The announcement of a date by the Election Commission of Pakistan seems to have prodded the parties into kicking off their campaigns, at least those who can do so. The PML(N) started off by forming an alliance with the MQM(P), the day after it had had its first party leaders’ meeting with party Quaid Mian Nawaz Sharif in the chair, in which he told the leaders to prepare fully for the coming election. The PPP meanwhile seems to have continued its sniping at the PML(N) as it tried to set a narrative that would lead it to victory. In the latest episode, which will probably be repeated virtually ad nauseam in the run-up to the poll, PPP co-Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari has said that the next Prime Minister would not be from Lahore, thus ruling out both Mian Nawaz and his brother Shehbaz, who held the office before the present caretaker government took over.
The alliance with the MQM(P) should be seen as against the PPP, for the PPP’s capturing of the Karachi mayorship was a great shock for the MQM(P). It should also be seen as another instance of the help being given to the PML(N), which has been tipped as the recipient of the kind of help that would lead towards election victory. The sniping by the PPP should be seen not so much as an expression of distaste as an expression of angry regret that the PPP is not receiving any of the benefits it expected would come its way as a result of its participation in the PDM coalition led by Shehbaz.
However, there is also a more basic problem, shown by the death of two policemen in a terrorist attack in Dera Ismail Khan. This follows Friday’s attack, in which five people were killed. Security is already beginning to look shaky, well before election gatherings have begun happening. If the forces which are conducting the election cannot provide the requisite security, then there are remote chances of the election yielding a government which can tackle the country’s problems. The parties are jockeying for position, as they do whenever there is an election, but there is apparently not the same room for the PTI. Even if there was, the election is not going to help the country.
