Pakistan’s President Arif Alvi on Wednesday urged Caretaker Prime Minister Anwaar-ul-Haq Kakar to ensure a “level-playing field” is provided to all political parties before polls, as the country heads toward general elections amid allegations of pre-poll rigging and human rights violations.
In a letter addressed to Kakar, the president conveyed concerns raised by the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party, led by former prime minister Imran Khan, on the “erosion of fundamental rights and level playing field for all political parties.”
The PTI alleges that cases against its jailed leader, Khan, and supporters are politically motivated and designed to keep the party from winning the upcoming general elections. Khan has alleged that his aides are being forced out of the PTI under duress by the military in a maneuver to dismantle his party before elections and pave the way for his rival Nawaz Sharif’s party to come to power. The army denies this.
A widening crackdown against the PTI after nationwide protests on May 9 has led political experts and analysts to raise questions about the credibility of the upcoming elections. In his letter, the President stated that it was of utmost importance that the caretaker government under the Prime Minister’s leadership made efforts as a neutral entity to provide a level playing field for all political parties,” a statement by the president’s account on social media platform X read.
The president pointed out that democracy was the “only viable way forward” for the people of Pakistan and the state, adding that its essence lay in giving people the right to partake in political activities and voice their opinions through free media. Along with his letter, Alvi also forwarded a copy of a letter the PTI’s Secretary-General Omar Ayub wrote to him, in which he raised the party’s concerns about pre-poll rigging.
Alvi said Ayub’s letter mentioned recent cases of enforced disappearances, forced conversions of political loyalties, absence of a level playing field for major political parties, detention of women PTI supporters, and a crackdown on freedom of media in the country.
Alvi, who is also a member of the PTI, said he was highlighting the PTI’s concerns as the president was the symbol of the unity of the state as per Article 41 of Pakistan’s constitution. “He [Alvi] added that the issue became sensitive when female political workers were also subjected to prolonged detentions or frequent rearrests after court relief,” the statement read.
Alvi urged the prime minister, as head of the government, to “look into these issues.”
Other political parties, apart from the PTI, have also raised the demand for a level-playing field ahead of the upcoming elections. The Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP), a former coalition partner of the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N), has also claimed the caretaker administration is facilitating the PML-N before elections scheduled for Feb.8. are held.
Kakar has repeatedly assured political stakeholders in the country that his administration would provide a level-playing field to all parties and that no political entity would be barred from contest
