Daily Times

COAS General Ashfaq Pervez Kiyani has reiterated his resolve to stamp out any disturbance aimed at sabotaging the May11 elections. He has been on a whirlwind tour of the country, in which he was briefed in the federal and provincial capitals comprehensively about the security arrangements for Election Day. In the meantime the Election Commission of Pakistan and the caretaker governments in the Centre and the provinces have been talking themselves hoarse about election-related security arrangements. Yet the mayhem continues. If all these concerned institutions, mandated with the task of making sure the elections take place peacefully, have only been focusing on polling day, one can only pity their blinkered view of things. The election campaigns have been marred with incessant attacks by the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan that has been proudly taking responsibility for the attacks. The three important parties, the PPP, the MQM and the ANP were literally forced out of the election process. Their workers and candidates have been killed, while their rallies bombed. They had to resort to corner meetings and even some of those proved fatal. Ali Haider Gilani, the son of former prime minister Yousuf Raza Gilani, has been kidnapped when he was leaving his house to conduct a corner meeting in broad daylight in Multan yesterday. His secretary was killed and three guards injured in the process. The caretaker government and the ECP have failed to provide them security despite repeated pleas. So far, Punjab had remained the only province relatively safe from terrorism during campaign days. With Ali Haider Gilani’s kidnapping, this lull has been broken too. Even parties thought to be safe because of a soft corner for the extremists such as the JUI-F, JI and PTI, have had their rallies and candidates attacked. So far, over 100 people have died and several have been injured in these massacres. Yet the authorities continue to ooze confidence about peaceful elections. This attitude of the three institutions, the army, caretaker government and the Election Commission of Pakistan, is highly irresponsible to say the least, essentially when three political parties deliberately, as it seems now, have been kept out of the electioneering process. Absolutely no precaution has been taken or effort made to allow these parties to conduct their campaigns. Does all this indicate something fishy is going on? Has it been deliberate? If not, why has selective campaigning been allowed to continue amidst the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan’s killing spree? And if the army was simply complacent, the issue becomes even more serious. How would the army justify its presence and monitoring on Election Day when it practically did nothing to manage the build up to and therefore the results on D-Day? A parliamentary election is about going to the people and connecting with them through rallies and public meetings. If that has been made impossible for some parties with secular leanings, that makes those who had no such constraints stand out even more.

Unless Ali Haider Gilani is rescued, elections in his family’s constituencies would be reduced to a farce. Any post-polling discord about accepting the election results would bring to nought all the effort at ensuring the impartiality and fairness of the elections. A smooth transfer of power to the next civilian government is important for the democratic process to be consolidated. Let us hope Yousaf Raza Gilani’s and the Gilani family’s worries are over soon and Ali Haider Gilani returns home safe and sound. *