By virtue of unknown reasons, shadows of postponement are waiving over the upcoming elections that are scheduled to be held on 8th February this year. Though the Supreme Court as well as Election Commission has clarified several times that elections would not go beyond the stipulated time even by one day.
Despite these assurances, there is an ambiguity regarding elections prevailing among the people. Last week the upper house of the parliament had passed a resolution that asked the Election Commission of Pakistan to delay the election due to the increasing incidents of terrorism. Though when the resolution was adopted by the Senate, it had lack of quorum but the resolution still has legal standing.
It is the point of pondering who were those elements which instigated Senators to table the resolution for the postponement the polls because at this juncture when the election schedule is announced, it is not possible that a Senator bring the resolution at his own and it was adopted by the house too. There is someone who’s brainchild was executed in the Senate. The leader of one major religious party also hinted that delay in elections would be acceptable for them.Now there is less than one-month time left in the elections but the election campaign has not started yet by any political party on a large scale. It seems that political parties are sensing that it is not an appropriate time to commence countrywide election campaign due to deteriorating law and order situation, lack of interest shown by the people in elections and present wave of cold weather in the country. It is the very reason that the atmosphere of electioneering could not be built up so far in the country.
On the other side it is for the first time in the history of Pakistan that the general public did not show any interest in the election hitherto, which is contrary to the previous practices because, it had been a routine in the country that people showed keen response towards politics and electioneering at every election that was held in the past but this time they seem to be quiet as the election date is coming closer and closer.
It might be a reason that polls could not attract the attention of the people that in the current political scenario, the supporters of one party are at the doldrums about whether their party and leaders would be allowed to contest the elections or not, so they are disappointed at the moment. As the people are feeling that one sided wind is blowing and they can foresee that one political party could get more seats in the elections than others. So watching the political manipulations, the common man has lost his interest from the election process.
As a matter of fact, the sabotage activities had raised manifolds since the caretaker government came into power and the terrorist attacks are still going on especially in the areas adjacent to the western border in two provinces i.e. Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan. The rise of terrorism is a worrying situation as when the election campaign would be kicked off by the political parties as well as independent candidates, these attacks could be a potential threat for them which could also hurt the election process.
It seems that within closed walls, a tug of war among the two sides of persuasive elements is continuing between those who want to hold election on time and those who are desirous to delay the polls, due to which the clouds of uncertainty are undulating over the political background of Pakistan. However, in the coming week or so, the real picture will be painted out.