We are grateful towards Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) for at least its – now aborted – attempt to stop political parties to vow voters in the name of religion and sects. On April 14, ECP announced that use of religion or sect as a tool to seek votes would be considered as violation of election rules. Of course, the order did not get the approval of the hundreds of religious-sectarian party candidates running for the upcoming national and provincial assemblies elections. While it was ROs nominated by the judiciary who approved these candidates as qualified for elections but the overall responsibility lies with the ECP. After receiving the expected harsh reaction from the same groups, the ECP announced within 24 hours that it had not issued any such directive. Thank you ECP, at least you tried.
Masood Khan
Jubail, Saudi Arabia
