What Is at Stake in Pakistan’s Election?

In 1970 East Pakistan had a population larger than West Pakistan's. Today the reverse is true, Bangladesh's population is significantly smaller than Pakistan's. During the time period that Bangladesh brought its fertility per woman down substantially by focusing on women's education - its fertility rate is smaller than India's - Pakistan has remained stuck with its blasphemy laws and what is or is not real Islam. Whether Imran Khan or any other politician can change this mindset is the real question.

The post of Prime Minister of Pakistan is a Poisoned Chalice! Pakistan has had 35 Prime Ministers in 70 years and they have had all kinds of inglorious ends including being executed, assassinated, imprisoned, exiled, dismissed and overthrown among others. No Prime Minister has completed their term. Imran Khan has chosen the surest route to the office by making back room deals with the military. The fate of former military proteges Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, who was executed at the behest of the military and Nawaz Sharif, the 3 time Prime Minister, who is imprisoned in a low grade Prison like a common criminal should scare Imran Khan. The only crime Bhutto and Nawaz committed was to show their independence from the military and try to rein in the Generals who are not answerable to the Parliament or the Government in their conduct or their spending. Imran Khan has also made backroom deal with the Islamists who are becoming another power center in Pakistan and both these deals may come back to haunt him.

It's unlikely Pakistan will ever recover from how it was transformed during the latter years of the Cold War. One has to understand the current predicament of Pakistan in the context of what steps the United States took to counter communism in its client states during the Cold War. In West Germany, de-Nazification was stopped dead in its tracks in the early 1950s and former Nazi Party members were allowed to take jobs as civil servants. Former Nazis were viewed as acceptable since they were anti-communist. In Japan, wartime leaders and champions of Japanese imperialism were rehabilitated and allowed to run the country, again provided they demonstrated their anti-communist credentials. The current Japanese prime minister (Abe Shinzo) is the grandson of a man (Kishi Nobusuke) who was imprisoned without trial by American occupiers for 3 years before he was suddenly released in 1948. Kishi served as PM of Japan from 1957-60. And in South Korea, those Koreans who were known to have collaborated with the Japanese during the era of colonial rule (such as Park Chung-hee, father of disgraced ex-president Park Geun-hye) came to dominate the country due to their virulent anti-communism. These 3 countries fared best among those nations pushed in an anti-communist direction by the U.S. In Pakistan, unfortunately, the U.S. decided to back a bunch of crazed, fanatical, Islamist extremists following the Soviet invasion of neighboring Afghanistan in 1979. The blowback goes on and on.

Imran Khan, an opportunist, has struck a deal with the devil. He may just be a puppet of the all-powerful military, which had ruled Pakistan on and off during the country’s 71-year history. When the generals don’t command executive power, they make life difficult for the civilian governments. This election is significant because it will mark only the second time that one civilian government has handed power to another after serving a full term. Even if Khan would win big and become prime minister, it’s unclear whether he would stay in power for long – he might soon fall out with the military. Nawaz Sharif, from the 1981 until the military coup against him in 1999, enjoyed a strong and extremely friendly and cordial relations with the Pakistan Armed Forces – the only civilian leader to have cordial friendship and relationships with the military's establishment at that time. Sharif made a comeback in 2013 and had to step down in 2017 following corruption charges. He was sentenced to 10 years in jail three weeks ago.

Just another a day in the neighborhood.

Suicide bombs, tribal leaders blocking women from voting, militant groups of Taliban and Al Qaeda, voters who declare their vote for a candidate is a vote for the prophet. Oh, and 122 political parties. Another reminder of how fortunate we are to be living in America.

The powerful military-ISI complex of Pakistan unleashes bloody terror attacks on the people to snatch mandate in favour of the proxy_the Tehrik-a-Insaf leader Imran Khan in company of terror groups.

So far I haven't read a single comment objecting to Pakistan having nukes or its long standing feud with India over the disputed Kashmir region which both countries claim as their own.

Too much negativity on the name of objectivity! At least the good thing is process is moving on. It’s not a one day affair. Look in your backyards, democratic ideals in England and US are fighting for life even after centuries of establishment of the system. Have a heart! Every place has their own peculiar issues and solutions.

I pray that the elections will throw up a focussed leader who gives the country a stable government and shuns terrorism whether in Kashmir or elsewhere! He must not constantly focus on anti India rhetoric and thus save money and resources and education to its millions of poor and deserving! The past 70 years of confrontation and treating India as the enemy has neither brought peace or development! But I despair because the Army holds all the cards!

What boggles the mind is that there are candidates. Who wishes to run? Consider the mess Pakistan is in. The debt, for example. How to wrestle with the debt? Pakistan has to go to the I.M.F for an upcoming bailout. The bailout comes with restrictions. Is it possible for Pakistan to submit to the instructions about to be given by the I.M.F? Is it possible for Pakistan to escape from the new Chinese debt? This is just the tip of the iceberg. How about over-population? How about the largest out-of-school population in the world happens to be residing in Pakistan? Election? To elect whom? In order to do what?

as an expatriate Pakistani living in U.S .have been very concerned on the worsening state of Pakistan If Imran Khan gets a mandate and just does better governance and less corruption it will be a start' But it will take a long time to move up from the abyss Nations are not built overnight

Either winner won't make a difference to the US. Washington is way too comfortable dealing with military governments whether they be in Egypt or Pakistan. Democracy is messy, nowhere more than in Pakistan.

The tragedy of Pakistan: caught between the "mullah" and "military".

"The election on Wednesday will serve as a kind of referendum on some of the most crucial issues facing the country." "Should Pakistan orient its economy toward the West or toward China?" Why is it necessary to orient toward China or the West? Why can't Pakistan do business with both of them and other parts of the world? Who is stopping it from doing so? "Can the military and the courts be trusted as impartial and objective institutions?" You are kidding. Right? "Is its democracy robust enough to include extremist candidates who support militancy, or should they be limited?" Pakistani electorate has consistently rejected candidates supporting extremism and violence in the past. That is a wise thing to do and Let us hope they will continue to do so for Pakistan's sake. Let us hope saner minds will prevail and they douse this fire of extremism before it is too late.

I am so hopeful for Pakistan.

Democracy in Pakistan is heralded by loud explosions. Is this democracy?

Why are the 'accusation of manipulation by the military' are relentless and actually hold a lot of truth? It is not that the military is evil and power hungry. No, this is due to the vacuum generated by corrupt politicians across the spectrum. When politicians are busy in the promotion of personal wealth and progeny, why a General would care to resist application of his power?

The country that had military rule for majority of the years, its great to see that for the second time in its short history military will not be the governing force but as an institution within democracy. That is a good thing.

The rogue army with state continues to head downwards in the longest death spiral recorded. The crash, when it eventually happens, could destroy the world. Pakistan is the real threat to global stability. Not Iran and not North Korea; neither of whom have both WMDs and crazed terrorists.

What a mess of a country! It is a true banana republic, except with nuclear weapons. There's going to be no real change unless the army gets out of politics and China stops exploiting this weak nation.

What Pakistani election? Who cares really. The military runs the nation, everything else is just boring detail. Pakistan would never become a normal nation until it becomes sensible enough to ignore India.

The military wants stupid Imran Khan they think he is honest and will bring stability to Pakistan they are wrong.

Pakistanis are clueless to operate in a Trumpian universe where democracy, shamocracy, military dictatorship have no significance. China may be an all-weather friend but they have the Trumpian universe to deal with and are ready to make deals with India and dump their sobbing sycophants. And for the Pakistani electorate to consider militants contesting-- Sheik Saeed, for example, who masterminded the Mumbai 2008 massacre killing over 160 citizens of India, Israel and the US with a price tag on his head is running for office?!

For the first time there is a segment of the population that is fighting to limit the interference of the Military in the every aspect of civilian life. Not that the civilian governments are corrupt free, but a democracy needs time to mature to arrive at a place where the vote of the people over generations meanders to reflect its true desires and is matched by governments that learn to deliver. The Military has been too impatient to let that happen partly from nationalistic reasons and partly from its desire to not loose its preeminent position.

The elections are nothing but a tamasha. The military rules behind the scenes, as always. All that money being spent on the elections could have been used to improve the lives of the people.

I believe the authors are mistaken in stating no govt. has completed a 5 year term - Zardari's transition to Sharif in the last elections was the first time such a peaceful handover took place in Pakistan. That being said, a man once derided as "Im The Dim", is now being pushed by the intelligence community to be the next PM. When he runs afoul of them, as will inevitably happen, what then? More martial law?

Pakistan is a mess. Ghandi was right when he wanted one India but once again religious intolerance reared it’s ugly in head and there are those who wanted two Indias: one Muslim (Pakistan) and one Hindu (India). The result has been two countries that are endlessly in conflict (Kashmir). Of course there will be Islamic extremists in Pakistan. It was founded as a Muslim nation.

"As many as four well known hardline Islamist groups are contesting the election. Among these is Hafiz Sayeed’s (of the Jamaat ud Dawa or Lashkar-e-Taiba fame) Milli Muslim League (MML) which was not accorded official status of a political party by Pakistan’s Election Commission and is riding atop an organisation called the Allah-o-Akbar Tehreek, which has remained under the radar but has sanction as a political party. The three others are Tehreek-e-Labaik Pakistan (TLP) of Khadim Hussain Rizvi, Ahl-e-Sunnat Wal Jamaat (ASWJ) the party whose proscription was lifted on the very day of the FATF decree, and Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal (MMA) led by Fazlur Rehman which has been a registered party since 2002." https://www.firstpost.com/world/pakistan-army-crushes-countrys-judiciary...

I hope they have a smooth transitions without any violent incidents. People of that country deserve some peace.

Pakistan is a state that is still searching for its identity. What does it mean to be a Pakistani? A Punjabi from Lahore has no problem being a Punjabi, but Pakistan, begun as a figment of imagination of overwrought activists and the colonial rulers of the subcontinent intent on rescuing Muslims from a Hindu majority, has not yet developed its distinctive culture. This is why it is especially vulnerable to the credo of terrorists and religious extremists. Creating Pakistan was a mistake of the same order of magnitude as the Versailles treaty at the end of World War I.

I wish you had written more about Imran Khan. Imran Khan was not a just fine cricketer but one of the finest captains in the cricketing world. He took a disparate group of players and molded them into world beaters. That should say something about his leadership qualities. He built a world class cancer center in honor of his mother which provides exceptional care for patients with cancer regardless of their ability to pay. That should account for something. His rhetoric is Anti- American which is cause for worry. However no Pakistani leader will survive without our support. On the other hand he may pull away from China if US handles him with more respect. He is known to be less corrupt than other Pakistani leaders.