Hardly had the dust settled from the sit-in staged by the Long March, than another one seems to be surging. The ultimatum has come from the PML-N that will be staging a sit-in in front of the Parliament next week mainly because the Election Commission, it says, is not being allowed to function independently. PML-N stated it came to the decision seeing the continuing violence in Balochistan, Karachi and Fata, and delimitation of boundaries in Karachi. The party’s grouse that the Election Commission is facing considerable hurdles in dispensing its duties seem justified and the law and order situation does indeed keep deteriorating by the hour. There are the Supreme Court’s orders that have also called for delimitation of boundaries in Karachi while others still decry it. Hence, in the presence of so many grey areas, a thorough analysis by the parties concerned could help plug the loopholes.
The federal government is clearly in a tight corner. With every passing day, its dilemma is getting acute and so is the opposition within the parliament. The only way for it to get out of fray is to listen to what the people are saying, respect the constitution and fulfil the demands with respect to making the ECP transparent and independent.