ISLAMABAD: Fears have mounted over wide-ranging powers granted to military units overseeing Pakistan’s polling stations when the country votes Wednesday, with opposition parties and analysts warning the move could erode trust in the tense contest.
The Pakistan military will station over 370,000 troops nationwide to ensure the vote goes smoothly, the largest such deployment in the country’s history on an election day.
The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) later said military officers would also be given magisterial powers, effectively making them judge and jury to punish individuals for illegal acts committed inside polling stations.
“I don’t know why they have given these powers, because that will unnecessarily create doubts in the minds of people,” retired general and security analyst Talat Masood told AFP.
“I don’t think these powers have ever been granted.”
Election observers also questioned the move, and said there was rising anxiety over the large military presence at the polls.
“A lot of our interlocutors, and I would dare to say most of them, they raise serious concerns regarding the role of the military,” said Dimitra Ioannou, deputy chief observer of the European Union Election Observation Mission.
Last week, Sherry Rehman — opposition leader in the Senate, the parliament’s upper house — said the move could lead to potential conflicts and confusion. Raza Rabbani, another high-profile senator, demanded a clarification from the ECP.
The ECP said Sunday the presence of troops at polling stations is meant to ensure a “free and fair election.”
The military — which has ruled the country for roughly half its 70 year history — remains Pakistan’s most powerful institution and has a long history of meddling in politics and judicial affairs — a charge it denies.
“It would be difficult to call the elections free and fair,” Ibn Abdur Rehman of the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan told AFP Monday, following a press conference on media censorship during the campaign season.
The controversy comes as increasing militant attacks on campaign events in the last month have raised fears that insurgents may target voters.
Three candidates have been killed in attacks at political events this month, including a member of cricketer-turned-politician Imran Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party in a suicide attack on Sunday.
And on Monday, authorities announced an increased death toll — 153 — for an earlier attack on a rally in the town of Mastung in southwestern Balochistan province, making it the second-deadliest terror attack in Pakistan’s history.
The increasingly bitter contest is expected to be a tight race between jailed former prime minister Nawaz Sharif’s incumbent Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz party and Khan’s PTI.
Fears mount in Pakistan over military’s election powers
Fears mount in Pakistan over military’s election powers
- Analysts warn powers granted for military overseeing of election polls could erode trust in the tense contest
- The 'magisterial powers' effectively make them judge and jury to punish individuals for illegal acts
Related
Trump discussing how to acquire Greenland; US military always an option, White House says
- Greenland has repeatedly said it does not want to be part of the United States
- Strong statements in support of Greenland from NATO leaders have not deterred Trump
WASHINGTON: US President Donald Trump and his team are discussing options for acquiring Greenland and the use of the US military in furtherance of the goal is “always an option,” the White House said on Tuesday.
Trump’s ambition of acquiring Greenland as a strategic US hub in the Arctic, where there is growing interest from Russia and China, has been revived in recent days in the wake of the US arrest of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro. Greenland has repeatedly said it does not want to be part of the United States.
The White House said in a statement in response to queries from Reuters that Trump sees acquiring Greenland as a US national security priority necessary to “deter our adversaries in the Arctic region.”
“The president and his team are discussing a range of options to pursue this important foreign policy goal, and of course, utilizing the US military is always an option at the commander-in-chief’s disposal,” the White House said.
A senior US official said discussions about ways to acquire Greenland are active in the Oval Office and that advisers are discussing a variety of options.
Strong statements in support of Greenland from NATO leaders have not deterred Trump, the official said.
“It’s not going away,” the official said about the president’s drive to acquire Greenland during his remaining three years in office.
The official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said options include the outright US purchase of Greenland or forming a Compact of Free Association with the territory. A COFA agreement would stop short of Trump’s ambition to make the island of 57,000 people a part of the US.
A potential purchase price was not provided.
“Diplomacy is always the president’s first option with anything, and dealmaking. He loves deals. So if a good deal can be struck to acquire Greenland, that would definitely be his first instinct,” the official said.
Administration officials argue the island is crucial to the US due to its deposits of minerals with important high-tech and military applications. These resources remain untapped due to labor shortages, scarce infrastructure and other challenges.
Leaders from major European powers and Canada rallied behind Greenland on Tuesday, saying the Arctic island belongs to its people.
