Here’s what is happening across the border: Army spokesperson denies involvement of military in elections and survey shows young citizens likely to vote for Imran Khan.
Missing peace activist ‘abducted in December’ found
An activist known for espousing peace between India and Pakistan has been found seven months after he went missing, reported The News International.
Raza Mehmood Khan, 40, is the convener of the bilateral friendship initiative, Aaghaz-e-Dosti.
It’s not clear when Raza was brought back, or who allegedly abducted him, with police refusing to share any information for now. However, privately, Pakistani peace activists have offered a lot of theories, including accusations against the intelligence agencies.
“Raza Mehmood Khan was recovered by Model Town police 10 days ago,” said Rashid Wani, personal secretary to the president of the Commission of Inquiry on Enforced Disappearances, set up by the government on the orders of the Supreme Court. He added that the activist had returned home safely and was in good health.
According to Raza’s brother, who filed a complaint soon after he disappeared, Raza was abducted by strangers from his house in Lahore on 2 December 2017. But he refused to offer comment after Raza’s return, citing ‘security concerns’.
Army has no ‘direct role’ in election, says spokesperson
Pakistan military spokesperson Major General Asif Ghafoor has told a senate committee on interior affairs that the army won’t play any direct role in the 25 July election, reported Dawn.
Denying rumors that the army had received “different” orders for elections, Ghafoor said, “We do not have any link with the elections; we are only working on the election commission’s directives to improve the law and order situation.”
“Maj Gen Ghafoor, however, made it clear that the army’s role in providing security for elections did not mean that it would also take direct responsibility for the well being of politicians,” the report added. The security of politicians, Ghafoor added, was the responsibility of the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) and the government.
Ghafoor said a total of 371,000 military personnel will be deployed at polling stations countrywide, while refusing to say how many were allotted for Balochistan, where a recent suicide blast killed 150 people.
Speaking at the same session, ECP secretary Babar Yaqoob appreciated the efforts of the army towards “making the elections safe”. Saying army personnel will only work under the presiding officer at polling stations, he added, “A perception has been given that the army personnel would have a free role — this is wrong.”
The young prefer Imran Khan, Dawn survey shows
A survey conducted by Dawn, Pakistan’s oldest English daily, ahead of the general election seems to suggest a preference for the Imran Khan-led Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) among the youth. The survey was carried out from 4 to 9 July on its website, with 18,136 people participating.
Highlights:
- A little over half of the respondents voted in the last general election. Close to 67 per cent said they planned to vote on25 July.
- While 41 per cent said they believed the election will be free and fair, the numbers fell with the rise in respondents’ age.
- Only 14 per cent of PTI voters from 2013 said they planned to switch parties, while the number stood at 35 per cent for PML(N) voters.
- Merely 30 per cent of those who voted for the PPP in 2013 think the party will win the upcoming election. However, 83 per cent of PTI voters and 52 per cent of PML(N) voters believe their parties will get a majority.
- Most respondents believed social media had a greater impact on elections than traditional media.Military, however, was said to have the greatest impact of all.
Human rights body says 25 July poll will be ‘dirtiest ever’
In an editorial, Dawn sought to express concern over the recent warning of the Human Right Commission of Pakistan (HRCP) that the “coming general elections will be the dirtiest, most micromanaged and most intensively participated polls in the country’s history”.
If the warnings were to come true, it added, democracy in the country could come under “unmanageable strain”.
The HRCP had issued the warning Monday, saying, “We have serious doubts that elections will be free and fair. Before elections, efforts have been started to pressurise candidates to return tickets. Moreover, we have serious reservations about the use of military troops inside polling stations. So the issue was taken up with the CEC (chief election commissioner) and he assured that officials will not go inside election booths,” HRCP spokesperson I.A. Rehman had said.
Leaders of three political parties summoned by ECP
The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) Thursday issued notices to leaders of three political parties for reportedly using offensive language during their campaigns and violating the code of conduct laid down by the election watchdog, reported Dawn.
Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam president Maulana Fazal-ur-Rehman, Pakistan Muslim League (Nawaz) leader Sardar Ayaz Sadiq, and Pervez Khan Khattak of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) have been asked to appear before the commission Saturday.
In the notice, the election body condemned the use of abusive, derogatory and insolent language against the opposition.
Earlier this week, Wednesday, PTI chairman Imran Khan was asked to appear before the ECP for using the term “donkey” for former PM Nawaz Sharif’s supporters.
Area in Sindh doesn’t know Benzir Bhutto has died
Despite being represented by two national assembly and four provincial assembly seats, Sindh’s Tharparkar area is defined by extreme poverty, with its 1.6 million people lacking even basic necessities, reported Samaa TV.
The region is facing an acute shortage of drinking and irrigation water, with locals in some areas making artificial ponds to collect rainwater. “The region (is) so isolated from the rest of the country that its residents did not even know that Benazir Bhutto had died…” the report added. Bhutto was assassinated during an election campaign rally in 2007.
The provincial government of Sindh has been led by the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) for two full terms, but the area seems to have made no progress over the past decade. Even its assembly representatives have failed to do much, but the 25 July election will see the same parties fielding the same faces.
Contributers: Anagha Deshpande,Hansa Kapoor, Prateek Gupta, Rupanwita Bhattacharjee, Sharanya Munsi, Soniya Agarwal, Manisha Mondal and Alind Chauhan