Voting has begun in Pakistan for the national and provincial assemblies. The polling process, with more than 128 million voters, began at 8 am (local time) and will continue till 5 pm (local time), Pakistan-based Dawn reported.
Pakistan’s Caretaker Interior Ministry has established a control room to monitor the overall situation in Pakistan during the general elections, Pakistan Today reported.
Yet an attack has already claimed one life. A security personnel was killed in an attack on a security forces vehicle in Pakistan’s Dera Ismail Khan. Assailants attacked the vehicle which was on election duty, Samaa TV reported citing sources.
Pakistan’s caretaker Interior Ministry has announced the temporary suspension of mobile services across Pakistan. Citing the “deteriorating security situation,” the ministry emphasized the need to safeguard against potential security threats.
In a statement, the ministry said, “Recent surge in terrorist activities resulting in precious lives have stirred security environment in the country.” Therefore, it added, “need has arisen to take measures to safeguard against” security threats.
The Islamic country has announced the closure of its borders with neighbouring Afghanistan and Iran to ensure security.
The decision is aimed at maintaining stability during the polling process.
More than 17,000 candidates are contesting in the polls in which voters will elect 266 candidates to the Pakistan National Assembly, who will later, by a majority vote, elect the next prime minister, according to Dawn.
Voters will elect 266 candidates to the Pakistan National Assembly, who will later, by a majority vote, elect the next prime minister.
Several security experts feel that this is a sham election where the Army continues to call the shots and one of the largest political parties the PTI has most of its leadership in jail.
Defence expert Brigadier (Retd) Anil Gupta has termed the elections in Pakistan “purely a sham” and stressed that Pakistan Army wants to bring back Pakistan Muslim League – Nawaz (PML-N) supremo Nawaz Sharif. He said that Pakistan army is once again trying to mainstream terrorist organisations.
Former Indian High Commissioner to Pakistan Ajay Bisaria has said the Pakistan general elections are the most predictable, the most rigged.
“These elections on February 8 are not just the most predictable, but also the most rigged, because it’s clear for everyone in Pakistan, if you see the commentary that is coming from within Pakistan, that the election results are clear, that the army in various ways is doing pre-election engineering, it will probably do some election engineering and post-election engineering to get a government that it wants in place,” Bisaria said.
Former Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif has said that Nawaz Sharif will be the prime ministerial candidate for the party if the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz secures a majority in the elections.
Pakistan Peoples Party Chairman Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari has said that as per his experience from campaigning all over the country, PML-N is “not even reaching 100 seats by far.”
Imran Khan, founder of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaaf (PTI) and considered one of the most popular leaders in the country, is incarcerated in Adiala jail on multiple charges.
The cricketer-turned-politician has been disqualified from contesting the polls and has been sentenced to 10 years in the cypher case, 14 years in the Toshakhana case, and seven years in the ‘un-Islamic’ marriage case.
(With agency inputs)
