With the Presidential election just around the corner, September 6th, rumor has it that PML-N and PML-Q are in talks once again and might form an alliance or may field a joint candidate.

Now, does this make any sense? Is PML-N now willing to forgive and forget PML-Q’s role during Musharraf regime? So whatever happened to standing for justice and for your principles? Politics is a dirty game, but if PML-N forms and alliance with PML-Q then I’m afraid the ‘lotta’ tag associated with members of Muslim League will once again be proven correct.

Whatever the outcome of this Presidential election, I hope and pray that PPP led government complete its tenure. We have had way too many elected governments being over thrown without completing their terms, only to allow them to come back with ‘excuses’ like, “we were never allowed to complete our elected term.” We have to let our elected governments complete their terms (good or bad) so that people of Pakistan could judge them based on their performance over a 5 year period and then make up their mind accordingly if the party deserves another chance or not? In my opinion this is the only way to change the mind set of hard core supporters of some our major parties. These supporters should be given a chance to judge their favorite parties based on their actual performance and not rather on some ‘family’ name or ‘empty slogans.’

Though the turnout remained lower this time but the people of Pakistan played their part towards a democratic Pakistan. The main reason of low turn out in NA-127 was the murder of 4 people including the PP-154 candidate Asif Ashraf.

Even thoughl, we are all grateful to those who came to polling stations and casted their votes; and we must salute the old people, like in the pictures below who are dependent on others, who came to cast their votes and played an active role in deciding the future of Pakistan.
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As all of us know that according to the rules and regulations of Election Commission of Pakistan, no official/governmental resources could be used for any sort of election campaign to support any of the MNAs or MPAs candidate. Also, a punishment of disqualification was announced for any of the government employees found involved in any sort of political supportive activity for any of the candidates nominated for the elections 2008.

The picture below shows the activities being done in the government office of the Union Council (UC) 133, Town Ship, Lahore. The office remained open on February 18, the day of elections, in spite of the fact that it was a government holiday.
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President Musharraf fulfilled his promise by conducting free and fair elections in a relatively peaceful environment.
First time in Pakistan’s history a democratically elected government finished its constitutionally required time of 5 years. First time in Pakistan’s history people were allowed to exercise their ‘righ’t to choose their government without the interruption of the military.

But unfortunately even rights are not safe from attacks as a large number of women in Peshawar were barred from voting at polling stations by the electoral candidates of the provincial constituencies of PF-6, PF-7 and PF-8. A female presiding officer at the Khazana Bala polling station showed reporters an agreement written in Urdu that said, “We, the candidates for PF-8, announce a ban on women’s participation in the February 18 balloting, given that women had been barred from voting in the previous elections as well.” Similarly, panchayats (local village councils) in Mianwali and Sargodha also banned women from voting.

Apart from that, Abdul Sattar Edhi, a social worker, upon reaching the Kharadar polling station in Karachi, came to know that he could not vote because his name was not registered. Shocked and disappointed he said, “I am a true Pakistani, but cannot exercise my right of voting.”

Similarly, deposed chief justice of Pakistan (CJP) Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhary and former superior judges Shakirullah Jan and Sardar Raza Khan, who are strictly under-house detention since November 3, weren’t allowed to cast their votes for the general elections aswell.

So what is a right? How do you define it?

Many had doubts on the fairness of these elections after several acts of the previous government referred to pre-poll rigging, but majority of them have blatantly been proven wrong.

Former ruling Pakistan Muslim League (Q) is loosing grip even on its strongholds of power as Pakistan Muslim League (N) and the late Benazir Bhutto’s Pakistan Peoples Party Parliamentarians (PPPP) continue their sweep drive in the provinces of Punjab and Sindh respectively.

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Early results and speculations are literally pointing towards a total victory for PML(N) in Lahore, both on National and Provincial Assemby seats.

More astonishing has been the defeat of stars of PML(Q) in their own home constituencies. PML(Q) Chairman, Ch. Shujaat Hussain lost in his native Gujrat while Rao Sikander Iqbal (former Defence Minister), Khurshid Mahmood Qasoori (former Foreign Minister), Sheikh Rashid Ahmed (former Information and later Railways Minister) and Farooq Leghari (former President of Pakistan and a prominent Q-league leader) all fell victim to the shattering voter power of the PML(N) and PPPP in their respective home towns of Okara, Kasur, Rawalpindi and Dera Ghazi Khan. On the other hand, former Chief Minister of Punjab and the key PML(Q) nominee for Prime Ministership, Ch. Pervaiz Ilahi was successful in winning both National and Provincial Assembly seats for himself.

Looking at the present state of PML(Q)‘s falling frontiers, we can surely understand all was not lie in the government’s claims of holding free and fair elections; another omen for strongly needed change and progress of democracy in Pakistan.