The outcome of Pakistan’s election result is a lesson for those governments and leaders who think that they can win elections by using brute force. The voters have given strong rebuttals to the Pakistan Army, which tried to rig the election in favour of former PM Nawaz Sharif. The result is one of defiance and hope; defiance in the face of unprecedented oppression and manipulation of the institutions, and hope to save and preserve the democratic will. For the first time in the country’s history, a clear indictment was handed out to the military establishment, which used all the tricks in the bag, as it always did, to tweak the processes and influence the outcome in favour of a political dispensation that has its blessings.
The mandate was a clear rejection of the devious designs of the Army to impose its will. What felt like a déjà vu played out in a loop, the Rawalpindi generals went out of the way to keep Imran Khan, the Army’s fall guy, out of contention. However, by electing independents backed by the jailed former prime minister’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), in large numbers – in fact they have emerged as the single largest bloc – the voters have clearly spoken out their mind and showed extraordinary resilience in overcoming the obstacles deliberately created by the establishment. Despite its dubious international image of controlling the civilian leadership at will, the Army always commanded respect from the common man. But the latest mandate reflects, for the first time, an unambiguous public disapproval of the Army’s interference in civilian affairs. As the polls have thrown up a hung Parliament, with no clear winner, Pakistan is staring at a prolonged political instability and chaos at a time when it is already steeped in multiple crises impacting its political, social and economic spheres.