Fear grips Pakistan not only about natural calamities, the recent earthquake for instance, but also about the run-up to the general elections in May. Minorities continue to be killed. Political leaders and electoral candidates have been targeted. In the past few weeks, party offices have been bombed and political leaders threatened, even eliminated. That is so especially in Khyber Pakhtunkwa and the Federally Administered Tribal Areas. Karachi is not safe either. The Pakistani Taliban are gunning for the Awami National Party and the Pakistan People’s Party. The Muttahadi Qaumi Movement is also in the line of Taliban fire. The Taliban favour religious parties like the Jammat Ulema-Islam and factions of the Jamiat Ulema-Islam are welcoming it. It will be a severe blow to secularism in Pakistan if these groups together ride to power. The democratic process will be set at naught as happened in 2002 when Pervez Musharraf was in the saddle.
Apart from Taliban terror, there is the youth power which supports Imran Khan’s party, Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf. This party has a major presence in urban centres, especially in Punjab where it is pitted against the Pakistan Muslim League (Nawaz). A setback for the PML will be a gain to the PPP. All this creates a bizarre scenario. The election commission is exercising rare vigilance. The impartiality of the judiciary is under scanner. All said and done, the Pakistan elections will be highly exciting and the rest of the world, especially India is waiting for the final drama to unfold.
