The Hindu : Voting, Pak. style

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Wednesday, May 01, 2002

International

International

Voting, Pak. style

By B. Muralidhar Reddy

ISLAMABAD APRIL 30. Pakistan today voted to uphold the rule of the un-elected Pakistan President, Pervez Musharraf, as an elected ruler for a further period of five years, beginning October. Sounds complicated? Well that was what was witnessed today in the voting on the referendum.

The official PTV went live to bolster the "josh" (enthusiasm) of the masses, even as most polling booths here saw just a trickle of voters throughout the day. It was a vote sans voter lists and restrictions on where to poll.

A voter could go to any polling booth, show some identification and cast his/her vote.

For most people, the election was a novelty. To vote in a country run more by military rulers, it was a different experience.

Many young voters did not know what to do with the ballot. They took the stamp and they took the ballot, stood perplexed in the booth and then came back to the election officer to ask sheepishly, "Ab kya karna hai" (What's to be done now). PTV itself broadcast images of women putting their thumb impressions to procure the ballot and the presiding officer stamping them.

Around 500 people gathered around a makeshift stage here and popular stars from all over the country entertained them even as others marked their choice at two polling booths nearby.

There were some food stalls too. The voters were caught on camera; it was a not-so-scientific though well-televised exit poll of sorts. Those who cast their votes stayed back to "enjoy the show".

One interesting aspect was their "objectivity", or rather the lack of it. The stars openly admitted to having voted "aye" and exhorted the people to vote similarly. The live reports and spot interviews on PTV were equally "objective".

Similar shows were broadcast from all major PTV centres as the climax to a three-week "truly political" campaigning.

This included telecasts of all that Gen. Musharraf had ever said and songs and slogans composed and sung by anyone who was anyone. The big names claimed they wanted the current policies to continue; the common folk went to vote because they were happy that their village had been given cooking gas connections or tap water or because, as they said, they were told that the "General Saab" would get to know.

Polling began on a shaky note with the MQM, a major force in the port city of Karachi and one of the parties that has supported Gen. Musharraf, charging Government agencies with having killed two party workers recently.

The MQM leader, Altaf Hussain, said in a statement from London, where he lives in exile, that if Gen. Musharraf was really powerful, he should nab the culprits by Tuesday evening. If he failed to arrest the murderers by then, it would become clear that not he but the agencies controlled the country.

The last-minute change in the MQM stand on the referendum appears to have had its impact on the voter turnout in Karachi.

A poor vote percentage there is bound to have an adverse impact on the overall turnout, as Karachi accounts for 10 per cent of the country's population.

Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

International

Stories in this Section

West Asia: U.N. team put on hold

Suu Kyi release on the cards?

U.S. launches anti-terror training in Georgia

Gujarat police directed mobs: report

Security tightened in Paris

Ranil seeks to allay Sinhalese fears

I will not step aside, says queen

E.U. diplomats call it `planned violence'

Case against Modi planned in U.K. court

Voting, Pak. style