Pakistan's Ruling Party Concedes Defeat

In this post we
invite all our readers to help us write about and comment on the
election as it happens, its results, and the meaning of those results
in the larger context of Pakistan’s society and politics.

The Pakistani blogsphere - what we have called blogistan
- has greatly grown and matured since ATP first began. The Pakistani
news media is available to most of our readers, including those who
watch it on the web.

Parliamentary
Elections are just 12 hours away in Pakistan. Unlike all previous
elections i have reached the voting age for these elections. Now i can
use my right to vote to select a candidate that i think represents
future and progress. I can be part of the democratic process. I can be
a miniature vector of change or towards change. But i will not use my
right to vote. that means i will not participate in the process of
electing representatives who will rule my country and my fate for the
next five years, even more if they get their way like this present
dictator, Musharraf. In doing so i will loose my right to object to any
actions of the 'elected', more so selected representatives of this
country. but this can be debated and in most probability i will not
pass from any opportunity to pointing out wrong doings and mischief in
the character of those who lead my unfortunate country in the future.

I
haven't written about the ongoing elections in Pakistan, because the
whole thing is a bad joke. First. the making of the electoral lists was
outsourced to Canada to someone who runs a dating service, and they came up with a atrociously bad system.

Secondly, without a functioning judiciary, you can't have elections
- it makes it too easy for the govt. to rig them. It's a simple matter
of self-interest - the govt. is running the elections, and wants to get
elected - so it's blatantly using the entire apparatus of the state to
ensure it wins.

I've
always had a unique fondness for elections. This is not due to my love
and regard for democracy. Nor is it because of my confidence in our
country's electoral system. Far from it.

I
was lucky enough to visit two very different polling stations today,
clearly showing the inherent classism and divisions in Karachi
(Pakistani) society today.

I first went to my polling station in
Bath Island, NA-250 with my family and was really impressed by the
arrangments. Policemen politely guided us to the right section, where I
had to stand in a proper line for about 10 minutes before the first
person checked my name on a clear voter's list. He read my N.I.C # out
loud and this was confirmed by 3 officials in one corner of the room.
My father's and my brothers name were clearly visible on the voter list
as well. He put the black mark on my right thumb and asked me to
proceed to the next table where two people responsible for handing out
the National & Provincial balloting papers were sitting. After
marking my candidates, I folded the balloting papers and asked the
official if i had done them correctly, dropped them into the boxes and
left happily. Maybe one reason for this order was because a European
photographer was roaming around the polling station with a BBC Urdu
crew.

Abdul Sattar Edhi, Pakistan’s leading humanitarian, went to the Kharadar polling station in Karachi
yesterday to cast his vote. There he discovered that his name could not
be found on the voter list. Surprised and disappointed, he is reported
to have remarked “I am a true Pakistani, but cannot exercise my right
of voting.”