Pakistan set for elections, Imran seen as frontrunner
BATTLEREADY Polling after one of the most chaotic and distasteful campaigns BANGKOK:
parts of the country but still thousands attended massive rallies, corner meetings and candidates visited their constituencies to woo voters.
Imran Khan’s prospects are bright. Former prime minister Nawaz Sharif has seen a dip in his popularity but his younger brother Shehbaz Sharif seems to retain a hold over his voters. Bilawal Bhutto, who did some extensive campaigning, isn’t being seen as a serious contender because his party is in disarray.
In his final campaign speech, Imran Khan talked about corruption, and, possibly for the first time, of India. He told his audience, “I want peace in Kashmir and the Indians should listen to the will of the people of Kashmir, adding “India is afraid of me and they know that I will not betray my country.”
He said he was not against friendship with India but it will not be acceptable at the expense of the Kashmir cause.
He also came down hard on Nawaz Sharif for disclosing information about the Mumbai terror attacks, which in his opinion has left the country in a predicament. Imran told the crowd that the opponents are giving a wrong impression that the PTI will mistreat the minorities when they come in to power.
This, he said, is false propaganda. “On the contrary, all Pakistanis will be treated equally, as was advocated by my Quaid,” he added.
The focus for most parties has been corruption. Sharif’s disqualification is the rallying point for his opponents.
Sharif’s PML-N has focused on the achievements of his government in the past five years which include the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor as well as the reduction in power outages.