The forces opposed to democracy in Pakistan are on the rampage, living up to their promise to foil the nation's will to have election on May 11. As the D-day nears, the incidence of violence is notching up and is inexorably spreading far and wide. Tuesday was one such day which presented the grim picture of the wreckage the anti-polls forces can cause, as there were no less than four bomb blasts in Quetta (and it seems there is no end in sight as yet because Wednesday morning there was the fifth bomb) and one in Karachi - of course in addition to many more isolated incidents of violence in other places.
A blast near an ANP meeting in Site-Orangi Town rattled the entire Karachi yesterday evening. According to initial reports, this terrorist attack claimed at least 11 lives and caused injuries to scores of people. That the militants' bete noire Pervez Musharraf miraculously escaped a murderous attack in Islamabad some kind of divine power seems to be still weighing in with democratic forces, otherwise it was said to be a touch-and-go situation.
Imagine how devastatingly it would have foreshadowed the possibility of on-time election. Sometime back, the prevailing prognosis was that incidence of violence being confined to Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa and violence in Quetta was sectarian in nature and Karachi was recovering given the law enforcing agencies' clean-up operations. But that's no longer the case as there are now more bomb blasts, and almost all aimed at disrupting the electoral process. Apparently, the caretaker governments are even more ineffective than their predecessors which were then accused of being soft over violence in line with their political scheming. That is no more the case, and the situation is getting desperate by the day.
The violence being employed as a political tool by the anti-democratic forces is condemnable, but understandable given that these forces have always been opposed to democratic system for Pakistan. But what is extremely disturbing and no less intriguing is the indication that the targets of almost all recent bomb attacks are three political parties. While PPP and MQM are centre-left and ANP appears to be a shadow of a secular (leftist) outfit. Whether they have earned the terrorists' ire for their whatever credentials, or if they are paying for anti-militancy stance when in power, there is no clear answer to it. Isn't it diabolic that the ANP cannot come out in the open in its so-called home province fearing violence, but others are free to address huge rallies in there?
This is absolutely unacceptable that the shadow of violence should so comprehensively overpower the PPP that its chairman has to launch the party's election campaign via a video. No less disturbing is the fact that as the trio has come under the terrorists' intense fire, others practically enjoy immunity courtesy the terrorists' perceived 'soft corner' for them. No doubt for the ANP, PPP and the MQM this is no more a level-playing field - something the Election Commission of Pakistan has to bother about in order to ensure the election on May 11 is fair, free and transparent.
The MQM leadership has decided to shut its election offices for the time being and called for a province-wide lockdown that's perhaps the only way it could lodge its protest. Should the party fail to receive adequate assurances of protection against violence one would imagine it could go for the next step: boycott of the election on May 11. Such a decision will please the forces that are hell-bent to sabotage the electoral exercise like nothing else.
We hope and expect it will not go for that drastic step, insisting that boycott of the upcoming election has a make-or-break significance, unlike the previous and others in the field would remain indifferent to it at their own peril. Isn't it small-mindedness, if not short-sightedness, on the part of the parties who enjoy immunity not to share concerns of the parties that are now under attack? They feel safe and free to hold big rallies the comfort is quite delusional given that that forces which are now attacking ANP, PPP and MQM are not for democracy in Pakistan.
That they are being spared of violence it is certainly a tactical move on the part of these forces; their endgame strategy is aimed at depriving Pakistan of democracy. Before it is too late all the political stakeholders need to sit together and hammer out a consensual approach and put up a united front against the agents of violence, keeping in mind that the caretakers and the ECP, separately or together, haven't the wherewithal with them to give adequate protective coverage to the contenders in the election. The political leaderships should realise that it's democracy in Pakistan that is at stake; a battle lost here would be the war lost to the enemies of democracy.
Saturday, April 27, 2013
Pakistan: The widening threat to 2013 election
The forces opposed to democracy in Pakistan are on the rampage, living up to their promise to foil the nation's will to have election on May 11. As the D-day nears, the incidence of violence is notching up and is inexorably spreading far and wide. Tuesday was one such day which presented the grim picture of the wreckage the anti-polls forces can cause, as there were no less than four bomb blasts in Quetta (and it seems there is no end in sight as yet because Wednesday morning there was the fifth bomb) and one in Karachi - of course in addition to many more isolated incidents of violence in other places.
A blast near an ANP meeting in Site-Orangi Town rattled the entire Karachi yesterday evening. According to initial reports, this terrorist attack claimed at least 11 lives and caused injuries to scores of people. That the militants' bete noire Pervez Musharraf miraculously escaped a murderous attack in Islamabad some kind of divine power seems to be still weighing in with democratic forces, otherwise it was said to be a touch-and-go situation.
Imagine how devastatingly it would have foreshadowed the possibility of on-time election. Sometime back, the prevailing prognosis was that incidence of violence being confined to Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa and violence in Quetta was sectarian in nature and Karachi was recovering given the law enforcing agencies' clean-up operations. But that's no longer the case as there are now more bomb blasts, and almost all aimed at disrupting the electoral process. Apparently, the caretaker governments are even more ineffective than their predecessors which were then accused of being soft over violence in line with their political scheming. That is no more the case, and the situation is getting desperate by the day.
The violence being employed as a political tool by the anti-democratic forces is condemnable, but understandable given that these forces have always been opposed to democratic system for Pakistan. But what is extremely disturbing and no less intriguing is the indication that the targets of almost all recent bomb attacks are three political parties. While PPP and MQM are centre-left and ANP appears to be a shadow of a secular (leftist) outfit. Whether they have earned the terrorists' ire for their whatever credentials, or if they are paying for anti-militancy stance when in power, there is no clear answer to it. Isn't it diabolic that the ANP cannot come out in the open in its so-called home province fearing violence, but others are free to address huge rallies in there?
This is absolutely unacceptable that the shadow of violence should so comprehensively overpower the PPP that its chairman has to launch the party's election campaign via a video. No less disturbing is the fact that as the trio has come under the terrorists' intense fire, others practically enjoy immunity courtesy the terrorists' perceived 'soft corner' for them. No doubt for the ANP, PPP and the MQM this is no more a level-playing field - something the Election Commission of Pakistan has to bother about in order to ensure the election on May 11 is fair, free and transparent.
The MQM leadership has decided to shut its election offices for the time being and called for a province-wide lockdown that's perhaps the only way it could lodge its protest. Should the party fail to receive adequate assurances of protection against violence one would imagine it could go for the next step: boycott of the election on May 11. Such a decision will please the forces that are hell-bent to sabotage the electoral exercise like nothing else.
We hope and expect it will not go for that drastic step, insisting that boycott of the upcoming election has a make-or-break significance, unlike the previous and others in the field would remain indifferent to it at their own peril. Isn't it small-mindedness, if not short-sightedness, on the part of the parties who enjoy immunity not to share concerns of the parties that are now under attack? They feel safe and free to hold big rallies the comfort is quite delusional given that that forces which are now attacking ANP, PPP and MQM are not for democracy in Pakistan.
That they are being spared of violence it is certainly a tactical move on the part of these forces; their endgame strategy is aimed at depriving Pakistan of democracy. Before it is too late all the political stakeholders need to sit together and hammer out a consensual approach and put up a united front against the agents of violence, keeping in mind that the caretakers and the ECP, separately or together, haven't the wherewithal with them to give adequate protective coverage to the contenders in the election. The political leaderships should realise that it's democracy in Pakistan that is at stake; a battle lost here would be the war lost to the enemies of democracy.
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