Were elections in Pakistan free and fair?

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Were elections in Pakistan free and fair?

EU casts doubts over elections.

by

Asma Ali Zain

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Published: Fri 3 Aug 2018, 1:38 PM

Last updated: Fri 3 Aug 2018, 10:49 PM

Completing a second democratic term in all of its existence, Pakistan voted on July 25 only to be told that the fairness of the elections was a big question mark.
Even while Imran Khan, the former cricketer-turned-politician and the prime-minister-in-waiting readies to take oath on Pakistan's Independence Day on August 14, the EU piled further pressure on him by terming the elections as disputed.
The European Union's election observer Micheal Gahler said that his 120-strong team observed no rigging on election day - but in serious criticism that will cast a shadow over the formation of the new Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) government, Gahler said that pressure on the media was "far stronger" efforts than usual to encourage switching parties and "judicial conduct" had all negatively influenced the vote.
Pre-poll curbs on media and a crackdown on Pakistan Muslim League party's (PML-N) activists and officials were noticeable, Gahler said adding that the pre-election environment 'matters.'
Hameed Haroon, CEO of the Dawn Media Group, also accused the security establishment of interfering in politics in favour of Khan and his PTI party. Dawn, he alleged, was among newspapers that has faced censorship and intimidation ahead of the elections. Haroon, who is also president of the All Pakistan Newspapers Society, accused the military of an 'unprecedented assault' on the freedom of the press.
He racked up a social media storm when he told BBC's HARDtalk host Stephen Sackur that 'deep state' appeared to be working in favour of its preferred candidates. On being asked to provide evidence, he oddly stumbled upon his words and was unable to give any satisfactory answers.
So, was Press freedom really curtailed in Pakistan ahead of the elections?
Wajahat Saeed Khan, a multimedia national and international journalist and host of popular show Mahaaz that airs on Dunya TV says: "I have not been asked to hold back news. Not in this election."
Wajahat, who has been part of Pakistani media for over decade and half, goes on to add that media has proliferated and is more vibrant than before. However, he says, gaps within the media and without the media are also evident.
"Let us be very honest. There are no go areas. We can't, for example, travel at will to certain security zones or war zones for security purposes," he adds. "But since the election coverage picked up, I did not get any calls ordering me to go a certain place or not."
Wajahat is also known to cover the military extensively. "I have been embedded at length with different military units across the country," he explains, adding "But my political coverage has been about the opposition too.
He also recently interviewed the former president Asif Ali Zardari who is not in good books of the army. "Nobody called me when I did the interview."
Another interview was done with Hamza Shehbaz, a former MNA and the son of Punjab's former Chief Minister, Shehbaz Sharif who is supposedly in the anti-army camp. "Nobody woke me up in the middle of the night."
But there is a larger tension seething about the polarized aspects of Pakistan that if you are pro-PMLN then you have to be anti-military.
"I don't think you can box up Pakistan right now. There are elements across the board that create this gray area in the middle and I have yet to see evidence," says Wajahat.
Recently, Gul Bukhari, a columnist known for openly criticising the Pakistani Army was abducted from Lahore. "I was fearful for her but I'd like to know more from her. The fact is that she has been rather quiet and everybody else has been up in arms, I'd like to get more to the bottom of that."
Battle lines have been drawn, places like Pakistan get polarized and when there are elections at stake, the gloves come off and daggers get drawn. "I, both as a local and international journalist, would like to see more evidence about how free or unfree we are because that is what we structure our profession on - proof," he adds.
Referring to the curbs on The Dawn Group, Wajahat opines, "If there are disruptions in the supply chain, I would again like to know where these proofs are coming from."
"Why Thatta in particular was targeted and not the three largest cities Karachi, Lahore and Islamabad which are understandably the largest market for Dawn."
Dawn is a paper of record and when its publisher says something, it should be taken seriously, says Wajahat. "However, because of these polarized positions we find ourselves at, I don't think it is necessarily a believable preposition that either you are against the army or for the army."
"Truth usually is somewhere in the middle."
It is also clear that Pakistan is divided between these so-called anti-democratic forces which the former prime minister of Pakistan Nawaz Sharif has called 'the aliens.'
"I am appalled. Pakistan is much more complicated than the army and everybody else. This is a 600,000 man army and millions of people associated with the army," he said.
According to Wajahat, due to Pakistan's history and civil-military relations, there is a gap which is punctuated, personified and manifested by the civ-mil breakdown.
"But there are retired three-star generals in the PMLN right now. Where are they from? Did they get kicked out of the army? There are former socialist liberals in the PTI, which is supposed to be pro-army but who are now in the PTI. These guys were protesting against the army in the 2000s and even in the 70s and 80s and they are in the PTI now," he said.
Ajmal Jami, anchor and producer at Dunya TV feels that Press freedom is better than most countries.
"We have a vibrant media in Pakistan with dozens of channels, countless newspapers, digitals cells and portals and TV that are running with maximum possible freedom."
But Jami feels there is no ultimate freedom. "Being a citizen of Pakistan and a journalist, whatever is written in the constitution equally applies on me and other channels."
He, too, agrees that there was no pressure from any quarter. "I have not received any phone calls, email or pertinent instructions from certain quarters that I should not talk about certain things," he says. "I just go with the editorial policy of my channel and the channel follows the same policy that comes under the constitution."
He, however, believes journalists are self-censoring to some extent.
On curbs on Dawn, Jami says: "What I was expecting from him (Haroon) was that he would have been able to come up with certain events, proofs or evidences but he was talking into the air."
"If he had issues with the circulation of his newspaper, he did not mention them."
"Tell us what exactly is happening with the circulation of your paper especially why it is not being distributed in cantonments. If you are framing certain allegations and charges, you should have some proofs," says Jami.
Salman Hassan, a news anchor and host of Dunya TV said that in the current scenario, there were complaints which needed to be understood. "Personally I think, anything that is against your national interest, even if it is news, should be stopped."
"This is a thin line which we need to understand. Total freedom cannot be given. If someone has a complaint, it should be taken to the correct forum," he says.
Analysts say that these complaints (of curbs on media) are being judged by the international media. "The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) has said there is no pressure on it from any side. When this kind of clarification is given, then we should believe in our institutions."
"We do get orders to hold back news but these are for the country and for betterment of citizens," says Salman, adding that such orders come from Pakistani Electronic Media Regulatory Authority (Pemra).
On Haroon, Salman opines that the allegations were very specific to one organization. "Obviously he knows better how many problems he has to face."
"But if it is one organization, then we have to look at the background. And if we remember, we had Dawn Leaks from the same organization," he adds.
asmaalizain@khaleejtimes.com
 


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