Political Issues Ahead of Pakistan Elections

As the country marches towards the February 18 elections, many ensuing issues so glaringly remain unresolved and the masses are absolutely clueless about them. These issues pertain to host of different areas and dimensions.

A browse through of Pakistan’s history suggests that other than the polls of 1970, elections in Pakistan have been increasingly fought on the basis of race, ethnicity and faith. Real issues of the people have been compromised every time as soon as a political party or military dictator comes to power.

“Popular politics in Pakistan started from the days of Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto. Our national political structure is charismatic,” explains local journalist Humair Ishtiaq.

When asked that why in his opinion, elections in Pakistan are not being contested on the basis of ideas, issues and policies, as is the case with the world’s major democracies, he claims “our circumstances and dimensions are different. Our prevailing social notions are based on our illiteracy.”

Because of massive illiteracy, the masses become easy prey for the forces of ideological deception. Foreign intervention in Pakistani politics has become all the more clear in recent times. The machinations of the military establishment to fix election results in the past and arm twisting of the political parties has been well documented and reported in the English press in the past. Keeping in mind this fact, renowned economist Shahid Siddiqi opines, “parties also do believe that the will of the voters does not count in the end.” This point further proves the idea that amidst massive illiteracy, collapse of law and order and rising levels of civic insecurities, free and fair elections cannot be held and democracy cannot flourish. Explaining this point further, Miss Natasha Khan, a teacher at Szabist, says “we do not have the basic amenities for conducting free and fair elections. We have made a fun of ourselves.”

Presenting a slightly different opinion, Mr Abid Azad, who is a local journalist working at the Election cell of a private TV channel, AAJ TV, says that “elections are being fought in Pakistan on the basis of survival. He who has the wealth and power, wins.” He further adds on that “Pakistanis are living like slaves. The people just give votes on the basis of personality only.”

“Elections in Pakistan would not be free and fair, as things are being determined and announced before hand,” suggests Mr Ishtiaq, who works for the Dawn newspaper. He further went on to acknowledge that members of the former ruling party were going on the record to say that the next parliament would indemnify the state of emergency that General Musharraf imposed in his capacity as the then Army Chief, on November 3 last year.

Such allegations and statements, according to Mr Ishtiaq go very much against the spirit of democracy and free and fair elections. “Elections in Pakistan would not be free and fair as things are being determined and announced before hand,” was his concluding statement on this topic.

Identifying acts of rigging, corruption and other wrong doings, has been amongst the major professional duties of media correspondents during this election season, according to many local journalists and observers contacted by this correspondent.

There is no certified way of picking out acts of rigging as these are committed in different forms and manifestations, far away from the outreach of the media and international observers. Vote counting and the associated fairness and transparencies can still however be ensured by investigative media reporting. “The media should take all official results from the polling stations. These would add up to form the results of constituencies,” says journalist Ishtiaq. This is how according to him any discrepancies with regards vote counts and other statistical details, along with locations of rigging can be clearly picked out.

Adding to this, a correspondent for a local television channel, Azmat Abbas says that “media correspondents can get election result copies from the candidates.” These copies, he added, were to be distributed to them by the Chief Returning Officers of all constituencies.

Because of the ban on live coverage, Mr Abbas emphasised on the role of digital technologies in unravelling acts of rigging, once the official results were out. He further went on to say that at the moment, restrictions on media coverage were great. “According to new media laws, announcing unofficial results is not allowed,” says Assadullah Khan, who heads the election cell at Dawn News, Pakistan’s first English language channel.

This new ban, he claims would erect an information gap and stifle the initiative of investigative reporting as media organisations would now have to wait for the official announcement of the results.

Talking about the 1970 elections, Mr Ishtiaq argued that they were free and fair because PTV was announcing results on the basis of each polling station. He and Mr Azad believe that a similar mechanism or news media reporting and analysis can be taken up this time around as well.

“We would give progressive results on our channel,” confides Mr Azad. “We would try to identify areas and stations where rigging has taken place,” he adds. Mr Azad and Mr Ishtiaq however concluded that the ban on live television coverage is an obstacle that prevents television journalists to do incisive investigative reporting.

Talking further, Mr Azad explains the outstanding issues that the media has been facing in this country, in recent times. According to him, during the initial days of the emergency and the PCO, “it was very tough to do balanced reporting with editorial independence.” According to him, the electronic media in the country was also exposed to threats and some restraints even before the emergency. “The channel that I work for, had been advised by the government and the agencies before as well,” he added.

The reinstatement of the judiciary that stands deposed since the 3rd of November, has becoming an issue assuming great political importance in the country at the moment. “The issue of the judiciary is a tough and controversial one,” according to barrister Shabnam Noorali However under the prevailing circumstances, “deposed judiciary would not come back,” suggests Natasha Khan, a teacher at the SZABIST University.

The Benazir factor would surely have a major impact on the upcoming elections. “The assassination was a major ditch in the democratic process,” argues Mr Azad.

Analysts and professionals who were asked for comments, refused to accept the findings of the Scotland Yard on the murder of PPP chairwoman Benazir Bhutto. “The investigations were done on the basis of second hand data,” comments barrister Shabnam. While further adding on, she explains that “the Scotland Yard’s team did not have access to primary sources of information, that is, the real crime scene and the dead body.” On the basis of these ideas, she questions the authenticity of the report. While rejecting the report, TV journalist Abid Azad reaffirms that “inherent controversies suggest that the government wants to hide the facts and damage the information delivery mechanism.”

Regarding the future set up, Mr Ishtiaq suggests, “the PPP would be able to reconcile with General Musharraf.” However, according to barrister Shabnam “the upcoming set up would depend on the transparency of the elections.” When asked that whether the future parliament would question the proclamation of emergency of November 3, Professor Mahmood Ghaznavi of the Karachi University said, “The parliament would not be able to question Musharraf as politicians are part of the same military establishment.”

What is easily evident this time during the elections is that public interests have largely waned out. Voter turn out is expected to be low as usual, which according to Professor Ghaznavi, means that large-scale rigging might take place. However, what is pertinent here is that how do people react to the political wheeling-dealing that takes place after the vote is cast, according to lawyer Sahabnam. If these elections are not free and fair, irrespective of the turn out, public reaction would “boil up in the times to come,” according to her.