Military spokesman Major General Asif Ghafoor
Pakistan's army said on Tuesday it will deploy about 371,000 troops to ensure a "fair and free" election on July 25, denying it was rigging the poll to tip the scales in favour of former cricketer Imran Khan.
The run-up to the general election has been marred by accusations that the military is meddling in politics and muzzling the media to help usher Khan's Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) into power.
Khan, an anti-corruption crusader and conservative on national security, has denied colluding with the military, which has ruled the nuclear-armed country for almost half its history.
Military spokesman Major General Asif Ghafoor told a news conference that a total of 371,388 troops would be deployed inside and outside polling stations, some three times more than during the last election in 2013.
The election commission had asked the armed forces to help conduct the vote in a "free, fair and transparent manner", and the army's role was to assist, he said.
"We need to give them support they have asked for," Ghafoor said in the garrison city of Rawalpindi, near Islamabad.
The military's role in politics has again come into question since the Supreme Court ousted Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif in 2017 for failing to report a monthly income of 10,000 Emirati dirhams ($2,723) from a company owned by his son.
He denied drawing the monthly salary and has denounced his ouster as politically motivated, often suggesting the military was to blame.
The military denies involvement in civilian politics but ended Sharif’s second stint in power in 1999 in a bloodless coup.
The July election is likely to come down to a contest between Sharif's Pakistan Muslim League Nawaz (PML-N) and Khan and his PTI party.
Ghafoor dismissed suspicions that the military was favouring Khan.
"We don't have a political party. We don't have a loyalty," he said.
Ghafoor also dismissed any suggestion the military was forcing Sharif's supports to switch parties.
Sharif, who was last week sentenced to 10 years in prison on charges linked to corruption, has alleged the military and its security agency has been pressing his party's candidates to switch loyalties.
Sharif, who is in London caring for his wife who is there for medical treatment, fell out with the military when he returned as prime minister for a third time in 2013, partly because he challenged the military over foreign policy, which the generals traditionally consider their domain.
As campaigning for the July 25 elections picks up steam, mainstream political parties see orchestrated “ maneuvering” on the part of the country’s powerful military establishment to keep them out of power. They believe the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party led by former cricket star Imran Khan is being favored thanks to a calculated pre-poll manipulation, a charge Khan and his supporters rebuff.“Unfortunately, electoral engineering aimed at bringing a particular party to power is underway,” Senator Mushahid Hussain Syed, head of the media cell of the Pakistan Muslim League's (Nawaz) (PML-N), told Anadolu Agency without naming the PTI.Three-time former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif's right-wing Pakistan Muslim League, but also left-wing Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) of former President Asif Ali Zardari, have launched these latest allegations.Pakistani president hails ‘strong ties’ with TurkeyA string of recent events, ranging from Nawaz Sharif’s conviction in a corruption case to law enforcement agencies reportedly presssuring several candidates not to take part in the elections as part of the PML-N ticket.Sharif was sentenced last Friday to 10 years in jail for corruption in the capital Islamabad Friday -- a verdict that immediately saw outcries of “injustice” by his party supporters.Scores of PML-N members have reportedly chosen to contest independently, a move that party leaders, including Sharif, see as the result of “pressure from the establishment" -- a term usually used to designate the powerful Pakistani army.Pakistani court sends fake degree mill owner to jail"A silent coup''Sharif, who has announced he would return to Pakistan from London on July 13 to face his jail sentence, has time and again said that his party was going to contest elections against “Khalaee Makhlooq” (Aliens), a term he has recently coined to designate the army and the judiciary, which according to him, were responsible for his three ousters since 1992.His first government was dismissed in 1992 on corruption charges, whereas, former military ruler Gen. Pervez Musharraf toppled his second governmnet in a bloodless military coup in 1999.“This kind of maneuvering has been used several times in the past but it never worked. It should be stopped now, and let the people’s will prevail,” said Mushahid Hussain Syed, who served as information minister under Sharif from 1997 to 1999.From the left, Farhatullah Babar, a former senator and a PPP leader, said the upcoming elections had already been “rigged” and “manipulated”.“It’s just a formality to hold the polling on July 25,” Babar told Anadolu Agency.“The invisible political engineers seem desperate for a fragmented and divided parliament that is easier to manipulate. A silent coup has taken place, far softer and subtler than any previous coups,” Babar was also quoted as saying by local English daily Dawn last week.Former President Asif Ali Zardari, the party co-chairman and widower of the slain premier Benazir Bhutto, has also cast doubts on the fairness of the elections following the arrests of his close aides, including a prominent banker, on money laundering charges."Preemptive" stepBanker Hussain Lawai was taken into custody last week over his alleged involvement in money laundering operations for Zardari, his sister and 18 others.“This is a message for me,” Zardari said in an interview with the local Geo TV. “I do not know about others but the PPP candidates are feeling the pressure.”Imran Khan's PTI rejects the allegations, calling them a “preemptive” step to hide behind what he believes will be their defeat in the upcoming elections.“They have read what is written on the wall. That’s why they are crying as a preemptive tactic to cast doubts on the expected election results,” Iftikhar Durrani, the head of the PTI media wing, told Anadolu Agency.“Nawaz is not the only one who is convicted. Our general secretary [Jahangir Tareen] has also been disqualified for life by the same Supreme Court. The same court has also set aside the disqualification of Sharif’s close aide and former Foreign Minister Khawaja Asif,” said Iftikhar Durrani, rejecting Sharif’s criticism on the apex court.Tareen was disqualified in December 2017 for failing to disclose certain assets. Asif saw his disqualification declared null and void last month.Local analysts appear to be wary about the contentions of "maneuvering".“The two [Zardari and Sharif] are already tainted by corruption charges,” Zafar Nawaz Jaspal, an Islamabad-based analyst, told Anadolu Agency. “ They know it is hard to win the upcoming elections.”“Election engineering is not new in Pakistan politics. But this time, things are so obvious and being done in a careless way propelling the common people to doubt the fairness of the elections,” Sajjad Mir, a Lahore-based political analyst told Anadolu Agency.“Many believe that a level-playing field is not being provided to all the political players,” he thought.Jaspal concedes that Khan constitutes a “natural favorite” for the military.“One does not need an Einstein to understand that. Sharif and Zardari have continuously been targeting the army. Therefore there will be a natural reaction from the other side,” he said.
Pakistani poll campaign marred by 'engineering' claims
The Pakistani opposition party led by former cricket star Imran Khan appears to be gaining ground ahead of a July 25 general election, with one new poll showing it pulling ahead of the outgoing ruling party and another showing it only slightly behind.A survey by Pulse Consultant showed Khan's Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI, or Pakistan Justice Movement) ahead with 30 percent of the respondents nationwide, compared to 27 percent for its main rival, the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N). The Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) was at 17 percent.A separate nationwide poll by Gallup Pakistan had PML-N on top with 26 percent, PTI with 25 percent and the PPP at 16 percent.Both polls were commissioned by Pakistan's Jang Media Group and were published on Wednesday in its affiliated newspaper, The News. They each surveyed about 3,000 people, with a margin of error of 1.6 percent for the Pulse survey and 2-3 percent for Gallup.The new polls indicate a swing towards Khan's party compared to similar nationwide polls in 2017, which put the PML-N 8-9 percentage points ahead of PTI.The Gallup poll showed most of the PML-N's losses were to voters who responded "undecided" in the most recent poll, conducted between May 1 and June 6, while the Pulse poll indicated that most of PML-N's losses went directly to PTI. Khan's political fortunes have improved since PML-N leader Nawaz Sharif was removed as prime minister by the Supreme Court last year over undeclared assets.Sharif, who was disqualified from politics for life, now faces a verdict in an anti-corruption court on Friday along with his daughter Maryam, who is running for parliament. The case, which involves the purchase of luxury apartments in London, could see Sharif jailed and Maryam disqualified.Sharif's has accused the military and courts conspiring to oust him and using legal cases and intimidation to help Khan's PTI party, accusations denied by Khan, the army and the judiciary.Khan, a former cricket captain of Pakistan, has portrayed the legal cases as a long-overdue corruption crackdown on the PML-N, which he has labeled a graft-ridden "mafia".
Imran Khan's party gains ground in Pakistan election race