It wasn't the result most of the elite and overseas Pakistanis were hoping for, but despite moderate success, Imran Khan has won the nation. Imran Khan's party was expected to give PML-N (Nawaz Sharif's party--who was exiled by Musharraf) a tough fight--and it did. Although Nawaz Sharif has won almost half of all 272 seats up for grabs, this election proves why democracy is Pakistan's future.
One thing is now certain--if a politician does not perform, people power will topple him. The ruling party, which has been deemed to be one of Pakistan's most corrupt has suffered a heavy defeat. They had two Prime Ministers in their last term. The first one was disqualified and banned from politics for five years. His sons and brothers--all five of them--lost their seats. The second PM lost his as well. The People's Party only managed to win 30 seats and only won in its stronghold, interior Sind. All their main men have lost their bid to get into the parliament. Their most senior politicians have resigned from their posts in the Senate, foreign office and party positions. To most PPP is a dead party. How the corrupt fall from grace.
The new winners PML-N were always favourites. Although I don't agree with their proposed policies, if they act upon what they said they would, Pakistan will be a much better place. The Prime Minister-elect seems to have learned from his previous two stints where who was toppled, first by a civilian president and later by Musharraf. He seems to have matured. We will soon find out.
However, the biggest change in Pakistan has been bought by Imran Khan. He won just one seat in 2002 and boycotted the elections in 2008. This time though, in Punjab (largest province), it wasn't a traditional fight between the PML-N and PPPP. In fact, even though the PTI (Imran's party) won just 30 seats, it managed to come second in almost all seats won by PML-N. Furthermore, it has won in major urban centers like Pindi/Islamabad, Peshawar, and some areas of Lahore.
The PTI is going to form the government in the restive province of Khyber Pakhoonkhwa and it will be interesting to see how they perform. The new federal government will be under severe pressure to perform and in theory corruption will be heavily scrutinized by the opposition lead by PTI.
The elections weren't free and fair everywhere. In fact, the Election Comission of Pakistan has accepted that they failed to hold free and fair elections in Pakistan's biggest and most problematic city--Karachi. I am from Karachi. Although, there was massive rigging by the MQM (secular party of Indian immigrants), people have have decided enough is enough. Karachi is one of the least safest cities to live in. The Taliban have set up no-go areas where even police refuse to go. However, the MQM has been causing most of the bloodshed here. They extort, torture and kill. They rigged the elections in Karachi. In my constituency, some polling stations opened just before voting was to end while there was no voting at others. In previous elections, people gave up--nobody stood up to the MQM. This time it was different. The old and young of Karachi came to vote inspired by Imran Khan. They had a candidate they wanted to win. They stood in the 40C heat for hours waiting for ballot boxes (which had been hijacked by MQM) to arrive.
At my mom's polling station, an armed thug belonging to MQM attempted to barge in. He was beaten up by the people and taken away by the police. The audacity they had. My constituency is made up of the richest people in Pakistan. We managed to get a reelection here. But, people from all over the city have joined our protest demanding reelection in all 20 constituencies on the city.
What baffles me though, is despite the United Kingdom's tough stance against Islamist terrorism, it has turned a blind eye towards Altaf Husain. Altaf Husain is a British national who runs MQM. He has been implicated in several crimes before escaping from Pakistan. A few days ago, the people of Karachi were peacefully protesting at the "three swords" monument in Karachi. Later that night, Altaf Husain said on national television that if he orders his workers, they will turn the "three swords" into real swords to mince. These threats were poorly thought out. Altaf Husain has picked a fight with the wrong people. There have been at least 10,000 phone calls to the UK police and terrorism unit complaining against Altaf Husain under the UK terror law 2000. Pakistan must declare him an enemy of state and he must be sent to Guantanamo bay.
It's going to be an interesting time in Pakistan, especially Karachi. Hopefully we can get rid of the MQM and Taliban threat and move towards prosperity. I was skeptical about democracy but now that I have seen the power of people I say "Democracy is the best revenge."
One thing is now certain--if a politician does not perform, people power will topple him. The ruling party, which has been deemed to be one of Pakistan's most corrupt has suffered a heavy defeat. They had two Prime Ministers in their last term. The first one was disqualified and banned from politics for five years. His sons and brothers--all five of them--lost their seats. The second PM lost his as well. The People's Party only managed to win 30 seats and only won in its stronghold, interior Sind. All their main men have lost their bid to get into the parliament. Their most senior politicians have resigned from their posts in the Senate, foreign office and party positions. To most PPP is a dead party. How the corrupt fall from grace.
The new winners PML-N were always favourites. Although I don't agree with their proposed policies, if they act upon what they said they would, Pakistan will be a much better place. The Prime Minister-elect seems to have learned from his previous two stints where who was toppled, first by a civilian president and later by Musharraf. He seems to have matured. We will soon find out.
However, the biggest change in Pakistan has been bought by Imran Khan. He won just one seat in 2002 and boycotted the elections in 2008. This time though, in Punjab (largest province), it wasn't a traditional fight between the PML-N and PPPP. In fact, even though the PTI (Imran's party) won just 30 seats, it managed to come second in almost all seats won by PML-N. Furthermore, it has won in major urban centers like Pindi/Islamabad, Peshawar, and some areas of Lahore.
The PTI is going to form the government in the restive province of Khyber Pakhoonkhwa and it will be interesting to see how they perform. The new federal government will be under severe pressure to perform and in theory corruption will be heavily scrutinized by the opposition lead by PTI.
The elections weren't free and fair everywhere. In fact, the Election Comission of Pakistan has accepted that they failed to hold free and fair elections in Pakistan's biggest and most problematic city--Karachi. I am from Karachi. Although, there was massive rigging by the MQM (secular party of Indian immigrants), people have have decided enough is enough. Karachi is one of the least safest cities to live in. The Taliban have set up no-go areas where even police refuse to go. However, the MQM has been causing most of the bloodshed here. They extort, torture and kill. They rigged the elections in Karachi. In my constituency, some polling stations opened just before voting was to end while there was no voting at others. In previous elections, people gave up--nobody stood up to the MQM. This time it was different. The old and young of Karachi came to vote inspired by Imran Khan. They had a candidate they wanted to win. They stood in the 40C heat for hours waiting for ballot boxes (which had been hijacked by MQM) to arrive.
At my mom's polling station, an armed thug belonging to MQM attempted to barge in. He was beaten up by the people and taken away by the police. The audacity they had. My constituency is made up of the richest people in Pakistan. We managed to get a reelection here. But, people from all over the city have joined our protest demanding reelection in all 20 constituencies on the city.
What baffles me though, is despite the United Kingdom's tough stance against Islamist terrorism, it has turned a blind eye towards Altaf Husain. Altaf Husain is a British national who runs MQM. He has been implicated in several crimes before escaping from Pakistan. A few days ago, the people of Karachi were peacefully protesting at the "three swords" monument in Karachi. Later that night, Altaf Husain said on national television that if he orders his workers, they will turn the "three swords" into real swords to mince. These threats were poorly thought out. Altaf Husain has picked a fight with the wrong people. There have been at least 10,000 phone calls to the UK police and terrorism unit complaining against Altaf Husain under the UK terror law 2000. Pakistan must declare him an enemy of state and he must be sent to Guantanamo bay.
It's going to be an interesting time in Pakistan, especially Karachi. Hopefully we can get rid of the MQM and Taliban threat and move towards prosperity. I was skeptical about democracy but now that I have seen the power of people I say "Democracy is the best revenge."
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