Something rotten
The controversy
over the Senate elections and the subsequent election of the Chairman and
Deputy Chairman of the upper house refuses to die down. Fresh impetus to the
charges and counter-charges of horse trading by political parties has been
provided by the revelation of the Jamaat-i-Islami chief, Senator Siraj ul Haq,
that Khyber Pakthunkhwa (KP) Chief Minister (CM) Pervez Khattak solicited his
party’s votes on the eve of these elections by saying the PTI had received
instructions from on ‘top’ to vote for Sadiq Sanjrani as Chairman. Naturally,
this statement added fuel to the fire of speculations surrounding the seeming
hanky-panky that went on, starting with the ‘coup’ against the PML-N-led
coalition government in Balochistan and ending up with the Senate election
debacle. Siraj’s revelation has soured relations between the JI and PTI
coalition partners in the KP government, with PTI chief Imran Khan and party
spokesman Fawad Chaudhry calling out the JI to leave the KP government. Siraj
has attempted a justification for the JI lingering on in the corridors of power
in Peshawar by citing the few weeks left of the KP government’s tenure, during
which its member, who is the KP finance minister, is involved in budget
preparations. PTI sources say this is just a cover up since Imran Khan has
already announced that CM Khattak will not be presenting this year’s budget
before his government’s term expires. Khattak has also attempted to cast doubt
on Siraj’s statement by ‘clarifying’ that by ‘top’ he meant Bani Gala (Imran
Khan’s residence in Islamabad) and no one else. Nevertheless, given the swirl
of rumour, accusation and allegation surrounding the whole affair, Siraj’s
statement has not only rocked the boat of the KP government on the eve of its
departure, it has cast a long shadow over the upcoming general elections.
Meanwhile the group of 20 PTI MPAs named and shamed by Imran Khan as having
sold their votes for money has hit back in a press conference demanding an
apology within 15 days or they will seek legal recourse. They have also inveigled
Khattak as the fount of buying and selling of votes during the Senate elections
and accused him of corruption in mega projects. Other reports say the seemingly
bold move of Imran Khan to ‘out’ these allegedly erring MPAs is less principled
than it appears at first glance. It is said these MPAs had already fallen out
of favour and were unlikely to be given tickets in the upcoming election. Hence
their outing would not dent the PTI in the manner and to the extent initial
opinion thought.
The row over the
whole episode also bears the background of the JI having decided to join the
newly resurrected Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal (MMA) alliance of religious parties.
It may not therefore feel any hesitation in ‘ditching’ its senior coalition
partner at this juncture. The to and fro fray that the issue has given birth to
notwithstanding, it has strengthened Nawaz Sharif and the PML-N’s stance that
skullduggery was afoot throughout. Reports speak of the deep state penetrating
deeply into the Senate electoral process, an intervention that has delegitimised
the electoral and democratic process grievously. The ‘confirmation’ of
skullduggery may have come from an unexpected source, but as an ‘insider’ of
the KP government, Siraj’s blowing the lid off the murky affair has focused the
spotlight on the engineered outcome in Balochistan and the subsequent Senate
elections. Now the PML-N and others are expressing doubts about whether in the
present atmosphere, free and fair general elections are at all possible. The
PML-N sees the trend as pointing in the direction of denying it its expected
mandate and putting Nawaz Sharif and perhaps other members of his family behind
bars on corruption charges. All this may succeed in obtaining the ‘positive
results’ so beloved of our establishment in our history, but the validity of
the election result may become questionable thus undermining the position of
the elected as truly representing the will of the people.
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