No delay in elections

EDITORIAL: Good of ECP (Election Commission of Pakistan) to promptly lay all fresh rumours of a delay in the February elections to rest before they could create too much noise.

After repeated Senate resolutions demanding a postponement on account of cold weather and security concerns triggered feverish speculation that took some time to be defused and contained, now the uncertainty created by Iranian missile and drone strikes in Balochistan, which led to retaliatory action from the Pakistani military, has created yet more controversy. But pressing as this emergency is, it has been made clear that it is not going to interfere with the election schedule.

It’s still a mystery why independent senators submitted their resolutions, because elections have been held despite worse weather and security problems in the past. And the latest nugget that has been drawing all sorts of analyses over the last few days, mostly from foreign and security policy novices is that the drone and rocket exchange with Iran might make it impossible to hold elections in Pakistan.

This is ridiculous, especially since there are already encouraging signs of an urgently needed de-escalation. The rise and proliferation of social media is another big headache when it comes to such sensitive issues. Now the internet is overflowing with so-called youtubers spreading all sorts of juicy conspiracy theories that generate a quick following and fat incomes from them.

The road to the election has already been hard enough with almost everybody, including leading political parties, unnecessarily muddying the waters. In fact, things got so bad that the Supreme Court had to put its foot down and warn, in no uncertain terms, of serious consequences in case of a delay.

Now that the point of no return has been crossed, it’s best for everybody to put all their energies into the election itself. There’s plenty of sane content traditional and social media can generate without adopting deliberately controversial postures.

It’s already worrying that most leading parties have delayed their campaigns, for one reason or another, which means voters are still pretty much in the dark about their plans to solve the country’s most pressing problems.

It’s no good going through their manifestoes that have not been revised in years, sometimes decades. And it’s worse that most of the time the only thing the media does is cause more confusion.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2024