Roving Periscope: As Imran fields Omar Ayub, the Sharif-Bhutto combine panics in Pakistan

Virendra Pandit 

New Delhi: With jailed former Prime Minister Imran Ahmed Khan Niazi suddenly fielding former minister Omar Ayub Khan, grandson of ex-dictator “Field Marshal” Ayub Khan, as his prime ministerial candidate, the Sharif-Bhutto alliance has panicked and trying to poach into the former cricket star’s group of ‘independent’ winners.

Meanwhile, the media reported on Saturday, that a court directed the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECB) to unblock the PTI’s poll symbol, the cricket bat.

The media reported that Imran, whose PTI-supported independents won 93 seats against PML(N)’s 79 and PPP’s 54 in a National Assembly of 266, is reaching out not to any political outfit for support to form a government but to the Islamic fundamentalist poll losers to pit them against the army, especially in the restive Baluchistan Province.

Officials on Saturday clamped prohibitory orders in Islamabad as PTI began nationwide protests against alleged rigging and stealing of its mandate in the February 8 elections.

Criticizing the outcome of the polls, which saw the PTI-backed independent candidates emerging as the largest group by winning over 90 National Assembly seats, the PTI announced holding countrywide “peaceful protests” against what it termed “record-high rigging.” The protests began with a march in Wana in South Waziristan of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province.

While the party had early decided to sit in the Opposition in parliament, it later fielded Omar Ayub as its PM candidate, releasing the cat among the pigeons.

“The PTI has called for country-wide protests against the unprecedented, massive, brazen rigging in general elections 2024, where PTI’s win of 180 National Assembly seats and a two-thirds majority in the parliament, was cut down to half,” the party said in a statement.

“The 2024 elections would be remembered in the country’s history due to the scale of rigging,” PTI spokesperson Raoof Hasan said.

The Islamabad police prohibitory orders are in force in the capital city and security is on high alert, the Dawn newspaper reported. Without directly referring to protests, it said there could be increased traffic near the F9 park and urged the public to avoid unnecessary travel on the nearby routes.

The police said that special forces of the Counter Terrorism Department had been deployed on patrol to deal with any emergency. It added that patrolling has been increased across the district while checking has been tightened at checkpoints.

Khan’s PTI is not the only party that has voiced its concerns over the outcome of the February 8 polls, as the Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazl (JUI-F), Grand Democratic Alliance (GDA), and others have also complained of rigging during the elections held under the all-powerful army’s ‘supervision’ but failed to produce the desired results.

Ahead of the PTI’s protests, officials issued two threat alerts owing to serious threats of terrorism from specific banned groups, reported The News. Additional troops of Punjab Rangers have been directed to deal with any eventuality in the city.

Meanwhile, Pakistan Muslim League (Nawaz) (PML-N) has intensified efforts to woo independent candidates in Punjab ahead of cobbling up a coalition government both in the center and the province, Dawn reported.

Three-time Prime Minister Mian Muhammad Nawaz Sharif’s dynastic party has so far poached 16 independent Members of Parliament (MP)-elect and four members of the National Assembly (MNA)-elect.

According to unofficial election results, the PML-N has 79 seats in the National Assembly and 137 in the Punjab Assembly, respectively. With the inclusion of 16 independent winners, the PML-N number in the provincial assembly has touched 153.

The PML-N aims to gather enough independents so that it does not need to depend much on the PPP in the future scheme of things.

The Istehkam-i-Pakistan Party (IPP) has also managed to woo four MPAs-elect (three of them backed by the PTI).

After the resignation of IPP patron-in-chief Jahangir Khan Tareen, Aleem Khan is controlling the party that was carved out of PTI in the wake of the May 9 events. He claimed that another group of 10 to 15 MPAs-elect would soon join the IPP, as they had been in contact with him.