The people of Pakistan voted emphatically against president Pervez Musharraf and his political allies, the Pakistan Muslim League, PML (Q). As the results are coming in on Monday, its clear that Pakistan Peoples Parliamentarian Party (PPPP), Pakistan Muslim League (Nawaz Sharif) and ANP (Awami National Party) are taking the lead in the national assembly. MQM (Mutahida Qaumi Movement) of Altaf Husaain has also taken 18 seats in the legislature, second only to the PPPP whose leader Benazir Bhutto was assassinated in December of last year. PPPP has so far been the largest political power in the Sindh province where separatist sentiment peaked after the sad and brutal killing of Ms. Bhutto. So far PPPP has emerged as the only party to have won seats in all the four provincial legislatures thus rightfully claiming to be the only party suited to run the federation.
The rout of the PML (Q) and the religious extreme coalition MMA (Mutahida Majlis-e-Amal) shows a two pronged attack on the part of the masses. First, they have completely rejected the religious rightist parties which won a comfortable majority in the last polls which according to critics it were rigged by Gen. Musharraf and government agencies so that they would have the leverage against the Western politicians. The democracy loving people of Pakistan have also, through these results, shown that they totally disagree with the present regime of Pervez Musharraf. All the major stalwarts of ruling PML (Q) were disgraced and defeated in yesterday's elections. During the countrywide polls for national and provincial assembalies 30 lives were lost and hundreds were injured as violence erupted at many places during the polling. Nonetheless, European and American observers have declared the polls to be free and fair. Thus the people of Pakistan have spoken and in no uncertain terms have wiped out all the collaborators and their henchmen in a historic sweep against Musharraf and his obstinate, autocratic rule of the past eight years.
Article comments
1 - Milton, John
Excellent article. Lots of information about the very important elections of Pakistan. Well timed.Congratulations Blogcritics for providing some useful insight to this geopolitically important country. Please keep it up.
2 - Ms. Keighley (qing-jao)
This is brilliant and very informative! It seems indeed as if things have reached a climax and something will happen soon. What,I wonder? I can only hope it will be progess that leads to the betterment of the of life of the people. You put things so well and so clearly that I, and others gain understanding of the conflicts, the struggles, the hopes and the lost causes. Thank you, as always for this. I truly hope that the election results, and the voice of the people heard, will initiate a change for the better.
Sincerely,
-Ms. Keighley
3 - Alec
Great article. I especially enjoyed your analysis of how religious extremists were neutralized and routed.
4 - Dr. Afaq A. Qureshi
Thank you for your comments.
This routing of religious right is a pretty convuluted thing. It never translates into the fact that the masses are deviant from the core religious issues and/ or practises. There is need to explain this adherence and love-hate relationship on the part of Pakistanis.
5 - Umer Sharif
Good Article, but one should understand the reality and amount of uneducated people casts their votes! Shocking Information is there are HUGE Number of Young People who did not voted for any one. Do you know why? Its Aug 2010 now.. and we are yet to get any good news after Pervaiz Musharraf. Bottom Line.. Religious Extremists? Well.. Islam don't teach to kill any one. Any one doing these type of things they are simple not Muslim!
6 - Dr. Afaq A. Qureshi.
Dear Umer Sharif. Thank you so much for your comment. It is heartening to note that you liked the article. I agree with you that Islam doesn't teach violence and its forbidden to take an innocent life according to the religion. But please do not forget that hatred against USA through its Afghan / Pak policies and brutal use of force against (mostly) innocent civilians in the FATA region has sparked the anger of youth in the country and they are bent on taking revenge. Lack of civil liberties, clan and tribe structure, taboos, and lack of social and educational support are all contributing factors to this immense and sometimes unmanageable problem.