IndiaTheNews Exclusive: What was the need for Pakistan Elections when Pak Army has already decided the names of PM and ministers?

This week in IndiaTheNews News Network’s special program Shaurya Path, we wanted to know from Brigadier Shri DS Tripathi (Retd) that how do you view the elections held amidst the blasts in Pakistan? We also wanted to know how fair are the parliamentary elections held in Pakistan? In response to this he said that the news coming from Pakistan shows that explosions are taking place all around. Due to these blasts, most of the voters are not coming out of their homes and those who are going to the polling booth are being threatened by the security personnel present there to vote for a particular party. He said that all this shows that only lip service is being done in the name of democracy. There the army has already decided who will be the Prime Minister and who will be the minister of which department. There, only show-off is being done in the name of elections.

Brigadier Shri DS Tripathi (Retd) said that if you look at the history of Pakistan, you will find that since its formation, there have been 23 Prime Ministers in the 43 years and there has been military rule for 33 years. He said that apart from this, during the 43 years in which the government has ruled Pakistan, the Prime Minister has been the Prime Minister of the army’s choice. He said that the army officers continued to serve their own interests by inciting anti-India sentiments and running anti-India campaigns. He said that by keeping a huge army budget, Pakistani army officers indulged in rampant corruption and made huge properties in foreign countries. He said that who can forget when Pervez Musharraf overthrew the elected government, he became the Army Chief along with the CEO. He said that it was the first time that a country had a CEO as if Pakistan was not a country but a company. He said that the debt owed by Pakistan today is equal to our budget for Jammu and Kashmir this year.

Brigadier Shri DS Tripathi (Retd) said how can these elections be fair when a widely popular leader and former Prime Minister Imran Khan has been barred from contesting the elections. He said that the way people came out on the streets in support of Imran Khan and the houses of army officers were attacked, atrocities on people have increased after which people are afraid to open their mouths. He said that it was out of fear that many leaders of Imran Khan’s party had given up on politics and many leaders left the party. He said that the kind of elections being conducted there by suppressing the opposition has no meaning. He said that the global community is watching that by bringing back a fugitive leader, Nawaz Sharif, the cases against him were ended and by forcibly toppling the government of Prime Minister Imran Khan, he was put behind the bars and cases of serious nature were imposed against him. Due to this he was debarred from contesting elections. He said that I do not think that Pakistan’s credibility will increase in any way after this election.

Brigadier Shri DS Tripathi (Retired) said that there was a delay of one year in voting due to which the common people have also lost interest in the elections. He said that the world is seeing that this is probably the only country where no democratically elected Prime Minister has ever completed the tenure in its 76-year history. He said that this country, which has been a haven for terrorism for decades, is now itself struggling with terrorism and separatism which has had a great impact on the democratic process. All this was seen from election campaign to voting. He said what is the meaning of such elections where declared terrorists are contesting elections by forming their own party?

Brigadier Shri DS Tripathi ji (Retd) said that if 74-year-old former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif gets the fourth term, it will be his historic comeback because before this he was in jail on corruption charges and spent years in self-immolation abroad for a long time. Lived in exile also. He said that it also remains to be seen whether another candidate for the post of Prime Minister, Bilawal Bhutto Zardari, joins forces with Nawaz Sharif or remains his rival. He said that there is a feeling of despair among the majority of the population of Pakistan as they are living in times of extreme poverty. He said that Pakistan should learn from Bangladesh where the army plays an effective role but the policies are made by the government and due to those policies Bangladesh is a successful nation today.

Brigadier Shri DS Tripathi (Retired) said that if we look at the voter list of Pakistan, we will find that most of the voters are youth. He said that these youth do not want enmity with India but are asking why we separated from India? He said that Pakistani youth also want to move forward but they are not seeing opportunities for this in Pakistan and there is no leader left there who can guide them and give them confidence that he will take Pakistan forward. He said that the choice of the youth was Imran Khan who gave the country the Cricket World Cup and freed it from dynastic politics but he has been put behind the bars. He said that people’s disinterest in elections was visible not only in remote areas of Pakistan but also in the capital Islamabad, which shows that this election is just a mere gratification.