Roving Periscope: As Nawaz returns, Afghans flee, Pakistan announces Feb 11 polls
Virendra Pandit
New Delhi: Days after three-time Prime Minister Mian Mohammed Nawaz Sharif returned home after four years in self-exile in London to try his luck a fourth time, and Islamabad started a crackdown on 1.7 million Afghan refugees to force them out amid Taliban threats, the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) on Thursday announced to hold the scheduled General Elections to National Assembly on February 11, 2024.
A three-judge bench comprising Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) Qazi Faez Isa, Justice Amin-ud-Din Khan, and Justice Athar Minallah took up the pleas moved by the Supreme Court Bar Association (SCBA), the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) outfit of former PM Imran Khan, and others, the Dawn newspaper reported.
The next election to the Lower House of bicameral Parliament will be held on February 11 next year, the poll panel informed the Supreme Court on Thursday, putting an end to months-long uncertainty over the polls in the restive South Asian country, which is plagued with multiple crises like near-bankruptcy, Islamic fundamentalism, terror nurseries, civil war-like situation, hyperinflation, food crisis, increasing Taliban ‘friendly fires’, and more.
The ECP counsel, Sajeel Swati, informed the Supreme Court of the election date when it resumed hearing on a set of petitions pressing for elections within the stipulated 90 days after President Arif Alvi dissolved the House and provincial assemblies on August 9. This has ended months-long uncertainty over the polls in a country historically infamous for army coups against elected governments.
The announcement of the elections coincides with the resumption of Pakistan’s negotiations with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) for the release of the second tranche of USD 710 million from the USD 3 billion loan to the cash-strapped country to stabilize its debt-ridden economy.
The clarity of the poll date is expected to strengthen the case for the Ministry of Finance during its talks with the IMF, although the global lender had not explicitly attached any such conditions.
The ECP had earlier ruled out polls this year citing the need for fresh delimitation of constituencies.
Since the National Assembly was dissolved three days before the end of its constitutional term, Article 224 of the Constitution mandates that elections be held within 90 days of the dissolution of the assembly, that is by November 7.
But, Section 17(2) of the Elections Act states that “the commission shall delimit constituencies after every census is officially published.”
Last month, the commission announced that elections would be held in January 2024 but stopped short of announcing a date.
President Alvi had, in his September 13 letter to Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Sikandar Sultan Raja, proposed that elections be held by November 6. However, the Ministry of Law and Justice informed Alvi that the powers to announce the poll date rested with the ECP, not the President.
While sharing the schedule with the apex court, the ECP’s lawyer said that all arrangements, including delimitation, will be completed by January 29, 2024.
Meanwhile, as thousands of panicked Afghan refugees fled for Afghanistan, its ruling Taliban condemned Pakistan’s decision to deport them as inhumane and detrimental to Afghan-Pakistani relations.
Pakistan has been grappling with a series of grave issues from economic crises to terrorism leaving its population in a state of constant unrest. To address these problems, the caretaker government has found a new target: the Afghan refugees.
Islamabad’s current woes are largely the result of its past wrong decisions. It invested in fostering terrorism and used it as a tool of state policy, which is now coming back to haunt the nation. The consequences of these choices have been a persistent wave of terror attacks, an unstable economy, high inflation, and food and power shortages.
To divert attention from its domestic issues, Pakistan is now blaming the soft targets, the Afghan refugees. On October 3, Islamabad set the deadline for them to leave Pakistan within 28 days or face deportation. This deadline left tens of thousands of Afghan refugees with no choice but to leave and those who remain live in fear.
