One is reminded of the popular adage ‘Make a Mountain out of a Molehill’ when one looks at the recently launched report of the Judicial Commission constituted to investigate the outrageous allegations of massive rigging of the 2013 general elections. The charges were leveled by Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Chief Imran Khan against the Pakistan Muslim League PML-N Chief Mian Muhammad Nawaz Sharif. The PTI Chief, Imran Khan disregarded all norms of graciousness in lambasting the PML-N Chief Mian Muhammad Nawaz Sharif, the incumbent Prime Minister of Pakistan, by levelling unfounded charges of massive rigging of the 2013 general elections by his party. During the protest march (dharna) staged by his party (PTI) and Pakistan Awami Tehreek (PAT) in Islamabad, from August 14 to December 17, 2014, Imran Khan, in particular, kept on incessantly levelling charges of massive rigging of ‘Elections 2013’ by PML-N.
How could one ever forget the tall claims Mr. Khan made during the protest march about rigging of the 2013 elections. In doing so, Mr. Khan did succeed in mustering the support of his ardent followers. What, however, he miserably failed to appreciate is that in the absence of tangible evidence all his claims about the issue in question would turn out to be nothing but mere rhetoric. Yet another important factor that Mr. Khan bitterly failed to realize is that in the absence of tangible evidence the verdict of the JC will go in favour of Mian Nawaz Sharif, who subsequently would stand totally vindicated and emerge as a strong man at the helm in the government.
On the contrary, he would have to cut a sorry figure in front of the entire nation. What to speak of his party men and followers. That is exactly what has happened. The report of the JC into allegations of massive rigging of 2013 elections was made public on July 23, 2015. The 237-page report lucidly states ‘The Commission has found no evidence that there was a systemic fraud’ across the nation on the Election Day, and that such fraud and irregularity, as there was, did not constitute a sufficiency to influence the outcome of the elections, which the JC found to be a fair representation of the will of the electorate. Considering the political rumpus that gave rise to the establishment of JC in the first place, the response has been astonishingly modest from all sides.
Imran Khan who, probably, more than any other single individual was responsible for pressuring the government into the formation of the JC, somehow seems reluctant to accept the findings of the report outrightly. What the JC report has clearly documented above all else is that though the electoral system is imperfect, it is not fatally flawed, and is capable of delivering a result that is a fair representation of the will of the people despite attempts to corrupt the process.
The JC report was made public on July 23. PM Nawaz addressed the nation on its findings later the same evening. Now what? Time has come for PTI Chairman Imran Khan in particular and the other parties in general, who vociferously raised their voices against rigging of the 2013 elections, to demonstrate magnanimity by courageously accepting the verdict of the Judicial Commission (JC) and also tendering an unconditional apology to the nation vis-à-vis the rigging issue.
Display of magnanimity on the part of PML-N President and Prime Minister of Pakistan, Mian Muhammad Nawaz Sharif is also in order. PM Nawaz, burying the past, should extend an invitation to PTI Chairman Imran Khan and all the other political parties to join hands with him to steer Pakistan out of its current gigantic predicaments, put it back on the path to progress and prosperity, and work in unison to make it stand out conspicuously in the comity of respected world nations.
M FAZAL ELAHI
Islamabad
