Coming through a number of sources, the PTI leadership is said to have refused to file election papers for the upcoming elections on the grounds that it is a farce and far from being fair and independent being orchestrated by a Martial Law administrator simply to enable him to get a life extension from the west for his much acclaimed ‘positive steps towards democracy’, sadly the world stands witness to the numerous human rights violations that have been conducted to see through this farce.
I am told PTI has taken this initiative as it passionately felt the need to pressure for change and stand shoulder to shoulder for an independent judiciary, it must be noted that other APDM parties may already be in the process to submit their nominations surely to play it safe and defer the decision for a few more days but PTI has in turn taken a very bold position.
Comments
4 responses to “Imran Khan refuses to contest elections under Martial Law”
My views about bycotting election:
The argument of bycotting an election is based on three premesis.
1. Elections under a military rule are not acceptable.
2. Election will not be “free and fair and will be rigged.
3. Taking part in election will give ligitimacy to the military rule and dictator.
All these three primises are interlinked. So a military dictator needs to create a facade of democracy in order to :
1. prolong his rule.
2. give some ligitimacy in the eyes of world.
IMHO a dictator will always achieve these objectives by holding the elections. A dictator never needs to prove his ligitmacy in eyes of the democratic nations and people, because for them a dictator is always illigitimate whether he holds an election or not. Let me give an example for countries like ireland , our tinpot dictator is always illigitemate, whereas for countries like US who want to support the dictator he will gain the ligitmacy as soon as he holds the election. They will never care whether anybody took part in election or not. They will even accept refrendum as a ligitemate way to choose the president because they want to support the dictator.
So by bycotting elections we make the life of dictator easier, as he would achieve the objective of holding election without a major problem. Taking part in election never gives any ligitimacy to a dictator , in fact it makes the dictator life difficult.
1. Dictator will have to blatantly rig the elections if major parties are taking part in election.
2. This blatant rigging will cause a major uproar in the media and world , hence making his life more difficult.
3. By taking part in election parties will be able to mobilize the public opinion against the dictator and again make the life of dictator difficult.
So I think IK & NS should take part in election and ensure that dictator does not get it easy.
P.S. I just took the example of ireland , I am not sure whether they support dictator or not.
@ pejamistri: Provocations about received ideas are always good, because it forces people to reexamine them in the light of changing circumstances.
In the present case, though, the circumstances have not changed. Even if COAS Musharraf does doff the uniform on Thursday, he has already transfered the control over emergency from COAS Musharraf to rubber-stamped by a Supreme Court with no legitimacy “president” Musharraf.
Many potential candidates have been prevented from filing election papers in time by being imprisoned, and so the elections are already “blatantly rigged”, to use your phrase.
Then you only consider the effect of the opposition’s participation in view of foreign governments’ opinion. The people who would have to live with the results of such already “blatantly rigged” elections are the Pakistani citizens, not the foreign heads of state who have or have not expressed their solidarity with them by condemning the emergency and by stating that there could be no democratic elections under or so close to the emergency.
And if opposition parties re-rubber-stamp the legitimacy of apparently Musharraf and of his already blatantly rigged the elections, even the little pressure exercised by some foreign countries will dwindle.
It is the same old trick of our tinpot dictators that they hold elections!!!!!!!!! and all the political parties are stupid(or pregmatic) enough to fall for it. Our leader has had comitted this mistake once but he has lerned his lesson. PTI will not contest this election. This is going to be clear. This is time of trial, mind you, be very clear about this. Dont legitimise a dictator so that he can show this to outside world as his progress report. We have complete trust in Imran Khan’s Leadership. When dictator grants u freedom he takes it back when it does not suit him. It is something to be won,to be fought for, It has a ‘PRICE’. Freedom is not won while sitting in armchairs and watching Talkshows.
Dear Khan Sahib I am a great admirer of yours therefore i would like to suggest you that ” You should be a Leader not a ladder for leaders”. We respect you and would like to see you sitting at the helm of the affairs for the betterment of this poor country.