ALI SUKHANVER
God knows better what direction we all in Pakistan would be heading to, in the coming days but one thing is very clear if Imran Khan were not in the driving seat, certainly it would have been a very hazardous journey towards new democratic avenues in Pakistan. Before 25th July, people had no idea that they would succeed in turning upside down the heavy weight stone tables of political kings and queens in such an easy way; they didn’t know that they had a very strong tool in their hands; the tool of vote, and they didn’t know that they had the authority of changing their rulers but now a new day has dawned; a day full of dreams, a day full of passions. The recent elections nurtured another conclusion too; the people of Pakistan would never go with the elements hostile to the security forces and the intelligence agencies of Pakistan. You see that people voted against those who had always been blaming the security forces of Pakistan for all that went wrong in Pakistan. From Balochistan to Gilgit Biltistan, things had not been very pleasant, particularly in the last few years. India and Afghanistan had been doing all their best to disturb the law and order situation there. Arrest of Kalboshan from Balochistan is a very strong proof of this foreign interference. In spite of government’s best efforts and countless sacrifices of the law enforcement agencies and of the common citizens, situation could not be normalized on permanent grounds. Certainly the foreign elements succeeded in achieving their targets with the help of some local facilitators. In the recent elections the voters simply rejected such facilitators when they tried to be a part of the election process throughout Pakistan. The hostile foreign elements were never in favour of free and fair elections in Pakistan. They simply wanted to distort the peaceful image of Pakistan with the help of suicide-bombers and other miscreants. Moreover they tried to spread a misconception that the elections in Pakistan are nothing more than a drama staged by the Armed Forces of Pakistan. With the help of different write-ups, talk-shows and analysis based TV programs, they did their best to misguide the people that the election process in Pakistan was simply an eye-wash; things would be done as the Army had planned to do; they told the people. The Indian media had been on the top of the list in this propaganda move against the free and fair electoral process. This blame game against the electoral process was simply a part of the fifth generation warfare being waged against Pakistan. The brains behind this fifth generation war remained totally blind to the fact that so many neutral international organizations were there in Pakistan to monitor the election process closely and in all their reports and analysis they had expressed their complete satisfaction over the fairness of these elections. As far as the involvement of the Pakistan Army in the elections is concerned, Army’s involvement was limited to the maintenance of law and order situation by providing security to the polling staff. From finalization of voters’ lists, scrutiny of the candidates, printing of the material to the final counting of ballot papers and announcement of results, everything was done by the Election Commission of Pakistan under the supervision of the honourable Judiciary. The Armed Forces simply provided security to the process; and certainly it was their job to do so. Those who are continuously blaming the Army and the ISI of sabotaging the elections, must keep in their minds that Army has so many other important things to do regarding the security and safety of Pakistan; who wins, who loses in the elections; the Army has nothing to do with it. As far as the security and safety of the process is concerned, the Army did whatever was ordered by the Interim government. The Interim government asked the Army to provide security to the process; Army obeyed the orders by deputing 3.6 lac jawans and officers and provided security to the democratic process. Now one feels compelled to think something different rather suspicious about those who are raising slogans against the Pakistan Army with reference to the recent elections; whose agenda such people are following against their own army; the same agenda of the RAW and other foreign hostile agencies, the agenda of defaming the institutions which are safeguarding Pakistan’s interests at various fronts. It is the proper time to reconsider and review the state of affairs. Certainly if blame game against the Army and ISI were started by some foreign hostile elements, no one would have been surprised at but why do we give liberty of defaming our very sacred institutions to the people who enjoy all benefits being Pakistani; this question needs serious concentration. Such unfortunates must be taken to task whether they are from political scenario or from the media-hoses. Everyone knows that last year, a media group permitted one of its employees to ‘leak’ some baseless information regarding the security institutions of Pakistan and this ‘leakage’ gave birth to a new dawn of blames and allegations against the security forces of Pakistan. Unluckily that ‘leakage’ could not be rectified rather ‘mended’ properly. If we really desire to make Pakistan stronger and peacefully prosperous, we will have to take a serious action against such non-patriotic attitudes.