Pakistan’s PM Rejects Military Election Interference Claims

In a recent interview with The Associated Press, Anwaar-ul-Haq Kakar stated that the Election Commission will oversee the vote, not the military. He also pointed out that Khan appointed the commission’s chief, so why would he act against him in any way?

Since April 2022, Pakistan has been going through a lot of political trouble. This all started when Khan got kicked out of his job because Parliament voted against him. Then, in early August, they put him in jail for doing some corrupt stuff. They said he had to stay in jail for three years, but later they stopped that punishment. However, he’s still in jail.

On top of all this, Pakistan is also dealing with a really bad economic problem. It’s one of the worst in the country’s history. Last summer, there were terrible floods that killed at least 1,700 people and wrecked a lot of homes and farmland. So, Pakistan has been facing a lot of tough times lately.

He mentioned that fair elections can happen even without Khan or many of his party members who are in jail for doing illegal things like damaging property and starting fires. This refers to the violence that happened in the country after Khan was arrested in May. He also said that the many people in Khan’s party who didn’t break the law will still be involved in politics and take part in the elections.

The Pakistani army has played a big role in making governments come and go. Some people who like Khan say that it’s like the military is actually in charge in Pakistan, and they think that democracy is in danger.

We do face issues with how the military and civilian parts of our government work together, I admit that,he said. However, he thinks there’s a big difference in why this happens. In his opinion, during the past several decades, the civilian parts of Pakistan’s government haven’t been performing as well as they should. On the other hand, the military has been disciplined, organized, and has gotten better over the last forty years, according to him.

Kakar suggests that instead of making the military weaker, we should focus on making our civilian institutions better over time. This is because simply weakening the military won’t fix our problems.