Pakistan Elections: An Exercise In Mainstreaming Terrorism?

Pakistan general elections have been reduced to a ploy for mainstreaming of militant Islamists

The prospect of the deadly combination of Islamist radicals and the military establishment guiding the destiny of a nuclear-armed country is worrisome.

Photo: Yasmeen Nazir/The Quint

Pakistan’s fragile democracy is going to suffer another major blow as the country prepares for crucial parliamentary elections on July 25. The reason is not far to seek. Pakistan’s all powerful military, in regrettable league with the higher judiciary, is trying to mainstream Islamist militants through sheer manipulation of electoral process.

A level playing field would have ensured a potential victory of the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) with reduced numbers but a military-assisted victory of Imran Khan-led Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) is not a distant possibility now.

Most of the radical Islamist parties – shockingly deferential to the military – are openly batting for PTI by drawing away voters from the PML-N.

The prospect of the deadly combination of Islamist radicals and the military establishment guiding the destiny of a nuclear-armed country, whose short history is peppered by military coups and Islamist radicalization, is worrisome. It also has serious implications for India-Pakistan relationships.

Guns and Party Symbols

Externally-oriented terrorist organizations, renamed and rebranded as ‘political parties’, have been given party symbols and chance to legitimize their presence in Pakistani polity. Consequently, these general elections are witnessing an unprecedented participation of radical Islamist parties, raising anxieties about the future trajectory of South Asia’s most unstable country.

Washington has also raised serious concerns over the participation of individuals belonging to rabidly anti-Indian terrorist organization, Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT), in the elections. The ‘good’ jihadists belonging to LeT and the Jamaat-ud-Dawa (JuD), whose leader Hafiz Saeed had formed a political party known as the Milli Muslim League (MML), have been mainstreamed through electoral process. In April, America’s State Department had amended its Foreign Terrorist Organisation designation of LeT to add the MML as an alias for the former.

Hafiz Saeed, co-founder of the LeT and head of the Jamaat-ud-Dawa.(Photo: AP)

When Pakistan’s Election Commission refused to register the MML as a political party, the latter decided to make its cadres contest through a registered political party, the Allah-o-Akbar Tehreek (AAT).

Another hardline religious party, Tehreek-e-Labbaik Pakistan (TLP), which is the political front of Khadim Hussain Rizvi’s Tehreek Labbaik Ya Rasool Allah (TLYRA), has reportedly received generous covert support of Pakistan’s intelligence agencies.

The TLP, which calls for blasphemers to be put to death, has fielded hundreds of candidates for national and provincial assembly seats across the country.

The TLP has resurrected the ghost of Mumtaz Qadri, convicted and executed for the murder of then Punjab governor Salmaan Taseer, by valorizing him through its electoral campaigning. It was the TLP which had brought Islamabad to a virtual standstill for three weeks in November last year over a blasphemy issue.

Furthermore, Pakistan’s National Counter-Terrorism Authority (NACTA) has removed the ban on Ahle Sunnat Wal Jamaat (ASWJ) and unfreezed assets of its top leader, Ahmad Ludhianvi in the last week of June. The ASWJ is an anti-Shia sectarian extremist organization formerly known as Sipah-i-Sahaba. The irony of this decision was compounded by the fact that removal of ban on Ludhianvi coincided with Pakistan’s placement on ‘grey list’ of the Financial Action Task Force (FATF). The ASWJ’s candidates are contesting the elections under the banner of the Pak Rah-e-Haq Party (PRHP), also a registered political party.

Legitimising Radicalism

However, what is more shocking is that former prime minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi sought the ASWJ’s electoral support. Maulana Fazzlur Rehman Khalil, who is the chief of Ansarul Ummah, and linked to the Harkat-ul Mujahideen (HuM), has also announced support to the PTI candidate in Islamabad.

Khalil is also wanted by India’s Central Bureau of Investigations (CBI) for his involvement in terrorist activities in Jammu and Kashmir, besides being sought by the US Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) for his links with al-Qaeda.

He was a signatory of Osama bin Laden’s fatwa in 1998 which called the International Islamic Front for Jihad against the Jews and Crusaders.

In terms of the actual outcome, this election is set to surpass the 2002 general election outcome, which had witnessed the emergence of the Muttahida Majlis-i-Amal (MMA) alliance crafted under former military dictator, General Pervez Musharraf, to sideline the mainstream political parties. But there is a huge qualitative difference in the two scenarios: If the MMA comprised largely of mainstream religious parties with proven track records, the recent rise of overtly militant and rabidly Islamist parties threatens to pose a serious challenge to the mainstream religious parties.

No Scrutiny For Militant Islamists

At a time when a leading political party – PML-N – has been subjected to extraordinary judicial scrutiny, the militant Islamists have faced virtually no scrutiny at all. This is happening in the background of Pakistan military’s singular and obsessive dislike of the

PML-N which stood good chance of winning another term had Nawaz Sharif been a free man. During last five years in power, Nawaz frequently resisted military establishment’s attempts to exercise control over governmental decision-making, particularly in terms of Pakistan’s India policy.

After being ousted from power, he has even questioned the reasons why Mumbai was chosen for a terror attack and its chief perpetrator not prosecuted.

The PML-N has been fairly successful in its attempts, including Nawaz’s bold decision to accept prison instead of staying in exile, to create a victimization narrative. However, the radical Islamist parties — supported tacitly by the military — have vitiated the electoral atmosphere, which is rife with intrigue, rumours and whispering campaigns. Terror attacks have taken place to frighten away the moderate politicians to leave the political space open for PTI and its mullah coterie.

Impact on Indo-Pak Relations

The developments are so numerous and head-spinning that the most consequential development of mainstreaming militant Islamists without subjecting them to proper de-radicalization is almost lost sight of. A fatal blow to Pakistan’s democratic future and the Indo-Pak relations. What is the use of banning militant organizations when they are allowed to reappear with new names?

This also makes fun of much publicized ‘National Action Plan’ (NAP) announced in January 2015 which stated that “militant outfits and armed gangs will not be allowed to operate in the country.”

The mainstreaming issue is also a symptom of a much larger problem: the military neither trusts the civilian leadership nor believes in lasting peace with India.

After the ‘Wuhan understanding’ between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the Chinese President Xi Jinping, there is a positive momentum between the two countries to build trust. Both sides seem willing to cooperate on many issues including counter-terrorism. But, it is unfortunate that Beijing is yet to display public disapproval of the entry of more Islamist radical elements in Pakistan’s polity. If China believes that condoning ongoing mainstreaming of militant Islamists would not directly affect its interests, it is nothing but wishful thinking.

(The author is Assistant Professor, International Affairs and Security Studies, and Coordinator, Center for Peace & Conflict Studies at the Sardar Patel University of Police, Security and Criminal Justice (Department of Home, Government of Rajasthan). This is an opinion piece and the views expressed above are the author’s own. The Quint neither endorses nor is responsible for them.)