The Election Commission of Pakistan does not have the authority to ensure a free and fair election, Sen. Sajid Mir, chief of Jamiat Ulema-e-Ahle Hadees, told Urdu News.
His remarks came as Pakistan’s President Asif Ali Zardari announced that polls will be held on May 11.
The vote will mark the first time that an elected civilian government hands over to another in a country that has seen three military coups and four military rulers since the end of British rule in 1947.
Mir also said he did not see any major obstacle in holding polls but stressed that the Election Commission did not enjoy enough powers to implement its decisions.
Mir said that both the government and the opposition do not want power handed over to what he termed as clean people because it would hurt their interests.
The election commissioner, he said, enjoyed the confidence of both the government and the opposition but he lacked authority to make independent decisions because he came under pressure from politicians.
A parliamentary committee has until Friday to select a candidate to head a caretaker administration until the polls. The election commission should then announce a full schedule for the campaign.
Zardari’s Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) and the opposition Pakistan Muslim League-N led by former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif are likely to dominate the race, while former cricket star Imran Khan will compete in an election for the first time.
Separate elections will also be held for regional assemblies in Pakistan’s four provinces.
Shairf urged the people of Pakistan to “rejoice” at the prospect of a democratic transition, adding: “We have to strengthen democracy. Martial law is not a solution, it is the cause of many ills.”
Senator says Pakistan Election Commission ‘lacks authority’
Senator says Pakistan Election Commission ‘lacks authority’
Burkina jihadist attacks on army leave at least 10 dead
ABIDJAN, Ivory Coast: Suspected Islamist militants attacked an army unit in northern Burkina Faso Sunday, the latest in a series of alleged jihadist attacks that have killed at least 10 people in four days, security sources told AFP.
The west African country, ruled by a military junta since a 2022 coup, has been plagued with violence from militants allied to Al-Qaeda or the Daesh group for more than a decade.
Social media has been awash with speculation that the spate of attacks may have killed dozens of soldiers, but AFP has been unable to independently verify those claims.
The junta, which seized power on the promise to crack down on the violence, has ceased to communicate on jihadist attacks.
On Sunday, militants carried out a major attack on a military detachment in the northern town of Nare, two security sources told AFP.
The previous day, the Burkinabe army’s unit in the northern city of Titao was “targeted by a group of several hundred terrorists,” one of the sources said.
While the source did not give a death toll for either attack, they said part of the military base in Titao had been destroyed.
The interior minister of Ghana, which borders Burkina Faso to the south, said the government had “received disturbing information from Burkina Faso of a truck carrying tomato traders from Ghana which was caught in a terrorist attack in Titao.”
Jihadist ‘coordination’
According to the same security source, another army base in Tandjari, in the east of the country, was also attacked Saturday, and several officers killed.
“This series of attacks is not a coincidence,” the source said. “There seems to be coordination among the jihadists.”
A separate security source told AFP that a “terrorist group attacked the (military) detachment in Bilanga,” in the east of the country, on Thursday.
“Much of the detachment was ransacked,” the source said, giving a toll of “about 10 deaths” among the soldiers and civilian volunteers fighting alongside the army.
A local source confirmed the attack, adding there was damage in the town of Bilanga, and that the assailants had stayed at the scene until the following day.
Despite the junta’s vow to restore security, Burkina Faso remains caught in a spiral of violence.
According to conflict monitor ACLED, the unrest has killed tens of thousands of civilians and soldiers since 2015 — and more than half of those deaths have come in the past three years.
