Daily Times

As the African saying goes, “if you want to catch a lion encircle him from all direction but at least leave one outlet for your own safety in case the lion gets uncontrollable”. However, the political engineers in Pakistan seem so desperate this time that they have locked down every possible leeway prepared to risk everything for the sake of Pyrrhic victory.

It is not clear if it is overconfidence or sheer desperation that has forced them to ignore every caution. Regardless, they do not even care about plausible deniability right now.

Every passing day substantiates that democracy is being hauled in the name of a farcical election by suppressing its core dynamics and vital pulse aimed at replacing democracy with absurdity.

Perhaps, for the first time we are witnessing that candidates are returning the popular party’s tickets under duress. So far, about half a dozen have returned their party tickets, mostly in southern Punjab to contest as independent candidates. This pressure is being mounted not just by the deep state, but also the religious outfits associated with it which are flagrantly using blasphemy as a weapon.

Last week, a candidate contesting for a provincial assembly seat on PML-N’s ticket from Multan, central city of southern Punjab and home to the striking corps of Pakistan army, was shown in a distressing situation. Footage of the incident went viral on social media.

Rana Iqbal Siraj wailed about the circumstances he was caught in. He directly accused the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) of summoning him to its office to pressure him into not running the elections on a PML-N ticket. Pointing out a person in a crowd, he said he was slapped and an illegal raid was conducted on his fertiliser store. According to his accusations, his family and business were directly threatened.

Later the episode took a grave turn when PML-N leader Nawaz Sharif took up the issue with the media in London, where he is presently attending to his ill wife at a hospital on Harley Street. Within hours, a visibly shaken Rana Siraj Iqbal released another short video message, in which he contradicted part of his previous statement and asserted that the raid on his store was conducted by the agriculture department without mentioning who had slapped and threatened him. However, the issue turned more bizarre when the agriculture department denied taking part in any raid.

When attempts to dent PML-N’s popularity to alienate voters through propaganda on mainstream media failed, the next phase was to employ force against candidates to pressurise them into deserting the party

Every available tool and trick is being used to destroy the electoral prospect of certain political forces, particularly the PML-N. When attempts to dent its popularity to alienate voters through propaganda on mainstream media failed, the next phase was to employ force against candidates to pressure them into deserting the party.

Apart from this, other episodes occurring on a daily basis also depict a gloomy prospect for the forthcoming election and the future of democracy. The unfolding events indicate that the election are deliberately being made difficult to contest and dangerous for both the major parties, the PML-N and the PPP.

It began with voters asking some pointed questions about their previous representatives during the election campaign. Initially it was taken as a good sign, but later suspicions arose that the confrontation was implanted. This notion could not be dispelled later, especially when the encounter violated limits of political and social decency.

It raised many a brow when the incidents started becoming violent. Last week, a charged mob attacked the vehicle of Zaid Hamid, former federal law minster, during an election campaign in his constituency. The minster was removed from his cabinet post last February when the federal government capitulated to the pressure of a religious outfit, Tehrik-e-Labbaik (TLP).

Last year the TLP laid a sit-in, blocking the Faizabad intersection which links the twin cities of Rawalpindi and Islamabad for 22 days. Ultimately the army brokered an agreement between the government and TLP, whereby the former accepted the demands of the latter including removing the minister blamed for an oversight on a minor change of words from ‘swearing to affirming’ in the affidavit required from Muslim parliamentarians.

A similar hostile situation was also faced by the PPP chairperson, Bilawal Bhutto Zardari, in PPP’s traditional stronghold area of Lyari on the first day of kicking his election campaign. If this allegedly implanted provocation trend continues, perhaps it will be difficult to limit it only to the two major parties and can potentially engulf the entire election spectrum.

There were reports and videos circulating on the social media that PTI chairman, Imran Khan, also encountered a hostile crowd in Bannu, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa wherein he was jeered by the charged crowd carrying black flags and raising anti-Imran slogans. However, the incident was not covered by mainstream media like other incidents. Some critics have interpreted the absence of coverage to the tilt of mainstream media to a specific direction.

Clearly it needs no political prowess to ascertain that the forthcoming election is being used to achieve predetermined goal and objectives. But more ominously, all the permanent institutions of the state are, not so secretly, involved in shaping the desired results.

The deed and words of the chief justice behaving as the chief executive of the country are affirming the apprehensions that the state is being run by extra constitutional arrangement. Therefore, the elections seem like they are aimed at rolling back the meagre democratic achievements of the past decade. If the plan succeeds, the foreign and security domain will strictly become a no-go area for civilians. The term civilian supremacy, sovereignty of parliament and the 18th constitutional amendment will be consigned to the dustbin of history. Are the electoral engineers paying heed to the cost of this misadventure?

The writer is a political analyst hailing from Swat. Tweets @MirSwat

Published in Daily Times, July 6^th 2018.