Pakistan army and corrupt politicians hell-bent on excluding PTI from elections

Developing Just Leadership

Crescent International

Jumada' al-Akhirah 18, 1445 2023-12-31

Daily News Analysis

by Crescent International

Unless the courts intervene—a slim chance—the Pakistan army and corrupt politicians are hell-bent on excluding the largest political party from the February 8, 2024 general elections.

Some observers have even expressed fear that elections may be postponed or even cancelled altogether.

What is the reason for such illegal acts?

The former prime minister Imran Khan and his party, Pakistan Tehreek-e Insaf (PTI) are extremely popular with the masses.

If allowed to participate, the party will sweep the polls.

Khan is currently languishing in jail on bogus charges, all part of the army’s plot to keep him out of politics.

Why does the army want to keep him and his party out of politics?

The Pakistan army is no longer a professional force.

It has become a bunch of mercenaries working for the Americans for a fistful of dollars.

In March 2022, the Americans ordered the Pakistan army to remove Imran Khan from power.

This message was communicated by Donald Lu, a third ranking state department official, to Pakistan’s then ambassador in Washington Dr Asad Majid Khan.

The ambassador duly notified the foreign office as part of his diplomatic duty.

Lu’s message, however, was meant for the Pakistan army chief who at the time was Qamar Javed Bajwa.

This American agent immediately started the ball rolling and with the intelligence chief, another lowly creature, plotted the removal of Imran Khan through vote buying in parliament.

Unfortunately, most Pakistani politicians have no ideological commitment.

They will sell their mothers for a few dollars or even a visa to the US for their son or nephew.

The requisite number of politicians sold their mothers, and some their daughters, to vote against Imran Khan in parliament.

The army then installed a bunch of criminals, murderers and rapists in power who ruined the country’s economy.

It could be asked, why the army does not grab the reins of power directly?

If it can find corrupt politicians to carry out their orders, it is not necessary for the army to take over directly.

This has the advantage of getting their orders complied with and if things go wrong, as they have done since April 2022 when Imran Khan was ousted from power, they do not have to take the blame.

In fact, the army hides behind a whole range of institutions that it has marshalled for its political engineering project.

These include corrupt politicians who are willing to abide by army’s illegal commands.

The courts also take orders from the army.

Never popular, the judges have become a thoroughly despised bunch.

And then there is the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) headed by a vile creature, Sikandar Sultan Raja.

They all comply with the army’s orders.

Let us recount what has transpired so far.

The ECP’s role is to hold free, fair and transparent elections in the country.

Yet all its actions are geared toward denying the most popular party from participation.

According to the constitution, elections should have been held by November 7, 2023 since the previous government had resigned on August 7.

A caretaker government was inducted, again headed by an army-approved clown whose mandate is for 90 days during which time he must arrange for elections.

Yet this clown struts about the world acting as if he will rule forever.

He does so because he knows that the army is backing him.

It was the Supreme Court that ordered elections be held on February 8, 2024.

While the date has been announced, the ECP and its minions have done everything in their power to deny PTI candidates from registering for election and subsequently, it has disqualified nearly 90 percent of its candidates.

On December 15, when the Supreme Court ruled that the ECP should ensure a “level playing” field for all political parties, that very night, the electoral body announced that PTI cannot have its electoral symbol, “the bat”.

The cricket bat symbolizes Imran Khan’s prowess in cricket.

It was under his captainship that Pakistan won the world cup in 1992, for the first and last time.

Every political party wants to grab the bat symbol, aware that many people will not be able to recognize the candidate at the ballot box.

But with the bat symbol, they might sneak into parliament.

PTI lawyers have vowed to challenge the rejection of their candidates in the Supreme Court.

How the court would rule is difficult to predict.

As pointed out, judges take their orders from the army, or more precisely, from the few generals who act as a mafia.

The Pakistan army is no longer capable of defending the country’s borders or liberating any territory, such as Kashmir from the clutches of India.

So, it resorts to conquering its own people.

The army has reduced Pakistan into a mess.

The economy is in ruins; there are deep social and political divisions and thousands of people have been kidnapped and made to disappear.

Hundreds of people from Balochistan, the majority of them young women, have camped outside the National Press Club in Islamabad since December 20, asking the authorities for answers about their loved ones who have disappeared.

They are referred to as “missing persons”.

In 2010, there was a government commission to look into the cases of “missing persons”.

In other words, the state acknowledged the kidnapping of people from Balochistan.

The reason successive governments have not been able to do anything about the missing persons is that all these people have been kidnapping by the army.

Thousands of other Baloch youth have been murdered in cold blood in what is referred to as “police encounters”.

What does all this have to do with Imran Khan and the reasons behind denying his party a fair chance at elections?

First, the Americans do not want Imran Khan back in power.

He is too independent-minded and will refuse to take orders from them.

The ugly Americans want puppets, not independent-minded leaders.

Second, Imran Khan has vowed that when he returns to power, he will go after all those people who have violated the constitution or indulged in corruption and put them on trial.

These include politicians, the bureaucracy, judiciary, police and even senior army officers.

This is what terrifies these criminals and crooks.

They do not want Imran Khan in power, hence their desperate attempts to deny him participation in elections.

Without free and fair elections, Pakistan will not be able to overcome its economic crisis that is the direct result of political uncertainty.

The army and a bunch of criminals masquerading as politicians will rather destroy Pakistan than allow Imran Khan’s party to contest the elections that they know the PTI is sure to win.

This is the tragedy of Pakistan.

Without PTI’s participation in elections, the result will be a farce.

The masses will not accept it.

There is fear that civil war might erupt in the country.

Will the army take heed? Perish the thought.