Pakistan has had a history of military fiddling with the country’s politics.
Pakistan will go to polls on Thursday, February 8. In a nation of 240 million people, former prime minister Nawaz Sharif’s In the last five years, Pakistan has seen three prime ministers — Imran Khan (2018-2022), Shehbaz Sharif (2022-23) and Anwaar-ul-Haq Kakar (2023-present).
Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) is considered as one of the leading contenders. Former Prime Minister Imran Khan is languishing in jail, while his political party Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) has been barred from contesting polls.
The new government, much like the previous ones, will have a multitude of economic, socio-political and security challenges to address.
Rising militancy:
In the last 18 months, the country has witnessed a surge in militant attacks. This comes after the 2014 military operation drove out militant groups to neighbouring Afghanistan.
Militants have carried out a string of high-profile attacks and returned to strongholds inside Pakistan, according to Reuters.
The Baloch insurgency in the southwest, targetting the interests of Pakistan’s all-weather key ally China, has also picked pace.
Decades-high inflation:
The biggest challenge before the next Pakistan government is to take the country out of its economic woes. The current short-term IMF bail-out is running out in March and the incoming administration has to, first and foremost, negotiate a new extended programme.
The work, of course, doesn’t end here. The new programme will also require the government to commit to steps needed for recovery. But then that also means limiting policy options to provide relief to frustrated people and industries looking for government support to push growth.
Relations with neighbours:
The country has been locked in a bitter border battle with Iran in the recent few weeks. Iran and Pakistan have consistently accused each other of harbouring elements compromising each other’s security. They have also executed targeted strikes to take out “terrorist hideouts” on each other’s soils.
Pakistan’s relations with India have seen no improvement, but the issue has been conspicuously absent from the election discourse and debates. According to Husain Haqqani, a former Pakistani ambassador to the US, the campaign for Thursday polls has been more personality-dominated rather than centred around issues.
The Army’s role:
Roughly five years after the Pakistani Army allegedly threw its weight behind star cricketer-turned-politician Imran Khan, the former Prime Minister is in jail with several cases against him. Millions of his supporters have accused the military of targeting his party while backing Nawaz Sharif this time around.
Pakistan has had a history of military fiddling with the country’s politics while simultaneously maintaining it has nothing to do with it. According to Reuters, analysts say Sharif is being backed by the generals this time after they preferred Khan at the last election in 2018.
A democracy at stake:
With PTI barred from taking part in polls, its candidates are contesting as independents and experts claim they remain a force to reckon with. Apart from PTI and PML (N), the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) is also in the fray. Bilawal Bhutto Zardari, the son of former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto and former President Asif Zardari, told a rally in Karachi on Monday that if the city voted for his party, he would become prime minister.
While PML (N) claimed the country would see Nawaz Sharif take oath as the PM for the fourth time, analysts predicted a hung parliament, necessitating the formation of a coalition government.