of this deal . 9 Mian Nawaz Sharif wants Zardari out . 10 The top leaders of Tehreek I Insaf are in the know . But Imran Khan is ignorant of these developments . 11 The US has given a veiled threat of the increasing of suicide bombings . 12 Now panic is being felt everywhere . 13 . Certain major developments will be witnessed in this week starting from Monday ie April 29 , 2013 , 14. One of the major leaders viz. Mian Nawaz Sharif , Imran Khan or the Chief Justice , may be assassinated following the same pattern of Benazir Bhutto’s assassination on December 27 , 2007 . 15 . The Top Brass of the country will be firming up the security plan for the elections 2013 . (It seems that that is the framework of NRO II) In response , Zaid Hamid wrote “Shaheen Sehbai has written an extremely dangerous and provocative as well as thought provoking editorial in Jang. Even if partly true, this explains most of the chaos and confusion we see today. Lots of things make sense. Zardari wants to remain president for five more years. US wants him to stay. Advisers of IK are already on board the plan but IK does not know it. Nawaz and CJ are not happy because NS wants to take full power (and make CJ as the President in place of Zardari). US is trying to buy off army to assure a safe exit from Afghanistan. If US does not get what they want, massive violence and terrorism, even assassinations will be staged in the coming days. We had explained all this in our talks about 5th Generation warfare. Now everyone is talking about it. Welcome to democracy.....” Notwithstanding what has been said by those two men , the situation obtaining is extraordinarily fearful and alarming . Before the elections , incidents of suicide bombings and target killings were the order of the day for the past ten years. However , apart from Punjab , the election campaign is unusually tepid and unhealthy. DAWN reports while covering the decision of the Army top brass to deploy the army for polls in the country “ What prompted the government to seek deployment of army troops in addition to civil armed forces was a surge in pre-poll violence across the country. Since April 21, when election campaigns formally started, the Taliban and other militant groups have carried out over 20 attacks on political parties, killing 48 people and injuring over 200. The worsening law and order situation had also led to refusal by teachers in Balochistan to perform election duties — a decision which was reversed after talks with the government. The continuing violence ahead of elections was seen by many as an attempt to sabotage the electoral process. A statement by the Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan issued on March 18 said it all. Declaring elections part of an un-Islamic democratic system bound to serve the interests of infidels and enemies of Islam, it warned voters to stay away from political rallies of three liberal, democratic parties — PPP, Muttahida Qaumi Movement and Awami National Party. The continuing attacks on election offices of political parties and their candidates are seen by the ECP as a failure of the provincial governments, which have been asked to ensure that candidates, leaders and voters are protected. The PPP, ANP and MQM, the main target of the attacks, however, appear to have been undeterred by terrorist threats and have called for holding of elections on time.” Pakistan has an anarchy at its hands before the announcement of the elections besides the economic meltdown due to various factors and a growth rate of 2 %. After the elections , the situation will be much more alarming when the defeated parties will not accept the results and take to the streets . According to the media reports , finger pointing has already started towards the High Courts and the Chief Election Commissioner for making them a mockery of elections for permitting the candidates who have been ousted by the Returning Officers for various misdemeanours viz. fake degrees , money laundering ,tax and loan defaulters to contest the elections . From the major parties , the two most vocal parties campaigning in the Province of the Punjab , have almost similar manifestos . However ,the Tehrik I Insaf has diverted from its plan to provide justice to the people living on the margins of the society . Besides , its Chairman , Imran Khan , who I consider a reliable and a trustworthy person from his background as a trustee of our donations towards health and education, the rest of its officer bearers are nothing to write home about . None the less he has made a big dent in the following :- 1. The politics of aristocracy by announcing that his two sons and his near relatives will not participate in the country’s politics. 2. By holding inter party elections 3. By announcing his assets and his officer bearers assets. 4. By announcing that he will not lie to the people and took the pledge from 80000 newly elected office bearers of his party. Elections provide the means to sift from the filth of gutter . At best , a refined muck will come out from this exercise eg. Asif Ali Zardari , Raja Pervez Ashraf , Yousuf Raza Gilani ,Berlusconi , George Bush , Tony Blair , Narendra Modi Be that as it may be , the problems of the common people cannot be solved under the prevailing capitalist system and the Anglo Saxon Law because they have both failed in the countries of origin . In the USA , 3 crore to 4 crore people go to bed hungry daily .The tears of the miserable people cannot be wiped by false promises : these can be wiped by a more refined system of checks and balances . Islam provides the means by which the poor and the miserable can be accommodated in society as equal partners towards the march to progress . But it has never been tried sincerely . This is strictly my considered view. Mahfooz ur Rahman Islamabad April 30 , 2013
Posted on: Thu, 04 Sep 2014 07:37:55 +0000
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