When Pakistan will hold elections is a question a lot of people want to know. While Imran Khan wants immediate elections the coalition government believes it will benefit by delaying elections.
According to an Editorial in The Friday Times, the coalition led government “decided against holding quick elections for four main reasons. It wanted to fill two vacancies in the Election Commission of Pakistan that had rendered it weak so that it could neither hold elections efficiently, nor conclude the Foreign Funding Case against the PTI.”
Next, the government “also sought to legislate electoral laws against EVMs and Dual Nationals which are unworkable or put it at a distinct disadvantage. It wanted to defang NAB and make it less hostile towards businessmen, bureaucrats and politicians because it had metamorphosized over time from a credible anti-corruption watchdog into an unaccountable and ruthless institution to victimize opponents of the sitting government or Miltablishment. The PDM also sought time to wrap up the NAB and FIA “cases” — which haven’t yielded any convictions in four years despite dogged efforts by Imran Khan — against its leaders and set them free to take on the PTI.”
Further, the establishment is divided internally. “Imran Khan has successfully divided the Miltablishment and stopped it from supporting the PDM government. Indeed, there is evidence to believe that the Miltablishment has come under pressure from its rank and file to side with Imran Khan’s demand for quick elections. Under the circumstances, the PDM finds itself up the creek without a paddle. Damned if it implements the IMF’s agenda, triggering a popular backlash against it, giving the Miltablishment and PTI an excuse to drag it into an election when its graph is down. Damned if it doesn’t, hastening a financial bankruptcy of the economy and leading to chaos and anarchy with terrible consequences for the country.”
In conclusion the editorial notes, “Time and again we find the Miltablishment’s political experiments come a cropper. This time, however, it has been a veritable disaster. The prodigal son has turned not only on the Miltablishment but also on the constitution and economy. Therefore the new PDM government should be allowed to tackle the national crisis and “neutralise” the destabilising threat from Imran Khan without constantly looking over its shoulder for a conspiracy to oust it from office.”
