Vantage | Will Pakistan's elections be delayed again?

Timely and fair elections are not really Pakistan’s specialty or top priority. In fact, the polls have already been delayed, not once, but twice. Voting was supposed to happen in November. But it was pushed back to the last week of January, and then came the second delay. Voting was again pushed back by the Election Commission to February 8. So, what’s the hold-up this time? Well, nothing is official; the EC says everything is on track, but most politicians have not even started promoting themselves, and the local media is abuzz with talk of a possible postponement. The truth is, the country doesn’t look ready. There are no campaign rallies, no candidate lists, and no election advertisements. Local media and politicians are talking about a possible delay.

Former President Asif Ali Zardari says delaying the elections by 8 to 10 days is no big deal. Which may be the case in fake democracies. But in real ones, elections are sacred. It’s not like your annual family function where dates have to match. Once declared, it must be upheld. And it’s not just Zardari. Maulana Fazlur Rehman, who heads an Islamist party called the JUI-F is saying something similar. Rehman says elections cannot be held in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. Many Pakistanis share his worry because of a couple of reasons. First, the security situation, which is pretty bad. There were three separate terror attacks on Tuesday. All of them are in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. One attack targeted a military checkpost, a suicide bomber killed 23 soldiers and injured 32 others. The attack has been claimed by the Tehreek-e-Jihad Pakistan which is a recently formed terror outfit in the country. It is an offshoot of the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan which has been attacking multiple military and civilian sites. Last week, there was a blast in Peshawar, where four children were injured. The week before that, a security convoy was targeted, causing one fatality, 21 injured. In early November, again, in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, a bomb blast targeted police officers. Five officers were killed. In late September, a mosque in Balochistan was targeted. Almost 60 people lost their lives there. The same day, police officers in KP were targeted in which four officers died, 12 were injured. So, terror attacks are on the rise. In fact, August was the worst, data shows an 83 percent rise in terror attacks that month. What explains this? Well, the likes of the TTP have a safe house now named Afghanistan. The TTP and the Afghan Taliban have ethnic ties. So TTP terrorists have set up a base near the Afghan border. They pop over, launch an attack, then return. And what is Pakistan’s army doing about it? Ideally, they should be cracking down. But right now, Pakistanis are busy with politics. As far as we can tell, there is no clear anti-terrorism plan. That’s one reason why elections could be delayed. A second reason is the fear of losing. It’s clear that the Pakistani army wants Nawaz Sharif to win. But will the people play along? Imran khan still has a strong support base. In June last year, his approval rating was 60 percent. And chances are, his arrest has rallied his supporters. They may not have protested in the streets. But if given a ballot paper, they may still vote for him. That would be a nightmare for the army. They had arrested Khan, filed dozens of cases against him, cracked down on his supporters, and brought back Nawaz Sharif, but what if, despite all this, the Sharifs lose? The army simply cannot afford that. Having said that, you can’t just keep delaying elections. After all, the world is watching, and so is the International Monetary Fund. Pakistan is betting on the IMF to survive the current economic crisis, an election delay won’t sit well with them, so it’s a tough call for the establishment. Do you risk a security crisis and Imran Khan’s victory? Or do you delay for a third time? We should know soon enough. Views expressed in the above piece are personal and solely that of the author. They do not necessarily reflect Firstpost’s views. Read all the  Latest News,  Trending News,  Cricket News,  Bollywood News, India News and  Entertainment News here. Follow us on  Facebook,  Twitter and  Instagram.