The Chief Election Commissioner has proved that he cannot be bought or cajoled. Ever since his tough decision in the Daska bye-election (when Imran Khan's goons kidnapped polling officers and indulged in hooliganism), I knew he is an honest bureaucrat, the kind we need in Pakistan today. For many months now, Imran Khan has been casting aspersions on him, even calling him Nawaz Sharif's personal servant (although the commissioner was appointed with Imran Khan's consent and personal recommendation by his crony Shaikh Rasheed). Apparently Imran Khan knew that he would be disqualified, which is why this morning his crony Parvez Khattak asked his party's activists to protest in all cities if their chief was disqualified. Right now, Imran Khan has been disqualified for five years because he is a simple thief. In any civilized country he would have been sentenced to a jail term of at least ten years. I hope the courts (which are suspected of favoring Imran Khan) will not overturn the verdict of the CEC.
People had long thought that the Chief Election Commissioner would buckle down and not do what he should do. In Vawda's case, he disqualified the latter after three long years. In the Foreign Funding Case, even though it's clear that Imran Khan used money donated for his hospital for his own and his party's use (even the Financial Times reported this), the Chief Election Commissioner has not decided the case despite it being lodged eight years ago.
I had feared that Imran Khan's threats to hold the long march to oust the government by force might terrify the nenbers of the Election Commission. Thank God, they upheld the law and the Constitution.
Verily, Chief Election Commissioner Sikander Sultan Raja is a brave Pakistani. May his tribe increase.
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