Different motives, one objective
Some are acting openly, others surreptitiously but there are elements working towards disrupting the elections for their peculiar motives. Some of them are outright opposed to the democratic system which they consider an obstacle accomplishing of their anti-people agenda. Foremost among these are the terrorist groups operating under the umbrella of brand name TTP. These groups have never made any secret of their antipathy for democracy which they consider to be an un-Islamic system that has to be demolished. A peaceful transfer of power, they know, would strengthen the system. The more the people participate in the orderly process of electing a government of their choice, the weaker would be the extremists’ lure of an unrepresentative theocratic system. They have already announced that they would target the campaign of two political parties. A bomb blast next door to KP information minister’s home on Tuesday is a grim reminder of what they could do. That the BLA has taken the responsibility of the targeted killing of the election commissioner of Quetta indicates that the extremist nationalist organsations might try to sabotage the polls in Balochistan. They consider any genuine elections with the participation of the mainstream nationalist parties an anathema as it would foil their attempts to make the Baloch youth to take up arms against the state. There is a need on the part of the mainstream parties, the SC, the future caretaker setup and the army to jointly foil the activities of these elements.
There are others who want to create hindrances in the elections for dubious motives. While opposing terrorism, paying lip service to democracy and pretending to respect the SC and the ECP, they are in fact planning to disrupt the elections at someone’s behest. The remarks by Tahir ul Qadri at the airport on his return from Canada are ominous. They indicate that despite the failure of his initial assault on democracy, he wants to put up another show to achieve his aims. Qadri has warned that the country would break if the elections were held under the old system. But where is the old system? For the first time in its history Pakistan has an independent election commission which is a statutory body with sufficient powers.
Combined with all these destabilising forces is the ineptitude shown by the government in reaching a timely agreement on the caretaker setup at the center and the provinces. One has yet to see if the sudden arrival of Aslam Raisani and Arbab Ghulam Rahim from Dubai is going to help or deter the holding of the elections on time. One expects from the mainstream parties, the SC and ECP to avoid taking any decision that could postpone the elections or prolong the life of the caretaker setup.
