What is a commonly accepted definition of democracy? Well, the minimal definition of a functioning democracy is that when elections are held, the losers accept that they have lost. We just had the counting of votes for Delhi assembly on Saturday, February 8 and Arvind Kejriwal’s Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) lost. Despite deep heartache, Kejriwal had to admit it clearly, he has been booted out by the voters. That is how democracy functions and makes India the largest democracy, winning it praise the world over.
Usually, this definition about losers accepting the electoral verdict works well to define things in America, India, UK and many others.
Our western neighbour calls itself a democracy and its official name is Islamic Republic of Pakistan. But is it a democracy? Now, that may look like a trick question at first glance, but it is not. Former Prime Minister Imran Khan and his party, Pakistan Tehreek Insaaf (PTI), have not accepted that they were losers in the elections that happened a year earlier.
It needs to be mentioned here that the elections for the four provincial assemblies and the National Assembly in Pakistan were held on February 8, 2024. The dice was loaded against Imran and his party in every possible way, beginning with the denial of party’s iconic bat symbol before the polls were held. Yet, more candidates contesting as independents, owing allegiance to Imran Khan, got support and were victorious.
PTI Chairman Barrister Gohar Ali Khan on Saturday reiterated that his party’s mandate was “stolen” during elections last year. He made these remarks while addressing the party’s power show in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s (KP) Swabi. The party marked February 8 as a “Black Day” in protest against alleged massive rigging in the general elections last year.
Addressing a massive gathering in Swabi, Barrister Gohar reiterated his party’s claim saying: “We had won elections in Punjab, and were clearly the largest party in the provincial assembly as also got the maximum number of National Assembly seats too. However, our mandate was stolen in the darkness of the night (during the polls).”
He stressed the need for the independence of the judiciary and the rule of law. He said: “There will be political stability if the judiciary is independent.”
The show of strength by PTI was organised in Swabi as the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government is headed by PTI’s Aman Ali Gandapur, a firebrand Imran loyalist. Outside of KP province, dozens of PTI workers and leaders were arrested in the past few days to stall party’s planned protests.
Incidentally, election day vote fraud is the most blatantly visible way of stealing mandate of individuals/parties and PTI workers allege that this was done on a massive scale. In Pakistan, there were systematic processes set in motion by caretaker government to stall PTI and prevent it from forming a government at the national level. The most active player behind the curtains in this endeavour was Pakistan Army chief General Asim Munir.
His will prevailed and Imran’s party was declared loser by the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP). However, till date, neither Imran nor his party workers have accepted this and vowed to continue their struggle against the powers that be. Over the past one year, the government has taken several steps to stymie Imran and his party every step of the way.
The government has created new laws aimed at containing Imran and his party. It has created a law to prolong General Asim Munir’s tenure at the top as also stopped Justice Mansoor Ali Shah from becoming the Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP). All these things and more have only one aim: To keep Imran and his party out of power.
