It is not just major politicians who will be contesting in the upcoming elections with their younger family members.
Political parties in Pakistan are often accused of being family-owned enterprises, with several members of a singular, influential family or tribe often capturing blocks of seats to bolster their hold in the corridors of elected power. Unwilling to allow externals to grab a share of their political patronage – even if at times brothers – fathers and sons or fathers and daughters may adopt diametrically opposing political views or even directly support political rivals and contest against each other – entrenched political leaders have decided to turn to their upcoming generation as a means to tap into a demographic that is fast changing the electoral landscape of the country: the youth.
The Bhutto and Sharif families are famously criticised for promoting dynastic politics. Among the Bhuttos, who have seen their family members elected as the country’s prime minister across two generations, are hoping to make a hat trick with third-generational prime ministerial hopeful in Bilawal Bhutto Zardari. Bilwal’s father and former president, Asif Ali Zardari, is also expected to contest polls. However, the upcoming polls may see the entrance of another close family member into politics in the form of Aseefa Bhutto.
From the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N), supremo Nawaz Sharif filed nomination papers to contest the polls after over his eligibility. Along with him, his daughter Maryam Nawaz contesting elections for the first time. Nawaz’s son-in-law, Capt Safdar, is also part. Elsewhere, Nawaz’s brother and former prime minister, Shehbaz Sharif, is also contesting elections, and his son, Hamza Shahbaz. Nawaz’s brother-in-law and former federal finance minister, Ishaq Dar, is already a senator.
Elections 2024: Climate Change, Politics And Elections In Pakistan
Many other mainstays of Pakistani politics across the political divide are also expected to join the power race together with the younger generation of their family…
Source: thefridaytimes.com/
Imran Khan — out of sight but not out of mind Once dubbed the establishment’s “blue-eyed boy”, former prime minister Imran Khan finds himself on th
e sidelines, with his nomination papers for 2024 elections rejected, and his party in tatters. Born in Lahore in 1952, Imran first rose to fame as a cricketer, leading the national side to its only ODI World Cup victory in 1992. Following his retirement from the sport, in addition to ramping up his philanthropic activities, he founded the PTI in 1996 but only saw limited political success till 2011, when he started gaining the attention of youth disillusioned by massive corruption and an unemployment crisis. Following the 2013 elections, Imran alleged widespread rigging, leading a months-long sit-in in Islamabad in protest, but called it off after the deadly attack on the Army Public School in Peshawar.
Imran’s popularity continued to rise ahead of the 2018 elections, so much so that he was dubbed the “prime minister in waiting” albeit with some help from powerful quarters. Following a controversial victory in the general elections, he formed a coalition government and took oath as the country’s 22nd prime minister on August 18, 2018.
Historic ouster and the blame game
Elected on promises to ensure accountability and create a social welfare state, Imran soon found himself beset by serious challenges, including the Covid-19 pandemic, unprecedented inflation, rising deficits as well as differences with his own allies.
His relations with the establishment, which his rivals claimed had brought him into power, also soured, with a standoff between the government and the military leadership over the appointment of the new spymaster in October 2021.
To oust him from power, opposition parties joined forces and launched the Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM) which soon tabled a no-confidence bill. After some of his party members dissented during the crucial vote against him, Imran’s premiership came to an end shortly after the clock struck midnight on April 10, 2022.
Subsequently, Imran directed his party members to resign from their seats in the National Assembly and announced the dissolution of the provincial assemblies of Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa in a bid to force the ruling PDM coalition to hold early elections — a tactic that did not bear any fruit.
Increasingly frustrated, Imran lashed out at the US and former army chief Qamar Javed Bajwa, accusing them to conspire against him. In the months following his removal from office, the former PTI chief managed to evade arrest several times in a slew of cases, including the Toshakhana case, in which he was accused of illegally selling state gifts.
In October 2022, Imran launched a long march to Islamabad for Haqeeqi Azadi (true freedom), heavily criticising Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) Chief Lt Gen Nadeem Anjum and calling for the resignation of two other intelligence officials.
On November 3 of that year, as the PTI’s convoy reached Wazirabad, an assassination attempt was made on the party chief, who suffered multiple bullet injuries in his leg. The then-PTI chief called off the march later, claiming he did so to avoid “imminent bloodshed”.
Imran continued to up his ante in 2023, doubling down on his claims that a serving intelligence official was behind the attempt on his life and Bajwa, who he dubbed “super king”, was solely responsible for his ouster.
Source: dawn.com/
Party of Pakistan’s Ex-PM Nawaz Sharif launches election campaign
By Asif Shahzad
ISLAMABAD, Jan 15 (Reuters) – The party of Pakistan’s former prime minister Nawaz Sharif, considered the front-runner to win upcoming general elections, launched its campaign on Monday amid accusations that the military’s support is already giving him an edge over rivals.
The campaign for the Feb. 8 polls, delayed since November, looks set to fire up a lukewarm race so far amid an uncertain political environment after Sharif’s main rival and jailed former premier Imran Khan’s party is facing what is considered a military-backed crackdown. Sharif’s daughter Maryam Nawaz, who is also considered his political heir, started the party’s campaign at a rally in the eastern city of Okara in Punjab province.
“The more you vote for us the more you will see your household expenses going down,” she said amid inflation that has been hovering around 30% in recent months.
Sharif, who returned from self-exile in London late last year, has pledged to rebuild the country’s $350 billion economy, which is battling high inflation, an unstable currency and low foreign exchange reserves, despite averting a debt default with an IMF bailout last summer. Analysts believe the South Asian nation’s powerful military has thrown its backing to Sharif, 74, after it was locked in a standoff with former cricket star Khan, 71. That gives Sharif an edge in a country where army generals exert undue influence over establishing governments.
The military denies the accusations, and says it remains apolitical.
Major players such as the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) of late prime minister Benazir Bhutto have already begun campaigns, but these have been muted compared to past polls. The Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz has started its campaign late, while Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) says it is not being allowed rallies by the authorities.
Khan’s PTI, which analysts and political opponents say won the 2018 elections with the military’s support, is facing state-backed efforts to block candidates on legal and technical grounds.
Sharif, elected prime minister in 1990, 1997, and 2013, has blamed his 2017 ouster and subsequent corruption convictions on the military, with which he had fallen out.
Source: dawn.com/
Asif Ali Zardari — dealmaker extraordinaire
If successful, PPP leader could become the president for the second time.
Asif Ali Zardari was born in 1955 to a well-known Baloch family from Nawabshah, Sindh. He married Benazir Bhutto, who later became Pakistan’s first female prime minister, in 1987. Zardari’s initiation into politics was not very successful but his career began to take off after his marriage to Benazir. In both her governments, he was appointed federal minister — first with the portfolio of environment and later with that of investment. In 1990, he was accused of tying a bomb to a businessman’s leg and sending him into a bank to withdraw cash from his account as a pay-off. The charge was never proven and Zardari was released after spending three years in prison.
In 1996, after the dismissal of Benazir’s second government, Zardari was arrested and charged with several offences, including the murder of his brother-in-law, Murtaza Bhutto. He remained in prison for eight years and was released on bail in 2004, which was followed by his acquittal four years later.
Following his release, Zardari kept a low profile but returned to Pakistan in December 2007 after Benazir’s assassination.
After the PPP’s victory in the 2008 elections, Zardari was elected as the president. During his term, the government launched the Benazir Income Support Programme (BISP), Aghaz-i-Huqooq-i-Balochistan package, and managed to forge a consensus for the seventh National Finance Corporation award. Moreover, with the approval of the 18th Amendment, Zardari surrendered the president’s power to dissolve Parliament.
Throughout his political career, Zardari has faced allegations of misconduct and corruption although nothing has been proven in courts. When Benazir was prime minister, he was labelled ‘Mr 10%’ over allegations that he received kickbacks and stole from the state’s coffers.
However, he is also known for having a shrewd political mind — a testament of which came when on September 8, 2013 he became the country’s first president to complete his constitutional term and hand over duties to another democratically elected president. In recent years, Zardari has faced a slew of cases, including the Thatta Water Supply reference and the Park Lane reference, in which he remained in jail for six months before being granted bail by the Islamabad High Court on medical grounds in December 2019.
The former president maintained a low profile during the pandemic because of health issues. He became active in politics again as the Pakistan Democratic Movement — a coalition of opposition parties — began to take shape. He has participated vigorously in the PPP’s election campaign, setting up committees to woo electables and convincing several leaders from other parties to join the PPP. He is the party’s nominee for president in the upcoming polls.
An op-ed published in Dawn last year stated: “Asif Ali Zardari is undoubtedly one of the shrewdest political figures in the country. Past master in the art of political wheeling and dealing, he has managed to maintain the party’s role as a major player in the power game, despite its eroding national status.”
Meanwhile, Zardari has said he believes no single party will be able to win a two-thirds majority in the elections, and a “national unity government” will be formed that will not be led by the PML-N.
Source: dawn.com/
