Junaid Ali Malik |
People have high hopes from Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI). Most of the people who never thought of taking part in Pakistani politics changed their mind when Imran Khan entered into politics.
Though in the beginning, PTI could not gain momentum, after 2010, things started changing and the situation started turning towards its favor. The party bagged second largest share of votes in May 2013 general elections. Now in 2018, the situation apparently seems more favorable for it.
Electables – someone whom Khan always desired – are joining the party whole-heartedly. PTI has always remained very interested in them. In fact, they have been interested to the extent that the party forgot to highlight and play its part on a very crucial matter, giving other parties exactly what they desired to see – modifications in the nomination papers.
People have high hopes from Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI). Most of the people who never thought of taking part in Pakistani politics changed their mind when Imran Khan entered into politics.
With the new forms, there will be no need to declare sources of income, criminal record, dual nationality, and you name it. Almost everything which is crucial to be explored before casting vote to any specific political person has been removed. PTI has been claiming to be the only political party that will change the prevailing conventional political system which only benefits parties of status quo.
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Although Justice Ayesha A. Malik asked the ECP to include these constitutional provisions, the Supreme Court rejected the lower court’s verdict. This decision was startling. The CJP believes that elections should be held on time. According to political leadership of PML-N and PPP, they bluntly rejected LHC’s verdict as it will affect the timing of the general elections. Here again, PTI remained silent. They are expected to be held on July 25.
The fear of ‘delay in elections’ does not make sense when everybody knows printing some thousand forms will not take more than one or two day. The State has ample machinery to do it timely.
The crucial point here is not about courts’ verdicts, it is about silence that PTI maintained. The party which claims to have been fighting against corrupt politicians (even disqualified some of them) could not even raise this issue on media channels or on social media. Imran Khan has not decided its party’s policy on it till this time.
It is astonishing how clandestinely parliamentarians from all parties let this take place. Even PTI was the part of the Parliamentary Committee that allowed these reforms. PTI’s members let this happen under the disguise of electoral reforms. All these parliamentarians assumed the role of the ECP and decided their future from their own hands.
The fear of ‘delay in elections’ does not make sense when everybody knows printing some thousand forms will not take more than one or two day. The State has ample machinery to do it timely.
Moreover, the issue has remained unnoticed in almost all news channels except one or two. The petition in LHC was filed by Saad Rasool on behalf of Habib Akram. Thanks to them! They are still following and fighting the legal battle to restore people’s right to know everything about their politicians. Fortunately, just recently, the SC ordered ECP to attach an affidavit consisting of all relevant information.
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Keeping all these things into consideration, PTI members, over social media, are also baffled over the move their leadership took on it. Those who have high hopes with PTI are demanding clarifications. This issue was more crucial than joining hands with the electables and deciding which candidates apt for caretaker government.
PTI should have raised its voice at every possible forum. Those who were part of the Parliamentary Committee should have publicly protested, if they were actually serious about the matter. How is it possible that for them to be unconscious of the alternations in the nomination forms? It does not matter if the elections are conducted on the old or new forms, the reality is PTI remained silent on this crucial matter.
Junaid Ali Malik is a professional writer. He considers writing is the sole purpose of his life. He has done masters in Commerce and History and holds PG Diploma in International Affairs. He is an entrepreneur by profession. He can be contacted at alimalikmalik627@gmail.com