The recent elections in Pakistan have proven once again that all is not well within Pakistan. It is almost four days since a majority of the election results were declared and some results are yet to be declared – a good ten parliamentary seats. Herein elections have taken place, votes have also been counted but for some strange reasons the results are not being declared. There have been massive allegations of rigging from different quarters and given the past history of Pakistani elections the allegations cannot be written off completely.
While it was expected that the recently London-returned scion of Shareef family Mian Mohammad Nawaz Shareef would be catapulted easily into power by the support of Pakistani deep state. However, the party of Nawaz Shareez PML-N fell short of the target by a huge margin. It must be borne in mind that the Independents have won a whopping 100 odd seats and they will now play a decisive role in bringing a political arrangement to power in Pakistan. It is being observed that a majority of these independents are tilted towards the former Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan. However, the latest news of at least three independents ready to switch over to Nawaz camp has made the whole thing very interesting.
It remains to be seen if Bilawal Bhutto would again be ready to play second fiddle to Nawaz and contend in continuing as the foreign minister of Pakistan or would like to barter this status quo with a President’s term for his father.
Whichever political orientation takes shape in Pakistan it remains a fact that the current economic challenges of the country are overwhelming. Pakistan has been getting bail out after bail out but one day it will be held accountable for the financial crisis it has brought upon itself. A weak cobbled-up coalition government would be incapable of doing this.
Once the results for the remaining ten seats are declared we can say for sure what lies in the immediate future of Pakistan. As of now it looks clear that Imran Khan is not forming the next government in Pakistan – he has been shunted to the proverbial flanks completely!
