In another global embarrassment for Pakistan and its entire administration, Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi has spilled the beans on the terrorist country’s sad state of affairs. In a reference to the farcical democratic set up in Pakistan, he has stated that the upcoming general elections will be held by “aliens”. It seems to be an obvious reference to the fact that elections will in all probability be held in an unfair manner in the country that has been under military or civil dictatorship for most of its existence. The situation in Pakistan is so hopeless that even the ruling dispensation does not trust the ethos of the country.
In order to improve its global image, Pakistan is, at present, masquerading as a democracy. However, the head of the Pakistan government has himself exposed his country. Abbasi made this statement while he was speaking with journalists during a reception hosted by the Speaker of the National Assembly for the members of the lower house of the Pakistani parliament. He made it clear that even though elections will be held by aliens, his party, the “Pakistan Muslim League” (PML) will contest the elections. However, the Election Commission of Pakistan warned him against making any such statements in the future.
This is not for the first time that political leadership in Pakistan has cast aspersions on the shoddy democratic processes and institutions in the country. Until now, it was clear that Pakistan is a democracy on paper with its military, ISI and terrorist outfits being the de facto leaders. In a single sentence, Pakistan’s ‘democratically elected government’, has shattered the illusion of rule of democracy. The Dawn, a leading reputed newspaper in Pakistan has stated that Abbasi’s remark indicate that even the government is not expecting the next general elections to be transparent. It also reported that even though the term aliens seems to have been coined for the first time, words like “angels” and “invisible forces” have always been in common parlance in the past to signify that Pakistani democracy is a sham.
Interestingly, Abbasi’s statement about aliens running the elections echoes the concern shown by previous Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif merely a couple of days ago towards the involvement of “aliens” in elections. He made it clear that his fight is not against Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf chairman Imran Khan or Pakistan People’s Party led by Asif Ali Zardari, but with the aliens, in a reference to the extra constitutional establishment which is in firm control of Pakistan.
The Islamic republic is a loose cannon controlled by extremist Islamic preachers, terrorist organisations and its Army which in turn is under the influence of the terror outfits and the ISI. In such a situation, the statements by Pakistan’s top political brass confirm the apprehensions harboured by the rest of the world regarding its democratic credentials What must be noted, however, is how afraid Abbasi and Nawaz Sharif are in pointing out those who have hijacked the Pakistan administration. The whole world knows for a fact that any “democratically elected” Pakistani government is as a matter of course spineless and powerless. Its army and terror organisations are the only institutions that can govern the nation, irrespective of whether the nation showcases itself as a democracy or as a military dictatorship. Pakistan’s system may change, but the rule of the ISI-military establishment can not.
