Covid and politics

The coronavirus pandemic and politics have often clashed with each other in various parts of the world. We have seen this in the US and in other countries in Europe and Australia, as well as countries closer to home. We now see it in Azad Jammu and Kashmir, where the Assembly completes its term on July 29, with the constitution of the territory stating that a new poll must be held within 90 days. The NCOC, in a statement issued on Monday, suggested that polls in Jammu and Kashmir be delayed by two months in light of the high number of Covid-19 cases, so that more people could be vaccinated. The NCOC has suggested that all people could be vaccinated by September this year.

Instantly, there has been retaliation from the main opposition parties, notably the PML-N, and also the PPP as well as various other political groups. The parties have said there is no constitutional provision for the polls to be delayed and that the tactic is simply a way for the PTI to force candidates from other parties to join its ranks. The PPP has said this process is already underway, with arm-twisting to force candidates to defect. The key issue here is that the constitution makes no provision for a delay in polling. The letter written to the Election Commission for the AJK polls is therefore a matter of controversy. There was a way out of the problem we have run into now. Surely it would have been sensible to gather all the parties together ahead of the polls and discuss the question of a delay if it was necessary. We are told that the Covid positivity rate is going down in the country. Even then it is possible there may be concerns of a very genuine nature over political gatherings and attendance at rallies. But there seems to be no need to create more animosity with the political opposition by leaving them out in the cold ahead of the announcement by the NCOC.

In politics, all things need to be worked out collectively and through dialogue. This after all is the essence of democracy. The Covid situation could have been discussed with Farooq Haider, the present prime minister of AJK, and other party leaders who have been active already in campaigning in the territory. This would have avoided the accusations and counter-accusations that we are seeing now, hurled to and fro from one party to another, with the PTI insisting it will win the poll by a huge majority and form the government in AJK. The matter of politics is difficult to determine until the polls are held. Traditionally, polls in the AJK have been controlled by the centre and people based in Islamabad. But the dispute over the Covid pandemic is unfortunate. It could so easily have been worked out simply by talking and by bringing all parties together to do so. The fact that this was not done has resulted in a situation where there is growing anger which could spill over into the polls as the campaign gets underway in the AJK.