New Delhi: Pakistan suspended mobile phone services across the country on Thursday over what it termed as a deteriorating “security” situation as polls opened in the South Asian nation.
The Army’s chosen and former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif is in the fray to be the next premier while his main opponent Imran Khan is in jail.
It has emerged that the country of 241 million people has also temporarily closed some land borders to maintain law and order, and to ensure secure voting for citizens, according to media reports.
In the run-up to the polls, Pakistan witnessed a surge in violence committed by militants, with twin blasts taking place in Balochistan Wednesday, outside the offices of an independent candidate and the Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam- Fazl (JUI-F), that killed 26 people and injured dozens of others.
Also read: Pakistan elections: All eyes on whether Army favourite Nawaz Sharif will win majority
Bilawal Bhutto Zardari, the prime ministerial candidate of the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP), has called for immediate restoration of mobile services in the country and announced his party would be approaching both the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) and the courts on this matter.
“Mobile phone services must be restored immediately across the country. (I) have asked my party to approach both ECP and the courts for this purpose,” Bhutto Zardari posted on the social media platform X.
NetBlocks, an organisation that tracks internet shutdowns on X, highlighted that the second-largest mobile operator in Pakistan, Zong, was heavily affected. NetBloks further added that subsequent internet blackouts were seen across multiple regions in Pakistan.
⚠️ Update: Real-time network data show that internet blackouts are now in effect in multiple regions of #Pakistan in addition to mobile network disruptions; the incident comes on election day and follows months of digital censorship targeting the political opposition 📉 pic.twitter.com/47Yja44TI9
— NetBlocks (@netblocks) February 8, 2024
Mohsin Dawar, the chairman of the National Democratic Movement (NDM), a Pashtun nationalist political party in Pakistan, said on X that three polling agents from his party were attacked in Tappi in the province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa during the early hours of voting Thursday.
“Three of our female polling agents in Tappi have been attacked by the Taliban. They escaped the blast very narrowly. I had written to the DRO to change the polling stations in Tappi but my letter was ignored. The ECP has to take notice of the security situation in Tappi urgently,” Dawar said on X.
The provinces of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan have seen an increase in militancy and associated violence in the last one year, accounting for over 90 percent of such cases in 2023, according to Center for Research and Security Studies (CRSS), an Islamabad-based think tank.
Around 5,000 candidates are contesting for the 265 seats in the National Assembly today, according to local media reports, with Nawaz Sharif, the leader of the Pakistan Muslim League Nawaz (PML-N), expected to win the election.
All eyes are on whether Sharif — the chosen candidate of the powerful Pakistan military brass — will win a majority or be forced to form a coalition government amid fears of a rigged vote.
In the build-up to the polls, the country witnessed a state crackdown on jailed former PM Imran Khan and his party, the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI). The party, contesting without its famous “cricket bat” election symbol, has registered its candidates as independents and has used social media to canvas, as reported by ThePrint earlier.
On Thursday, PTI party leader Hammad Azhar claimed that publicity material of non-PTI candidates have, in the past 24 hours, changed to show them as candidates of the party to further confuse voters.
“In many constituencies, publicity material of non-PTI nominated members (was) put up overnight showing them as PTI candidates. This has been done to confuse the voter. The many ways in which PTI vote (is) being attempted to divide & an implicit admission that majority voting for PTI,” Azhar said on X.
(Edited by Tikli Basu)
Also read: Pakistanis call Shehbaz Sharif ‘Gareebo ka Rocky Balboa’ after former PM indulges in air punches