Saving the polls
(Shahrukh Iqbal, karachi)
The leadership of the Pakistan
Army approved a security plan for national and provincial polls and the
necessary troop deployment. The plan, which was approved on Tuesday at the corps
commanders’ conference in Rawalpindi, envisaged concentrated troop deployments
for polling stations under threat. The conference was called by COAS Gen
Ashfaque Pervez Kiyani at a time when militants have been directing violence
against election activities in an attempt to have them cancelled. Therefore, the
beginning of deployment, which is already taking place, in six districts of
Balochistan, is not merely the fulfillment of General Kayani’s pledges to the
Chief Election Commissioner and the caretaker Prime Minister, but also a
practical proof of the Army’s commitment to the poll process. The announcement
of the PPP, the ANP and the MQM of their resolve to contest the polls showed the
same commitment. Though this announcement came from Sindh leaders of the
components of the outgoing coalition, it was backed by contacts between
President Zardari on behalf of the PPP and the other two party heads. It took
place in Karachi, where all three parties were struck by the militants. The
leaders of these parties alleged that the militants were armed wings of
right-wing parties, though the militants had announced that the PTI, the PML(N)
and the JUI(F) would not be spared either. This decision by the three parties
originally targeted showed that the elections would take place on schedule, and
thus the attempt of the militants had not succeeded.
The armed forces must be conscious both of the importance of the task to
national life, and of the risks involved. The importance of the task lies in the
importance of these elections to the aspirations of the nation, and the hopes it
is pinning to getting the type of government it really wants. The crisis
involved should be familiar to the Army, which now has spent years fighting
against militants in the tribal areas.
The commitment shown by both politicians should not solely be towards elections,
but towards the purpose behind those elections, which is a solution of the
problems that have made the lives of the ordinary citizen so difficult. That has
become all the more necessary by the current campaign, which has meant that the
struggle for the vote will have been a bloody one. It is also incumbent on the
nation to back both its Army and its political parties by defying the threat and
turning out in large numbers to vote on polling day.