The writer is an independent social scientist and author of Military Inc.

Two days after the general elections in Pakistan, I sat watching a debate between senior leaders of the PTI, the MQM and the PML-N regarding rigging in elections. The most amazing part of the conversation was the suggestion by the PTI leader that perhaps, intelligence agency wallahs were stuffing ballot boxes at a polling station from where a PML-N candidate won. The same leader also talked about an opinion piece suggesting that the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) was bribed to ensure a certain win. The other day, I heard a ‘so-called’ journalist talking in a television programme, of foreign countries like Turkey being involved in ensuring certain election results in Pakistan. Notwithstanding some genuine complaints of rigging, the conversation and suggestion reflected a desire to delegitimise the larger election process, which did not bring about results that a certain segment of the population ....... Read more

The writer is a retired civil servant.

THE campaigning in the run-up to Saturday and the voting on election day were generally orderly but allegations of rigging were aplenty as the results poured in.

To an extent, the complaints may be due to the misplaced confidence of the defeated party but the clamour is loud enough to call for an impartial inquiry. The admirers of retired Justice Fakhruddin G. Ebrahim — this writer being one of them — must feel quite hurt that such widespread charges should have arisen with a man of his reputation as the chief election commissioner.

He and his colleagues on the commission — all retired judges — were chosen by the president on the recommendation of the prime minister and the leader of the opposition, and approved by a parliamentary committee in which the treasury and opposition were both represented. There could hardly have been any other safeguard to ensure the non-partisan character of the commission.

Yet riggi....... Read more

EVEN after making allowances for the controversy over irregularities in polling at a number of places, the May 11 election marks a step forward in the Pakistanis’ quest for a democratic order.

The most positive development has been the people’s reiteration of their faith in representative rule. They defied the death squads as well as the preachers of theocracy and thronged to the polling stations in larger numbers than they had done for four decades. The call of democracy was answered in both rural and urban areas and no class chose to stay out of the electoral process. There was a good crop of new faces, including many women. All this augurs well for Pakistan’s polity.

However, the joy of a popular election has been diminished to some extent by the failure of many candidates to respect the electorate’s choices. That results were manipulated at as many as 100 polling stations raises serious doubts about the fairness of the poll.

Those who were determined to....... Read more

The bloodiest election in Pakistan’s history is over and the country’s first democratic transfer of power ever will take place shortly. We had discussed the expected results in this space last week. The only thing to add is that the country’s polity did indeed take a decisive right turn. But no account of the elections and the post-election scenario would be complete without remembering the leaders from Benazir Bhutto to Bashir Bilour and, equally importantly, hundreds of political workers who sacrificed their lives to make this transition possible. The Awami National Party (ANP), of which Mr Bilour was a senior leader, lost over 700 members to the terrorist attacks.

The ANP came under attack 31 times during the elections campaign. It got people’s sympathy but apparently not their vote. The Pashtun nationalist party was routed in its home province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. The anatomy of this defeat is both complex and tragic. It would never be easy to broach the subject th....... Read more

by  Tariq Butt in the News, May 16

ISLAMABAD: The smaller provinces are likely to clinch the top elected offices of the President of Pakistan and Speaker of the National Assembly with the position of the prime minister obviously going to Punjab.

“Since this time we are more conscious about attaching more importance to the smaller provinces, we will take in the cabinet our confidants from these regions in greater numbers to involve them at the federal level,” a senior PML-N leader told The News.

Over the past five years, Nawaz Sharif made it a point to stand with Balochi and Sindhi nationalists as well as other parties from these areas and also made electoral alliances with them. In exchange, they are also very favourable and sympathetic towards the PML-N.

The PML-N leader said although nothing was yet final about the composition of the next cabinet, yet some figures like Senator Ishaq Dar are apparent choices to be inducted in it.

In Balochistan,....... Read more

KARACHI – PPP central leader Senator Raza Rabbani, unveiling a seven-point agenda to monitor the performance of the next PML-N government, has announced that the party will play an effective and constructive role as opposition in and out of the parliament.

Addressing a press conference at the Karachi Press Club on Wednesday, Raza Rabbani said PPP had accepted the results of the elections with reservations as the party was singled out by Taliban due to its ideology of left, but no security was provided to their candidates in the country.

Rabbani said multiple factors, including international establishment’s conspiracy to bring the right wing party to the power corridors, poor performance of the party government in Balochistan and rigging, caused failure of the party in the elections.

He said PPP had a clear majority and would form government in Sindh. “Through good governance and excellent performance in the provincial government, we will give message to t....... Read more

WASHINGTON: Former US ambassador to Pakistan Cameron Munter has said that there is no more Bhutto in the Pakistan People’s Party now and President Asif Ali Zardari has failed as party chief and the president.

At a press briefing, the ex ambassador said that Nawaz Sharif has emerged as a strong leader and he had yet to decid whether he wanted to indulge in political wrangling or focus on economy, good governance and improving relations with India.

He said that rigging in recent polls showed violation of rules and regulations. Speaking on the occasion, Denial Markey, an expert on Pakistan affairs, said that the elections had further pushed the country into ethnic divide.

Both the speakers rejected a US newspaper reports that US had played any role in Nawaz Sharif victory against his political rival Imran Khan.http://www.thefrontierpost.com/article/12774/

May 16, 2013   No Comments

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