A week before general elections in Pakistan, the US has said it wants to see “free and fair elections” in the country and that it strongly condemns any violence that undermines the electoral process.Matthew Miller, spokesperson of the US State Department was asked a question about pre-poll violence and the Pakistan government not allowing former prime minister Imran Khan’s supporters from his Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaaf (PTI) party to hold peaceful election rallies and instead arresting them.
“It looks like no more freedom of speech just for one party. No further —,” the questioner said just this when Miller cut in, refusing to comment on this specific question because he hadn’t seen it and said, “But I will say, as we have long said, we want to see free and fair elections take place in Pakistan.”
Incarcerated Imran Khan and his party colleagues have been facing numerous hurdles in Pakistan ahead of the general elections on February 8. His party’s election symbol, the iconic cricket bat has been snatched away; Khan himself and his senior colleague Shah Mahmood Qureshi have been sentenced to imprisonment in multiple cases and their nomination papers rejected too.
On Wednesday, Khan’s wife Bushra Bibi was also sentenced in a corruption case along with the former prime minister. Referring to a bomb blast in Pakistan at one of the PTI election rallies, the questioner sought Miller’s comments on that, when the US official referred to the department’s comment on the issue earlier in the day when the assistant secretary issued a tweet on it. “We, as we did in that comment earlier today, extend our deepest sympathies to those affected by the attack on the PTI party rally in Pakistan,” Miller said.
The post on X that Miller referred to was by the US State Department’s Bureau of South and Central Asian Affairs (SCA), which said: “The US strongly condemns the attack on PTI party rally in Sibi killing 10 people, which undermines the electoral process. Pakistani people have the right to choose their leader without fear for the country’s stability and prosperity. Our deepest sympathies to those affected.” Miller further said, “We believe in the resilience of the Pakistani people and their ability to recover. This attack is one of many we have seen in the last month against multiple parties across Pakistan. The election commission itself has come under attack in several places.”
Pak General elections on February 8
Despite increasing poll-related violence, Pakistan’s acting interior minister Gohar Ejaz on Thursday dispelled all doubts about holding the general elections on the already announced date of February 8.
The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) had summoned a meeting on Thursday to discuss the worsening law and order situation in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan.
It was attended by the Interior Minister, Secretary of Interior, Chief Secretaries, Inspector Generals of Police from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan, along with representatives from intelligence agencies.
Ejaz, the acting interior minister, while briefly talking to the media after the security meeting, said that after the recent spate of terrorist attacks in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (KP) and Balochistan, “There should not be any doubt about elections. No matter what happens.”
“The government will ensure that the elections are held on February 8,” he said in response to a question regarding rumours about a possible delay in the elections in some regions due to security reasons. With just a week left for the elections, the country is facing a rising threat of attacks by militant outfits, especially in the two provinces bordering Afghanistan.