Trends & News

  • Home
  • Trends & News

Trends & News Do you love BBM then post your pin or your barcode and meet new people to talk to on BBM Daily Trends and News updates

08/02/2024

آزاد جیت گئے، اور غلام ہار گئے!

پاکستان زندہ باد!!

07/02/2024

8 FLAGRANT WAYS THE U.S-BACKED GOVERNMENT IN PAKISTAN IS SUBVERTING THE ELECTION

Pakistan’s military-backed government has gone to extreme lengths to undermine the opposition party’s shot at the polls.

By Ryan Grim,

AS PAKISTAN PREPARES to determine its next government in a general election on Thursday, concerns are intensifying about electoral irregularities. A growing body of evidence points to election manipulation and political interference by the Pakistani military.

Pakistan was supposed to go to polls last year. The country’s constitution has five-year terms for both the national and provincial assemblies as well as for the post of the prime minister. When the former Prime Minister Imran Khan’s government was toppled in a parliamentary coup backed by the Pakistani military and the U.S. State Department in 2022, it was only in its fourth year.

Since then, the Pakistani military has ruled from the shadows, trying to delay the inevitable elections while at the same time trying to ensure that the massively popular Khan and his party Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf, or PTI, do not come back to power.

Inside Pakistan, the media is completely muzzled. Outside Pakistan, the upcoming elections are being called the “least credible in the country’s historyOpens in a new tab,” and “more like a coronationOpens in a new tab,” where the military is understood merely to be choosing a new civilian face for its rule. While the U.S. State Department has consistently said that it has not made a determinationOpens in a new tab about the fairness of Pakistani elections, the events leading up to the elections have not gone unnoticed in Congress.

“Threats to free and fair elections anywhere is concerning. In light of recent events in Pakistan and the upcoming election, let’s be clear: promoting stability, democracy, and human rights around the globe is paramount to maintaining our values worldwide,” posted Republican Rep. Nathaniel MoranOpens in a new tab on Twitter.

“There can’t be free and fair elections when one of the opposition parties has been criminalized,” posted Democratic Rep. Ilhan OmarOpens in a new tab, echoing Moran’s sentiments from across the political aisle.

The publicly visible instances of election rigging — visible, that is, to all but the Biden administration — are too numerous to articulate in a single article. What follows are the most egregious.

Banning the Leading Party’s Symbol

On a Pakistani ballot paper, each political party has an electoral symbol. Candidates in each of Pakistan’s hundreds of constituencies have their party symbols next to their names, a critical guide for the substantial portion of the electorate who can’t read. PTI candidates were stopped from using their unified electoral symbolOpens in a new tab — a cricket bat — by the court, based on a technicality no other party was subjected to. This means each PTI candidate is assigned a random symbol and has to run an individual campaign.

With the loss of its bat, PTI was converted from a formidable political party to a loose group of individuals with no legal affiliation overnight, effectively disenfranchising millions of citizens who placed their trust in PTI as a political entity. The move has been severely criticized as a “huge blow to fundamental rightsOpens in a new tab” by the Pakistani legal fraternity and civil society.

The implications of this go even further. If, by some miracle, PTI candidates overcome all the obstacles and win a majority in the Parliament, the technically unaffiliated candidates would be missing key legal protections and could be vulnerable to bribes and coercion by the military.

Shutting Down the Internet

The Pakistan Telecommunication Authority is now chaired by a retired generalOpens in a new tab. The chair of the PTA has the ability to shut down the whole country’s internet or specific websites on a moment’s notice. He has shut down social media and the internet every timeOpens in a new tab Khan’s PTI held an election-related event Opens in a new tabonline in the past few months, affecting more than 100 million users.

The Pakistani media has already expressed concernsOpens in a new tab that the internet might be shut down on election day to discourage people from voting. Lending credibility to those concerns, a top minister on Tuesday hinted at the possibility of an internet shutdown on election day, alarming human rights organizations including Amnesty International and prompting them to write an open letter and put out a statementOpens in a new tab.

“Amnesty International, along with several other human rights organizations, call on Pakistani authorities to guarantee uninterrupted access to the internet and digital communication platforms for everyone across the country,” the statement read.

Banning and Jailing the Leading Candidate

The charges against ousted prime minister Khan range from incoherent to absurd. He was charged with “exposing state secrets” for publicly discussing the contents of the secret cable that The Intercept reported on last year. He was slapped with a seven-year sentence for what the Supreme Court said was an invalid marriage. And he got 14 years for supposedly keeping state gifts without filing the proper paperwork or compensating the state, though all evidence suggests that he did so.

Three major court decisions in quick succession just before the elections has been seen inside Pakistan as a message from the Pakistani military establishment. The message is intended not only for the voters, but also for the candidates, signaling the influence and control wielded by the military.

Hacking the Election Management System

Just two days ago, a local electoral official complained in a letter circulated to the Election Commission of Pakistan that key software used in managing elections was behaving oddly. In the letter, the official cites specific issues with the software and claims that data related to its staff was erased. “This weakness of [the] system has created many issues and also raises [a] question mark on the reliability and validity of the tool/software. This shows that either the [election management system] is [an] utter failure or there is a someone else [sic] that controls and manages the system behind the veil,” he wrote in the document leaked onlineOpens in a new tab.

The election management system was built by the National Database and Registration Authority, a government department that is usually headed by a civilian but since last year has been run by a generalOpens in a new tab in the military. NADRA is the primary custodian of all of Pakistan’s data — from population and demographic data to voter rolls — and is supposed to play a key role in conducting elections along with the Election Commission of Pakistan. As long as the Pakistani military has direct control of NADRA, it controls all the systems used to administer elections and transmit their results.

Terrorist Violence

Last week, 10 PTI activists were killedOpens in a new tab in a bomb blast at an election rally in the Balochistan province. The same week, a PTI candidateOpens in a new tab and a senior leaderOpens in a new tab were shot dead in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province in separate incidents. In Karachi, a PTI candidate’s car was shot at. According to a statement from the United Nations high commissioner for human rights, there have been “no less than 24 reported instances” this year in which armed groups have attacked political parties in Pakistan ahead of the elections.

At least one of these deadly attacks was claimed by ISKPOpens in a new tab, the Afghan chapter of the Islamic State, which has never specifically targeted the PTI in the past.

Police Raids

When the elections were announced, there were several reports that unknown people and masked government officials were snatching the nomination papersOpens in a new tab of PTI candidates as soon as they would go to file them, thereby preventing them from filing to run before the deadline. Of the candidates who did manage to file, those who were not arrested faced frequent police raids on their homes.

During one raid at a political candidate’s home, an American police officerOpens in a new tab who happened to be vacationing in Pakistan was also arrested. He was subsequently released following intervention by the U.S. Embassy. In another police raid on a political activist’s house, the activist’s father suffered a heart attackOpens in a new tab and died.

Virtually every notable PTI member’s house has been raided and ransackedOpens in a new tab. In addition, PTI rallies and meetings have also been violently shut downOpens in a new tab by the police and scores of workers have been arrested. In one constituency in northern Pakistan, there were reports of police shootingOpens in a new tab at a PTI rally. On Tuesday, the last day of campaigning, almost everyOpens in a new tab PTI rally was attacked by police. In a video that went viral on social media, a PTI candidate, Zartaj Gul Wazir, is seen sitting on the road, cryingOpens in a new tab, after a police attack on her rally. In other areas that have not been so violent, comical social media videosOpens in a new tab of police chasing PTI activists through the streets have emerged.

In PTI strongholds, there are even reports of police ticketing people in unusually high numbers and confiscating their identification cards, which won’t be returned until after the election, meaning that they will be unable to vote.

Abducting Candidates and Their Families

There are reports of PTI candidates being abducted by unknown men and returning home only after announcing their withdrawal from the race. Most notably, a female PTI candidate, Iffat Tahira Soomro, was abducted and forced to step downOpens in a new tab under duress. She was the second candidate in the constituency to step down. PTI has now pitched a third candidateOpens in a new tab for the same seat.

In another incident, a PTI candidate’s elderly father was picked up from his house to pressure him into leaving the party. After four days, the father died in police custodyOpens in a new tab.

The U.N. Commission on Human Rights deplored these incidents in their statement on Tuesday. “We are disturbed by the pattern of harassment, arrests and prolonged detentions of leaders of the Pakistan Tehreek e Insaf (PTI) party and their supporters which has continued during the election period,” the statement read.

Voter Suppression

PTI has been counting on high voter turnout to counter the efforts to manipulate the elections. But by reducing the number of polling stations in key constituencies, the government is effectively suppressing votes in those areas.

There are polling stations that used to have a few thousand voters assigned to them but will now have tens of thousands of voters. One polling station in Lahore that used to have only 8,000 constituents has ballooned to 29,000Opens in a new tab, including thousands of young and first-time voters from all over Lahore. In some constituencies in Karachi, so many people have been assigned to each polling station that with a 50 percent turnout (roughly the total turnout for the last election), each voter will get only one minute and 13 secondsOpens in a new tab to vote.

Can PTI Still Win?

Despite the gloomy verdict, a sense of hope persists among many in Pakistan. Nothing illustrates this contradiction more than two women, Yasmin Rashid and Aliya Hamza Malik, who are contesting elections from jail. These two political prisoners, running their campaigns from incarceration and against all odds, have become symbolic figures representing resistance against military interference in Pakistani democracy.

“The brazen electoral rigging, persecution of political leaders, and sham court trials have substantially increased the stakes.”
“The election in Pakistan is going to be a referendum against the establishment – a local euphemism for Pakistan Army – and its associated partners,” says Hussain Nadim, an analyst and former policy specialist working with the Pakistani government. “This is why despite all efforts by the establishment otherwise, we can forecast a historic turnout in the elections. The brazen electoral rigging, persecution of political leaders, and sham court trials have substantially increased the stakes,” he added.

In the week leading up to the elections, Khan has been sentenced to a cumulativeOpens in a new tab 31 yearsOpens in a new tab in prison. His political party confronts the imminent risk of outright prohibition, with his motley crew of candidates on the run, evading authorities, attempting to canvass for votes clandestinelyOpens in a new tab (and even using Opens in a new tabartificial intelligence).

Yet, PTI has resisted calls to boycott the election. The goal, they say, is to win in such dramatic and runaway fashion that even all of the above can’t steal it.

CONTACT THE AUTHOR:

Ryan Grim
[email protected]
on X

07/02/2024

‏حَسْبُنَا اللهُ وَنِعْمَ الْوَكِيلُ
🤲

Let the world know that this is the level to which the illegitimate, fascist regime has stooped to!Petrified of the mass...
07/02/2024

Let the world know that this is the level to which the illegitimate, fascist regime has stooped to!

Petrified of the massive turnout tomorrow for General Elections, the controlled media is being used to run a fake news about PTI boycotting elections, along with running a fake audio!

The illegitimate regime has used every ounce of fascism, propaganda & unprecedented pre poll rigging against Pakistan’s largest, most popular & only federal party PTI, led by illegally incarcerated Imran Khan.

Yet, the resolve of the nation proved stronger than the oppression!

The will of the people will reign supreme!


07/02/2024

Breaking News: Overseas Pakistani Diaspora released the first part of the list of Pakistani civil bureaucracy (DROs and ROs), police and election officials including interim care taker Officials , who have violated Pakistani and International law, by carrying out abductions, illegal detentions, custodial torture, extra judicial killing and other inhuman violations to prevent the members of a certain political party from contesting in the Feb 8th elections.

All these fascist actions constitute election manipulation, corrupt practices and Electoral fraud to take away fundamental democratic right of 250 million people of fair free and transparent voting.

These names are under investigation and cases are being prepared to refer them to relevant Congressional , parliamentarian committees for actions under the Global Magnitsky Act that sanctions human rights offenders by freezing their assets and putting visa and travel bans on these individuals and their family members.
Draft Pre-poll Rigging Data with DRO and RO details.pdf

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1PXlQwwOzFyvdRowDMtfDfgD2TMRwe2cx/view

Draft NA Rejected Candidates -with DROs and ROs.xlsx

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1OB7T2P2eJtTgHyVt-bFqJhXoViUnw0zi/edit =1169864487


Web word processing, presentations and spreadsheets

07/02/2024

zlenner.com/azaad-vote

مرشد ❤️
06/02/2024

مرشد ❤️

06/02/2024

And here comes TIME magazine once again (thankfully) to mostly state the facts. I am copy/pasting some key points from t...
05/02/2024

And here comes TIME magazine once again (thankfully) to mostly state the facts.
I am copy/pasting some key points from the article below, in case people don’t have time to read full piece, though it should be read in full and shared:

“In the near term, however, from the U.S. perspective Sharif is a safe, predictable pair of hands who won’t rock the boat with India. “The State Department seems to be quite comfortable with Nawaz Sharif,”

“Having been prime minister for more time than anyone else since 1990, [Sharif] must take a fair share of blame for Pakistan’s poor economic performance over this period,” writes Gareth Leather, senior Asia economist for Capital Economics”

“Various opinion polls put Khan’s popularity at around 60% to 80% and the threat of a strong showing from his supporters may prompt the military to take more decisive action to hobble them. “The election as it is set up is already not free nor fair,”

“My greatest fear is that this election is going to be called out for being a sham,” says Anita Weiss, a professor of international studies at the University of Oregon. “And there will be riots all over Pakistan that it can barely endure because of the severe economic crisis.”

“The legal onslaught on Khan dovetails with a broader purge of his Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party, which has seen thousands of workers arrested, dozens of its leaders quit under duress, its famed cricket-bat logo banned, and constituency boundary lines redrawn to allegedly benefit its opponents. Khan’s name has been scrubbed from mainstream media and his own nomination papers rejected. “Of course, there is no level playing field and no way this election can be seen as ‘free and fair,’” says Patricia Gossman, associate Asia director for Human Rights Watch.”

“Ultimately, it doesn’t much matter who holds political office in Pakistan because true power lies with its military, which has ruled the nation for over half its history and today acts as kingmaker. As one former top U.S. diplomat in Islamabad tells TIME: “When we had a [crisis], we didn’t call the prime minister—we called the Chief of Army Staff.”

“It was also Munir’s decision to bring back three-time former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif from exile, quash his corruption conviction, repeal his lifetime ban from politics, and pave the way for a historic fourth stint in power. But as no Pakistani Prime Minister has ever completed a full term, few are betting on Shariff staying around long. Relations with Pakistan’s top brass take precedence. Tellingly, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken hosted Munir in Washington in December.”

05/02/2024

‏احباب اختیار کے نام:

میں مان جاتا کہ تم خان کے بارے سچے ہو اگر:

• سندھ ہاؤس میں کھلے عام منڈی نا لگی ہوتی
• امریکی اور یورپی سفارتکار دھڑلے سے اپوزیشن سے نا مل رہے ہوتے
• ثابت شدہ سائفر میں تحریک عدم اعتماد سے پہلے ہی اس کا ذکر نہ ہوتا
• تحریک عدم اعتماد کی کاروائی سے پہلے ہی سائفر کی تحقیقات میں روڑے نا اٹکاۓ جاتے
• آدھی رات کو عدالتیں نا کھلتی
• عدالت ہاتھ پاؤں باندھ کر پارلیمنٹ کے اندرونی معاملات میں مداخلت کرتے ہوے عدم اعتماد کی ووٹنگ کی تاریخ نا مقرر کرتی
• پارلیمنٹ کے باہر قیدیوں کی گاڑی نا پہنچتی
• مئی 2022 میں تحریک انصاف کے پر امن احتجاج کو طاقت سے نا کچلا جاتا
• جولائی 2022 میں تحریک انصاف کی واضح فتح کے باوجود نون کو پنجاب حکومت بنانے کی کوشش نا ہوتی
• ارشد شریف کا قتل نا ہوتا
• عمران خان پر قاتلانہ حملہ نا ہوتا
• خان پر قاتلانہ حملہ کرنے والے ملزمان کو تحفظ نا فراہم کیا جاتا
• خان پر یکے بعد دیگرے 200 کے قریب سیاسی مقدمات نا ہوتے
• خان کو روز روز عدالتوں میں نا گھسیٹا جاتا
• مقدمات کو کنٹرول نا کیا جاتا
‏• مارچ 2023 میں خان پر جوڈیشل کمپلیکس اور زمان پارک گھر پر حملہ نا کیا جاتا
• پنجاب اور خیبرپختونخوا کے انتخابات کو روکا نا جاتا
• 9 مئی کو خان کو وحشیانہ غیر قانونی گرفتار نا کیا جاتا
• خان کو انصاف کے سب پیمانے روند کر سزا نا سنائی جاتی
• بغیر تحقیقات کے 9 مئی کا الزام عمران خان پر نا لگایا جاتا
• صدر کو قومی انتخابات کی تاریخ دینے سے نا روکا جاتا
• صدر کی منظوری کے بغیر آفیشل سیکرٹ ایکٹ منظور نا کیا جاتا
• ہر طرح کے اوچھے ہتھکنڈوں سے تحریک انصاف کو انتخابی دوڑ سے باہر نا رکھا جاتا

‏ہمیں بڑا مان تھا آپ پر مگر آپ نے ہمارے اس مان کو توڑا بھی تو کس کے لیے ؟
ثابت شدہ چور خاندانوں کے تحفظ کے لیے ؟
کیا آپ کو ہم اتنے ہی بیوقوف نظر آتے ہیں ؟
براہ کرم اس سب پر نظر ثانی کریں
کیونکہ عوام اور آپ ایک دوسرے بنا نہیں چل سکتے۔

All will be remembered.
04/02/2024

All will be remembered.

03/02/2024

پہلے نفرت تھی
‏اب گھن آ رہی ہے

اللہ ان کے حواریوں کی آنکھوں پر سے پردہ ہٹا دے 🤲

Anchor to M***i Taqi: Whi is more stronger? Mir Shakeel's money or Islam?M***i Taqi: Mir Shakeel's money
03/02/2024

Anchor to M***i Taqi: Whi is more stronger? Mir Shakeel's money or Islam?

M***i Taqi: Mir Shakeel's money

03/02/2024

What was Ashraf Ghani saying to Americans on August 10th 2021?

- All is well

03/02/2024

So, that's the level they can stoop to satisfy their masters in Washington.

Not disappointed at all. Pakistani voters will cut-off your Washington line InshaAllah. Don't worry!!

So accurate!
02/02/2024

So accurate!

02/02/2024

‏اِیَّاكَ نَعْبُدُ وَ اِیَّاكَ نَسْتَعِیْنُ ✌🏼

02/02/2024

If wins the elections.
Pakistan will become the first country that liberated democracy from American Dictatorship.

02/11/2023

Pakistan needs free and fair elections!

Not a waste of billions of taxpayers money that is destined to fail within a year.

02/11/2023

Raja Sikandar Sultan must face Article 6!

No elections will be accountable under him; and law must takes its course to make him accountable for breaking the constitution by blocking Pakistanis right to choose their representatives.

02/11/2023

صحیح کو صحیح اور غلط کو غلط کہنا "سازش" نہیں ہوتی
حق کے لیے آواز اٹھانا "بغاوت" نہیں ہوتی
اور "شعور" دینا "غداری" نہیں ہوتی!

01/11/2023

Gawalmandi k Marasi ko parhay likhay nojawanoon ka Shijra e Nasab nahi mil raha 😂😂
Koi iss khotay ko bataye Maryam Aur Hussain sirf BA/MA pass hain in 2023.

01/11/2023

Ghulam zehniyat k logon ko yeah samajh nahi aa raha PM say sawal karna har taxpayer ka right hai.
Doesn't matter sawal acha hai ya bura!

31/10/2023

main investigation yeah honi chahyeh keh woh konsay gunnah thay jis ki maafi ko hatanay say bakhsish honi thi!

31/10/2023

Aub kahan bhagay ga?

New Delhi?

31/10/2023

Imran Khan is being slow poisoned by the authorities in Adiala. On whose orders, you don't need to guess.
The parallel establishment of Sharif Mafia!!

31/10/2023

Waisay ko kis nay Pakistani Khawateen ko character certificate dainay ka license dya hai?

Apni aulad ko sambhal lay, baki aurton ki fikar na kar!

31/10/2023

Najam Sethi and Zaka Ashraf
statues should be hoisted in front of Qadafi Stadium.

And let the betting companies sponsor them, to figure out who contributed more in PCT failures.

30/10/2023

Naye Pakistan ki bunyad jhoot par qayem nahi ho sakti!

Agar 9th May main GHQ×Shehbaz Govt involve thay tou thay. There is no need to waste anymore taxpayers money on proving them angels.

30/10/2023

Wondering the purpose of appointing Najam Sethi, and then Zaka Asrah as Chairman PCB.
PDM×PPP has literally fu**ed everything in Pakistan.

Address


Alerts

Be the first to know and let us send you an email when Trends & News posts news and promotions. Your email address will not be used for any other purpose, and you can unsubscribe at any time.

Contact The Business

Send a message to Trends & News:

Shortcuts

  • Address
  • Alerts
  • Contact The Business
  • Claim ownership or report listing
  • Want your business to be the top-listed Media Company?

Share