Comprehensive plan caretakers’ responsibility
With the scrutiny of the candidates’ nomination papers over, the pre-election process has entered the final stage of appeals which will end on April 17. After that the ongoing election campaign will gain full momentum. While a number of parties have already held big rallies, the three parties marked by the terrorists have yet to follow suit. Bilwal Bhutto has come back after a week of uncertainties but the party has yet to fulfill its promise of holding twenty big rallies in cities and rural areas. The ANP which lost one of its leading lights in a terrorist attack tested the waters in Bannu with a rally which was hit by a remote control bomb. The party is now hesitant to put the life of Asfandyar Wali to risk. The MQM which claimed to contest seats nationwide has yet to come out of Sindh.
Holding a peaceful election remains the biggest challenge for the caretaker government. Any major act of violence could create panic amongst the voters, dampening their enthusiasm, thus bringing down the voter turn up. The major responsibility to ensure peace lies with the caretaker federal interior minister. He has already held meetings with the top officials of intelligence and law enforcement agencies but unless there is a well thought out security plan, these would not be productive. A close coordination with the provinces is required to keep the situation under control. Malik Habib should be able to share real time information about the impending threats instead of providing imprecise and raw intelligence reports as Rehman Malik did. So far the stress is on providing security to some of the major political leaders. What is needed is a more comprehensive security plan for the entire election campaign.
There are already ominous signs on the horizon. Karachi continues to be a new hub of terrorist activities. In interior Sindh, armed motorcyclists snatched or burnt the copies of a national daily. It seems that Kayani’s visit has brought little solace to the Baloch. The BNP chief Akhtar Mengal claims that there are still no go areas in the province and people are still being abducted and killed in different areas of Balochistan. There is an urgent need to redress the grievances so that no section of the Baloch leadership is forced to boycott the polls as happened in 2008. The ANP and PPP have also put up candidates in South Waziristan. The TTP chief Hakimullah Mehsud has on the other hand threatened of violence. He has advised the displaced Mahsud tribesmen to avoid returning to their homes as they could be killed in the ongoing war between the government and the Taliban. The performance of the caretaker set up will be judged by its ability to provide security to all political players in every province.