Sir: In the past, the political science community admired Dr Hasan Askari for his impressive academic contributions. On the basis of my brief acquaintance with him and understanding of his academic objectivity, I was quite happy when he became the caretaker Chief Minister of the Punjab. I was hopeful that he would rise to the challenge of holding free and fair elections, which is in the best interest of this country. However, the role his government played over the past few weeks have shattered such hopes. The way his government handled the political and security situation over the past few weeks and his recent commentary on this situation in a TV interview will suffice to prove the point. His government seems to have lost neutrality and has failed to provide a level playing field to all political parties in the 2018 elections.
I am interested in free and fair elections. I vote for a good candidate, not the political party. The sad thing is that the caretaker government under his leadership seems to have snatched the grace of electoral victory (if any) from PTI. I earnestly urge him to ensure the holding of free and fair elections. If it is not possible for any reason, it would be best if he resign as the interim Chief Minister. He seems to be standing at a crossroad: if he is able to hold free and fair elections, history will remember him with kind words, and if he fails to do so, he will be preserved in the annals of history with a very unenviable description.
DrMuhammad Islam
Islamabad
Published in Daily Times, July 21st 2018.
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