Free and fair parliamentary elections despite being the largest democracy : Pakistani senator commends ‘enemy country’ India

Islamabad (Pakistan) – Syed Shibli Faraz, a senator of Pakistan’s former Prime Minister Imran Khan’s ‘Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf’ party, criticised Pakistan’s general elections while praising the election process held in India, in the Pak Senate. Faraz said, “I don’t want to cite an example of our enemy country, where elections were held recently, and 800 million people cast their votes. There were thousands of polling booths, and some polling booths were set up for just one voter in that place. The entire month-long process was conducted with the help of electronic voting machines (EVMs). Was there a voice raised against the voting procedure ? Despite being the biggest democracy in the world, elections were held at such a huge scale, without allegations of rigging. We, too, want the same thing in Pakistan.”

Faraz added that the intention was not to get caught in which party won, but this kind of approach has hollowed their political system. Why can’t elections be held in a free and fair atmosphere, even in Pakistan ?

Questions raised on elections held in Pakistan

General elections were held in Pakistan on 8th February 2024, but which party was to form the Government was decided before the elections. There was a wave of former Prime Minister Imran Khan all through Pakistan, but the Pakistan army didn’t like Imran Khan. It wanted Nawaz Sharif to come back to power. Imran Khan’s party was not allowed to contest the election. There were allegations of rigging after the declaration of the results. There were accusations of defeat forced on all independent candidates who supported Imran Khan.

A letter was written to the US President Joe Biden by 31 US lawmakers, urging Biden to withhold ‘recognition’ of the new Pak Government until a ‘credible’ poll rigging probe was conducted. The election was not held peacefully in Pakistan. Mobile phone networks were shut down on 8th February. There were Incidents of violence reported in many areas. The declaration of results was also delayed, increasing the suspicion of fraud.

Editorial Perspective

This can never happen in Pakistan since there is military rule and no democracy.