February 18th, 2008-Election Day

Salamona everyone. So the Election Day is approaching fast and InshAllah this Monday voters are going to polls to determine which party is going to run Pakistan (of course after the CIA, World Bank, IFP, AB, ISI etc.) Although, unfortunately I won’t be able to vote in the election but I think I have done a fair bit in the election campaign to at least feel better. I worked on the campaign of Tariq Hameed Khattak in Nowshera where his constituency covers my village and Arbab Najeebullah covering our Peshawar residence. Also, while baba (my dad) was out of the country for Hajj I made some preliminary arrangements for Asfandyar Wali Khan’s proposed invitation to our hujra in the village. Although I must admit, nothing beats putting a stamp right next to your choice of candidate, I wish the elections were held on the original planned date in January, I would have certainly been able to vote then.

But over the last few weeks I, like many others, am beginning to question the integrity and fairness of the forthcoming elections. Pakistani politics have been complicated even by the mere standard that they ARE politics. For years our beloved president Musharraf maintained that he was not going to let Mian saheb and Bibi (Benazir Bhutto) let back in the country. But not only did he let both of them in, he also made a deal with Bibi where all the corruption charges were dropped. At one point when the deal between the president and late Bibi seemed to be going South, our honest Attorney General said that corruption charges might be brought back against Bibi should she choose not to cooperate with the President. Did I mention that this statement came from our ATTORNEY GENERAL?

The murder of Bibi has been shrouded in mystery as well. As always, Islamabad has blamed Taleban and more specifically Baitullah Mehsud for this murder. They funny thing here though is that Mr Mehsud has denied any involvement. Usually groups like his are very quick in accepting responsibility for acts like such and actually militant groups jump to take credit for such incidents but that did not happen to be the case here. In a press conference, the interior minister also presented an audio tape where he claimed that Baitullah Mehsud was accepting the responsibility for bibi’s murder but since then the minister has been taken to the cleaners by the media for several things that did not add up in the alleged Mehsud tape.

Now back to our round and naughty Attorney General again, there is an audio tape out on the streets where allegedly he has been boasting to his peeps that the election is not going to fair and free by a long shot.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/7247667.stm

No wonder a good deal of people in Pakistan think that the election is going to be rigged.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/7244018.stm

I think for all intensive purposes, an election in the province of Balochistan is going to be invalid. All the Baloch parties and major Baloch tribes are boycotting the election. Tribes staying on the sidelines include names like the Bugtis, Marris, Domkis, Mengals, Zarakazis, Bazenjos, Dehwar, Bungalzai and of course many others. In the Pushtuns areas of Balochistan (Pushtuns make up 45-55% of the province’s population), the largest Pashtun nationalist party, Pukhtunkhua Milli Awami Party (PkMAP) of Mehmud Khan Achakzai is also staying out. Remember that PkMAP was the largest party in the National Assembly from Balochistan in 90 and 93. There are also a large number of plotical and tribal leaders in the province who are either in jail and exile or worst yet, died in Islamabad’s military incursions in the area over the last few years. I think it would be fair to say that regardless of what happens in other parts of Pakistan, an election in Balochistan will simply be formality carried out by Islamabad.

Election in Tribal Areas and Pukhtunkhua province has been marred by violence. There have been attacks on the offices and rallies of all major political party.
http://bachakhan.com/blog/360400/Shahadat_of_ANPs_workers

It will be interesting to see how Sunday and Monday go, 48 hours is an eternity in politics especially Pakistani politics.