Of emergency calls made to Senators

ISLAMABAD: On Thursday, emergency calls had been made from Islamabad to all senators, strictly instructing them to attend the Friday session.

The call alerts did not disclose any details about the important business that was to be taken up in the Senate. However, some senators from Balochistan and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa insisted that rumours had been circulating in the capital for the past two weeks that a hidden agenda was at play that the General Election 2024 might not take place as scheduled. They said that Maulana Fazlur Rehman, who is a proponent of delaying the election, had continued to make similar statements which should not be dismissed as baseless; rather, it’s a serious issue.

Apparently, the resolution to postpone the election was drafted and tabled by the Balochistan Awami Party. However, the impression that senators could not know anything about it and everything happened suddenly is not correct. The resolution should be considered as a conscious move.

The Supreme Court had given a clear order that the 8 February polls were set in stone. Despite this, a mindset which does not want transparent elections in the country at any cost is behind the moves to delay the election.

In the Parliament Cafeteria, a senator commented that the spirit of General Ziaul Haq had taken over some people who did not want to hold the elections until achieving “positive results”.

The fact is that those who do not see a better political future for themselves are the ones wanting to delay the election.