Allies at Centre, foes in POK: PPP and PML-N chase seats as Kashmiris die

The biggest members of Pakistan's ruling coalition, Nawaz Sharif's PML(N) and Bilawal Bhutto Zardari's PPP, are locked in a battle over "mandate" in the sham polls of POK. The war of words between the two partners of convenience, and friends of the establishment, comes even as the forces killed over 80 people in crackdown of protests raging in the region for almost two months.

The gunfire hasn't stopped in POK, and neither has the poll campaign. As people in the POK are burying their dead, two major constituents of Pakistan's ruling coalition are fighting each other for votes. That too, over seats in the POK.

The Bilawal Bhutto Zardari-led Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) and the Nawaz Sharif-led Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N), which are the biggest constituent ruling coalition in Islamabad, are locked in a fierce battle. Both are accusing each other of rigging, violence and stealing the public mandate in the ongoing so-called POK elections, even as deadly clashes have left over 90 people dead.

The Asim Munir-led establishment's security forces have been cracking down for weeks on protests led by the outlawed Joint Awami Action Committee (JAAC) against Pakistan's political domination of Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (POK) and its economic subjugation. Pakistan watchers say that the situation in POK is deteriorating amid the internet and a selective media blackout. Both parties, allies at the Centre, but fierce foes in POK.

After the PML(N) won a majority of seats in the first two phases of the "polls", Butto Zardari lashed out at PM Shehbaz Sharif and Punjab CM Maryam Nawaz over what he said was "a theft of mandate". He even mocked the PML(N) as a "product of rigging". Before the polls, the PPP ruled the Indian region illegally occupied by Pakistan.

Former Pakistani diplomat and political scientist, Maleeha Lodhi, reacting to the PPP-PML(N) war of words, sarcastically called it "a spectacle" on X.

India has dismissed the "polls" as an attempt by Pakistan to legitimise what it calls its illegal occupation of Jammu and Kashmir. External Affairs Ministry spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal reiterated that the entire Union Territories of Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh, including areas under Pakistan's control, are integral parts of India. He added that the ongoing protests in POK reflected Pakistan's economic exploitation, denial of democratic rights and administrative oppression in the region.

The elections are being held amid internet shutdowns, arrests, heavy troop deployment and deadly unrest. On Monday, Pakistan blocked Qatari broadcaster Al Jazeera, a move Pakistan watchers say is a result of its critical reports from POK.

A former official with Pakistan's Frontier Corps, Abdul Majeed Khan Marwat, said that "the bad blood created between the PML(N) and the PPP by AJK (POK) elections... indicates something is in the offing."

ALLIES IN ISLAMABAD, RIVALS IN MUZAFFARABAD

Longtime rivals, the PML(N) and the PPP, came together in 2022 under exceptional circumstances, to remove PM Imran Khan through a military-backed parliamentary no-confidence vote. Both united less because of ideology and more because they wanted to remove Imran Khan from power after he lost the establishment's support. Both have kept the civilian part of the hybrid regime of Asim Munir, who has only concentrated power since then.

Even as the military ruled Pakistan with an iron fist, it maintained a civilian administrative setup in the territory it illegally occupied, the POK. That's largely cosmetic. Real power remains in the hands of the military establishment. And, that's one of the demands of the protests led by the JAAC.

The first phase of polling on July 27 handed the PML-N nine of the 13 seats. The PPP won four. In the second phase, the PML-N won 14.

The third and the last phase of the election is scheduled to be held on August 10.

Reacting to the results and alleging "widespread rigging", Bhutto-Zardari said if the PML(N) wins, "it will erode the people's trust in the state".

WAR OF WORDS BETWEEN PML(N) AND PPP OVER POK 'POLLS'

The PPP has alleged that its mandate had been stolen through widespread manipulation. Bhutto Zardari has been on a verbal offensive.

"... My message for the friends in PML(N) is just this: you can hear that voice, listen carefully, tick tock, tick tock. Your countdown has begun," Bhutto Zardari was quoted as saying by Dawn on Monday.

"Good lord, this is so tone-deaf! Bilawal Bhutto Zardari, how can you ask for people's votes while they're being gunned down for demanding their rights? The people of AJK [POK] have already spoken. They are not interested in voting for you or any other puppet of the military establishment. If you really cared about them, you would stand alongside them as they are being brutalised in the most heinous manner," Massachusetts-based Mehlaqa Samdani, the director of non-profit Community Alliance For Peace and Justice, wrote on X.

After the first phase results last week, Bhutto Zardari rejected results in several constituencies and claimed polling stations had been occupied, polling agents were expelled, and ballot papers were stamped in favour of rival candidates.

"The PPP is prepared to accept political defeat where voters genuinely reject it, but will never recognise a stolen result," he said.

PPP MNA Raja Pervaiz Ashraf, who served as the Pakistan PM between 2012 and 2013, alleged ballot papers were set on fire in a constituency.

The Dawn reported that Bilawal also mocked the PML-N as a "product of rigging", insisting there had "not been a single election where the PML-N has won through the people's vote".

The PML-N has dismissed every allegation.

Punjab Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz described the poll outcome as an "outstanding victory" and insisted that "it is not the state that decides election results, but the people."

ML (N) leader and Pakistan's Planning Minister Ahsan Iqbal called Bilawal's remarks "undemocratic." PM Sharif's Adviser Rana Sanaullah maintained that polling remained peaceful despite isolated incidents. Pakistan's Kashmir Affairs Minister Amir Muqam argued that voter participation itself reflected confidence in the democratic process.

Punjab CM Maryam also took to X, sarcastically saying that "the PPP, which is the master of electoral rigging, is itself complaining of rigging". PPP leaders Sharjeel Inam Memon and Bilawal responded by accusing the PML-N of governing through a "fake mandate".

POK BURNS, OVER 80 KILLED, INTERNET SHUT, PAK GOES ON WITH UNPOPULAR 'POLLS'

The political slug fest has unfolded against a contested and violent backdrop. According to PTI, clashes between security forces and JAAC-backed protesters have intensified since Monday.

At least 80 people have been killed, reported Al Jazeera. The Pakistani regime has rejected the casualty claims, asserting that militants from the banned Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) were present among the protesters and that the crackdown would continue. It is also called the JAAC, an agent of India.

PTI leader Meher Bano Qureshi, who's the daughter of former Foreign Minister, Shah Mehmood Qureshi, said, "The PPP and the PML(N) are exchanging barbs, fighting over seats in AJK (POK) while the region bleeds. Is this what they meant by purana Pakistan? Are the 90s back?"

Amnesty International and the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan have separately called for investigations into reports of violence. The so-called polls in the POK have become a proxy battle between Bhutto Zardari and Sharif. It's not a referendum on the aspirations of ordinary Kashmiris.

So, to wrap things up, the PML(N) and the PPP might be allies in Islamabad, but in POK they are fighting a bruising political battle, with zero regard for the unrest and bloodbath the establishment supported by them are inflicting on civilians in the region.

- Ends