Code of Conduct: ECP must ensure implementation
In democracies elections are held to provide the people an opportunity to choose their rulers. Before the elections the parties present their manifestos telling how they plan to resolve the problems faced by the people and the country. The party which fails to fulfil its promises or does not come up to the voters’ expectations gives way to another party which is put to test during the next five years. Candidates are not debarred from contesting on account of their creed, sex or ethnicity. The ban imposed by the ECP on seeking votes on religious or sectarian grounds is therefore in accordance with democratic principles. There is a need meanwhile to have a look at what is happening on the ground.
The TTP has announced that it would attack the candidates belonging to the PPP, the ANP and the MQM as these parties are secular. It is understood all over the world that a secular party is one that purports to be officially neutral in matters of religion. It is therefore a travesty to imply that secularism is some sort of doctrine which is anti-religion, specifically anti-Islam. If that was so, numerous outstanding ulema of Deoband who supported the Congress would fall into the category of the opponents of Islam. The TTP has warned the voters that they would be attending the election rallies of the secular parties at their own risk. It has already claimed the killing of one candidate each from the MQM and the ANP while another ANP leader has just survived the attack. All the three parties are consequently hesitant to launch their campaigns. The top leaders of the PPP and ANP being at the top of the TTP hit list have been stopped by their parties from leading the rallies. The attack on an independent candidate’s rally in DIK, killing at least two, shows anyone unacceptable to the militants is a fair game. This has led ANP spokesman Zahid Khan to claim that a conspiracy had been hatched to sideline the ANP and bring in the ‘fundamentalist political parties.’
While militants attack the secular parties with IEDs and bombs, a religious party is doing so by claiming to be the sole proprietor of Islam. This amounts to exploiting the name of religion for political purposes. The JUI-F initiated its election campaign by holding an ‘Islam Zindabad’ rally in Lahore. In another conference under the same slogan in Pishin on Friday JUI-F chief Fazlur Rehman described the ongoing elections as a clash between the secular and religious forces. He vowed to defeat all anti-Islam forces in the elections and enforce Islamic sharia in the country. It is for the caretaker interior minister to provide the promised security to candidates. The ECP however needs to ensure that the code of conduct it has announced is followed by all including the religious parties.
