When the former Prime Minister Imran Khan’s government was toppled in a parliamentary coup backed by the Pakistani military and the U.S. State Department in 2022, it was only in its fourth year.
Since then, the Pakistani military has ruled from the shadows, trying to delay the inevitable elections while at the same time trying to ensure that the massively popular Khan and his party Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf, or PTI, do not come back to power.
A growing body of evidence points to election manipulation and political interference by the Pakistani military.
The U.N. Commission on Human Rights deplored these incidents in their statement on Tuesday. “We are disturbed by the pattern of harassment, arrests and prolonged detentions of leaders of the Pakistan Tehreek e Insaf (PTI) party and their supporters which has continued during the election period,” the statement read.
Inside Pakistan, the media is completely muzzled.
Outside Pakistan, the upcoming elections are being called the “least credible in the country’s historyOpens in a new tab,” and “more like a coronationOpens in a new tab,” where the military is understood merely to be choosing a new civilian face for its rule.
Mobile phone and internet services have been suspended in Pakistan as millions of voters head to polling booths to cast their votes amid high security cover.
The charges against ousted prime minister Khan range from incoherent to absurd. He was charged with “exposing state secrets” for publicly discussing…
Read moreHere are the top political news stories for today.
Despite a visible crackdown, the army hasn't been able to break PTI. The first sign is that despite tremendous pressure, the army has not been able to stop candidates from running as candidates on the PTI ticket. If there isn't significant rigging and crackdown on PTI on election day, we might be in for a big surprise
@SardinesEllaRepublican2yrs2Y
Pakistan and its people are under an occupation by their own military. Chief of army staff is the king, army generals are above the law, they treat their fellow citizens like slaves (or even worse) and if someone complains, a disappearance or even death in a torture cell is the outcome. It’s not a military, it’s a gang of criminals running a country.
@IdealisticTimRepublican2yrs2Y
Successive US administrations have long turned a blind eye to the shenanigans of Pakistan’s military because their military were willing to do the US bidding in the region in return for military aid.
Imran Khan's brand of politics relied on exploiting the anti-American sentiment in Pakistan, but he probably crossed a step too far when he was seen meeting with Putin on the day Russia invaded Ukraine.
It's not far fetched to say that he was removed by Pakistan’s military with the tacit approval of the State Department, and he is still the most popular politician in Pakistan so once again the US, a champion of human rights and democratic values, has proven that all its high sounding sanctimonious rhetoric does not matter when confronted with geopolitical realities.
@R3publicJeffSocialist2yrs2Y
I have closely observed all Pakistani election since 1970. Although the Pak Army has always manipulated almost all elections, this time around the pre poll rigging has vastly exceeded all previous records. All surveys indicate that PTI (Imran Khan's party) is favored by a wide majority of voters. Yet, Imran Khan is in jail, sentenced on flimsy charges, rushed through courts via illegal procedures. More than 10,000 PTI supporters are in jail for 9 months - without any charge or trial. Dozens of candidates have been arrested while dozens are in hiding. PTI candidates can't hold election campaigns and their banners are torn down by police. It is a travesty to call this excercise elections.
@ISIDEWITH2yrs2Y
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