US cannot afford prioritising stable military partnership over democratic Pakistan: Report

New York, Sep 15 (IANS) Citing a 100-page report from the Commonwealth Observer Group, a report on Monday highlighted that the US can no longer afford its shortsighted policy of prioritising a stable military partnership over a stable, democratic Pakistan.

Instead, the International Business Times reported, the US must endorse the findings of the Commonwealth, other observer reports and condition all military aid on verifiable measures towards restoration of democracy in Pakistan, including an independent probe into the election irregularities and the intimidation of judges and providing funds for foundations of civil society.

The report from the Commonwealth Observer Group has provided evidence that the elections held in Pakistan in February last year were rigged to sideline Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI). The conclusions made in the report are not mere allegations from a losing party but has revealed findings of international judges and election experts, the International Business Times reported.

"The Commonwealth report methodically details how state institutions were weaponised to create a 'pre-election period that significantly impacted the level playing field.' The two most consequential actions were judicial. First, the Supreme Court miraculously reversed a lifetime ban on politicians holding office, a move that Madiha Afzal of the Brookings Institution noted was designed to ensure 'the scales had been tipped heavily' in favour of former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, the military's preferred candidate. Second, and most cripplingly, the Election Commission, with the Supreme Court's blessing, stripped PTI of its iconic cricket bat election symbol," the report highlighted.

Candidates of Imran Khan-founded PTI party were forced to contest elections as independents, invisible on ballots to voters with significant illiteracy and were legally banned from claiming their share of reserved seats, as per the report. It further said, "On election day, the manipulation continued. Mobile networks were shut down nationwide, a move condemned by UN rapporteurs as contrary to international law. Election watchdogs like the Free and Fair Election Network (FAFEN) reported that 'election agents were not allowed to observe result tabulations in about half of the constituencies,' and documented 'major discrepancies' between votes counted at polling stations and the results later declared.

As per the report, young voters in 2024 came out in large numbers to vote, however, their votes were invalidated by what they consider as corrupt system.

"The resulting government is a weak, illegitimate coalition of parties that, as Brookings Analysis stated, 'will function as a junior partner to the military.' This is a government that has already handed 'unprecedented power to the army.' America is now tethered to a regime with minimal popular support, whose primary constituency is the military brass, not the Pakistani people," the IBT reported.

"The United States can no longer afford its shortsighted policy of prioritising a stable military partnership over a stable, democratic Pakistan. That policy has created the very monster it sought to control: an unstable, nuclear-armed nation where the military is the only winner and the people are disenfranchised," the report stated.

--IANS

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