Election protests in Pakistan have continued into their third straight week as marchers follow the cricket star turned political challenger, Imran Khan, who has refused to concede the elections which took place in July 2013. Supporters of Mr. Khan have alleged that the current Prime Minister, Nawaz Sharif won the election by voter fraud, thus causing wide spread protest among Mr. Khan’s supporters.
On Saturday August 30th, hundreds of supporters of the challenger Imran Khan, made their way up to the perimeters of Mr. Sharif’s Prime Minister’s residence challenging the police. 300 people were injured in the ensuing clashes with police in the capital of Islamabad, as the police continue to support the government. Mr. Khan described the actions taken by police to disperse the crowd as “illegal”.
However, despite the recent protest throughout cities like Lahore and Karachi Mr. Sharif still has a high approval rating of 64 percent of the Pakistani citizens while 32 percent of the voters disapprove.
Unusual Election Protests in Pakistan
While the protest have been mainly between Imran Khan’s supporters and the police, there have also been fears that the country’s powerful and influential military could become involved and threaten the country’s young vulnerable democratic process.
In a move that resembled the worry of military intervention, Javed Hashmi who is the President of Mr. Khan’s political party (the Tehreek–e-Insaf party) Mr. Hashmi went onto criticize Mr. Khan in a statement saying that “Imran Khan will be responsible if marshal law is imposed in the country”, signaling fears that martial law may be closer than expected. Mr. Khan than was quoted as saying in a statement that issued that concern by saying “Now we will show this government, we will call for countrywide agitation and we will jam the whole of Pakistan.”
Election Protests in Pakistan Army Territory
The talk of the military getting involved in Pakistani politics brings back the memories of the numerous coup d’état that have taken place throughout Pakistan’s history staring on October 7th, 1958 and the country having numerous military coup d’état since then. Throughout its existence, the country of Pakistan has been under military rule for 30 years out of the 67 years that the country has existed. Will it change?
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