Election Rigging in Balochistan

Courtesy: The Balochistan Point

2013 General elections proved to be one of the most controversial elections in history of Pakistan. Election rigging saga that started right next day after elections has come to an ended after the release of report of Judicial Commission formed to prove election rigging. Judicial commission rejected the charges of PTI that elections were systematically rigged to benefit PML-N. The verdict has ended the debate on election rigging but it has left a lot of unanswered questions relating to Balochistan.

A Journalist is Incomplete without Accuracy and Impartiality: Shahzada Zulfiqar

Courtesy: The Balochistan Point

Quetta – A journalist is incomplete without accuracy and impartiality, said Shahzada Zulfiqar President of Quetta Press Club (QPC) on Monday.

QPC President made this statement while addressing the concluding session of a workshop held by Center for Peace and Development Initiatives (CPDI).

Judicial Commission Should Also Focus On Balochistan

Courtesy: The Nation

On April 2, an agreement was inked by PTI and PML-N to form a judicial commission to investigate allegations of rigging in the general elections of 2013. Justice Nasirul Mulk, Chief Justice of Supreme Court of Pakistan has chosen himself to lead that commission. On Thursday, in its first sitting, the commission asked all political parties to submit any evidence of election rigging that they possess. The formation of the judicial commission is a promising development but there are no signs yet that it would focus on Balochistan as well.

Next Chairman Senate Should Be From Balochistan

Courtesy: The Balochistan Point

Senate elections took place on 5th March and that resulted in increasing the political temperature of the country. Senate elections witnessed some controversies in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) assembly, method of voting for FATA senators was changed at eleventh hour and in Balochistan some unexpected candidates won amid allegations of horse trading. At the moment, a tug of war is taking place between PPP and PML-N for the slot of Chairman of Senate. In the best interest of federation of Pakistan, Next chairman of Senate should be form Balochistan.

Senate Elections and Balochistan

Courtesy: The Nation

The Senate is the upper house of Pakistani Parliament and it has been designed to give equal representation to all federating units. Elections for half of the Senate seats take place after every three years. Eventful Senate elections of 2015 raised the issue of horse-trading and the Pakistani media was taken over by it. However, some important issues relating to Senate elections in Balochistan were ignored by the mainstream media of Pakistan.

Local Government Elections: A fiasco in Balochistan

Courtesy: Pakistan Today

The always active former Chief Justice of Pakistan Iftikhar Chaudhry ordered all provinces to conduct Local Government Elections in 2013. The governments of Punjab, Sindh and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) concocted one excuse after another to delay the elections. In order to prove their democratic credentials, Balochistan government agreed to conduct the same by the end of 2013.

Saving democracy in Pakistan

Courtesy: The Balochistan Point

Sit-ins of both Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) and Pakistan Awami Tehreek (PAT) are taking place in Islamabad for last 9 days. The call for revolution by Tahir ul Qadri and the demand to dissolve Nawaz Sharif government, on pretext of election riggings, by Imran Khan has created a storm in Political landscape of Pakistan. There is no doubt that the method of bringing change in the government and system by both agitating parties is entirely wrong. Similarly, any military intervention will result in ultimate destruction of Pakistan. However, one can’t ignore all those who have jumped the bandwagon to save democracy in Pakistan. 

Demand of complete Audit of 2013 elections

Courtesy: The Balochistan Point

Chairman of PTI and the main opposition figure in Pakistan, Imran Khan, has demanded a complete audit of 2013 general elections. Previously, he was demanding audit of votes in four national assembly constituencies only. Imran Khan has cited the example of Afghanistan while making the demand of full-fledged election audit.

Legitimacy of 2013 General Elections

Courtesy: Laaltain Magazine

Pakistan is faced with many problems today and there is no doubt that terrorism is the biggest one of them. The current government is working on its Internal Security Policy and has so far only drafted some laws which are indeed questionable and draconian in nature. This government has proved unable to take a solid stance against terrorism and is therefore failing on its mandate to truly represent the people of Pakistan. This failure is certainly also due to controversies associated with the last general elections which raise many questions about the legitimacy of the current government.