Electoral blow to Pak military establishment

Pakistan election has been a shocker The dramatic outcome of its general elections, held last week, hit the military establishment below the belt.
The Pak military establishment, which is virtually the de facto power centre of the country left no stone unturned to keep Imran Khan and his party, the PTI out of the game. But the military game plan was spoiled by the people.
The candidates supported by Imran's party, who contested independently, emerged as the largest group in the election with 92 seats.
In the run up to election, the military establishment made sure that Imran would be disqualified as a candidate as several dozens of cases were filed against him and he was convicted in some.
On top of this, his party, Pakistan Teherik-i- Insaf (PTI) was denied its symbol by the Election Commission, the cricket bat, and thus the party candidates were forced to contest the polls independently.
So, after doing all the homework to prevent Imran and his party from contesting the polls, the military establishment thought that their mission was accomplished.
But people of Pakistan taught them a good lesson. The election result showed that the people in Pakistan are bored by the cat and mouse game, which the military has been playing since the country's inception.
Though they still call the shot in matters related to governance, the poll verdict was a blow to their moral base.
To ensure the victory of the Pakistan Muslim League, its exiled supremo Nawaz Sharif was allowed to come back home.
Sharif, who ruled Pakistan thrice as the Prime Minister was convicted in corruption case after his defeat in 2018 elections, and left the country.
It was assumed widely that Nawaz will be the prime minister for the fourth time after leading his party to a massive victory. But despite having all out backing from the military establishment his party stood second with only 75 seats, far away from the number to form the government in the 266-seat parliament.
The Pakistan People's Party (PPP), another key political party and historically an arch rival of the PML(N) led by Bilwal Bhuttto, son of late Benazir Bhutto, stood third.
Imran loyalists won in 92 seats, though PTI leaders claim that sensing their clear lead, another 78 seats were snatched away from them through result manipulation and rigging.
Apparently, being afraid of the return of Imran to the power corridor, Pak army chief rushed to call upon the political parties to form coalition government forgetting past rivalry within 24 hours of the announcement of the election result.
Though he did not mention the name, it was clear that his sermon referred to the PML and the PPP.
Both these two parties forged an alliance with the backing of army last year to oust Imran from power.
Once the Pakistan army's blue-eyed boy, Imran Khan started to fall out of favour with the establishment when he started opposing interference of the army in governance.
As a consequence, he was ousted from power through a no confidence motion in the parliament through a horse-trading drama, scripted by the ISI.
And after his ouster he and top leaders of his party became victims of unprecedented repression by the security apparatus. Before the elections most of them either landed in jail or were forced to quit the party.
The recent development shows that as per the wish of the army, PML-N and PPP have joined hands to form a government to ensure that the PTI and its leader Imran do not return to power.
This may work temporarily but given the huge mandate, cast against the establishment by the voters, the effectiveness of this enforced honeymoon remains in doubt.

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