Pakistan is presently wading through very difficult times economically, politically and in regard to security threats both internal and external. There are no two opinions about the fact that the economy is in the worst ever state, thanks to imprudent and politically motivated policies unfurled by successive regimes. Resultantly 40% of people are living below the poverty line even after more than 76 years since independence.
The portents for the future are also not very encouraging. The world economy is predicted to grow at about 2.5% during the next year. The caretaker finance minister has projected the economy to grow by 2.2% during the same period. With population growth standing at nearly 2% per annum, the real GDP growth would be 0.2%. That projection is surely not compatible with the pledges being made by different political parties in regard to changing the economic situation of the masses. Given these ground realities, only the fools can give credence to the claims of the political parties.
The year 2023 has been the worst as it witnessed an exponential resurgence in terrorist attacks.
The other formidable challenge is terrorism, which poses an existential threat to the country. The year 2023 has been the worst in this regard as it witnessed an exponential resurgence in these attacks. The majority of these attacks emanated from Afghan soil. According to the available data in the 750 such attacks, there were 1500 casualties including 700 military and police personnel. The Afghan government despite repeated demarches by Pakistan urging it to abide by their commitment not to allow the use of their soil for attacks against any country, either deliberately let it happen or failed to control the terrorist outfits having sanctuaries on its territory. It has created a kink in the relations between the two countries. The threat persists despite several interactions between the two governments. The bottom line is that our western border is not yet secure.
Our relations with India are also at the lowest ebb. Given the coming elections in India, there is every possibility that Modi might re-enact a false-flag operation like Pulwama to build anti-Pakistan hysteria for winning the elections. Under the circumstances Pakistan cannot afford to lower its guard and its armed forces have to be on the highest alert to deal with any such eventuality.
The exchange of hostilities between Pakistan and Iran has also added to our security concerns. Thank God sanity has prevailed and there are indications to resolve the issue through dialogue. But the fact is that such incidents cannot be ruled out without the two countries taking collective action against the terrorists present on both sides of their borders. Whoever on the Iranian side decided to launch attacks on Pakistani soil displayed the highest degree of imprudence by not realizing that such acts could have serious repercussions. That is exactly what happened. Pakistan’s armed forces justifiably took retaliatory action.
The internal and probably the most worrying development is the extreme polarization within the society. Political rivalries have transformed into enmities which do not augur well for the future of the country. There are already indications that some of the political players are not going to accept the results of the ensuing elections as they have already started propaganda about a particular party being patronized by the traditional power brokers.
Given the foregoing challenges and ambience of uncertainty, some quarters are demanding the postponement of elections saying that the circumstances were not conducive for holding the elections as some of the political leaders were facing life threats. They maintain that the situation in KPK is very volatile from a security point of view. Two resolutions in this regard have also been presented in the Senate. Now some of the intellectuals are also urging the postponement of elections. They argue that though the elections are fundamental to strengthening democracy and establishing a representative government given the above intractable challenges and crisis there is an imperative need to reconsider our priorities and focus more on ensuring internal security, consolidating national unity, stability and well-being of the people. They contend that a nation is in a better position to uphold principles of democracy in the long run if it can first surmount the challenges that Pakistan is facing now.
I do not buy the argument presented for the postponement of elections till the time all the challenges have been warded off. The country has been in a state of political instability for the last two years and an interim set-up is in place whose only mandate is to ensure free and fair elections in the country by extending required support to ECP. The crises that we face require long-term policy decisions which can only be taken by a representative government. There is an imperative need to end political instability and the atmosphere of uncertainty which is hampering our efforts to revive the economy.
There are examples of nations holding elections even during the war. The example of Iran is before us. It fought a decade-long war with Iraq but held two elections during that period. There cannot be a more appropriate reason for not holding the elections during the war but it was rightly felt by the Iranian leadership that elections were imperative to win the franchise of the people to deal with the permeating situation. In my view, the challenges that we are confronted with at the moment provide unqualified justification for the installation of a representative government without any loss of time so that the coming government enjoying the backing of the people could take measures to winch the country out of the impending crisis.
Politicians are better advised to change their ways by learning from our political history. They must learn to accept the results of elections and give preference to the national interests over their narrow political agendas. It is time for them to use their collective wisdom for the good of the country and the masses which have suffered for a long time due to their shenanigans. They must realize that Pakistan comes first.
The writer is a former diplomat and freelance columnist.