AS the country is moving swiftly towards the general election, it is perplexing that Maulana Fazlur Rehman, a seasoned politician and chief of his own faction of JUI is, once again, trying to throw spanners in the works. In the backdrop of an attack on his convoy at Yarik interchange in DI Khan, Fazal did not see elections being held on February 08 arguing that the security situation was not suitable for polls.
The attack on the JUI convoy is, no doubt, a serious development that mirrors possible threats and dangers during electioneering, especially in the two volatile provinces of KP and Balochistan. Earlier, 11 people including JUI(F) leader Hafiz Hamdullah were injured in a suicide bombing in Mastung in Balochistan in September last year besides attacks on its leadership in Waziristan and Tank, prompting similar apprehensions and demands from the party. However, it seems that no other party except JUI(F) is supportive of the logic to delay polls on security concerns as elections had been conducted in the past even in more complicated scenarios. The Maulana has justifiably apprehended that how would it be possible for his party and others to carry out electioneering under such threats but the question arises whether there is any possibility of improvement in the security situation in a ‘few days’ for which Fazal wants the elections to be delayed. Otherwise too, the entire country is in election mode and it would not be appropriate to create fissures by postponing polls on any consideration. Already, the armed forces have expressed their resolve to provide necessary assistance to the Election Commission of Pakistan and the caretaker government in conducting the polls in a peaceful environment. Uncertainty and confusion about the electoral process is harmful for the nascent democracy and political parties, which, otherwise, claim to be champions of democracy, should not lend their support to any move to derail the electoral process and that too at this advanced stage.
