The Pakistani Spectator

All that humbug about not manipulating the institutions like Election Commission and PEMRA by the government have been exposed as the power games in Islamabad heat up after the resignation of Pervez Musharraf and in the wake of presidential elections.

Throughout his reign, the tinpot dictator Musharraf abused the Election Commission to elongate and strengthen his rule. From the elections of 2002 to his referendum and from the local government elections to the elections of himself as president were engineered through the Election Commission. Just last year, after the horrendous assassination of Benazir Bhutto, the elections were on purpose delayed to mar the sympathy vote for the PPP.

In all those chicaneries and brinkmanship by Election Commission, PPP remained at forefront to denounce the role of Election Commission and they always demanded to have an autonomous body for holding the elections. They promised before and also just after the elections that they would liberate the Election Commission from the manipulations of government.

Just like Musharraf exploited Election Commission for his presidency, Asif Ali Zardari has also done exactly that. In a rush, the schedule of Presidential Election was announced on the stern instructions by Rehman Malik himself. The presidential elections would be held on 6th September, and the last date to file the nominations is twelve noon August 26. These timings are tightly linked with the deadlines of restoration of judges.

Zardari have also used the hypocrite Fazlur Rehman and expedient Asfand Yar Wali to put the judges restoration beyond filing nominations for the presidency and that date was 27th August. PML-N while shocked by the deception of PPP has refused to be trapped yet once again and they have given last ultimatum to PPP to restore judges. PPP hardliner who never wanted to restore chief justice Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhary have also got ready to malign the stance of PML-N. Election Commission remains the rabbit of the government as ever.