Published: 02:11 PM, 27 January 2024
Ex-Pakistan PM Khan, party erased from election campaign
Pakistani cricketing legend
turned world leader Imran Khan is wildly popular in his constituency and
ancestral homeland of Mianwali, but the political posters that line the
streets do not bear his face and flags do not fly his colours.
A relentless crackdown widely attributed to Pakistan's powerful military has
seen him and his Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party almost erased from the
election campaign ahead of the vote.
"Our party workers are facing harassment, and I personally have received
death threats," says 61-year-old Jamal Ahsan Khan, who is standing for PTI in
Mianwali in place of his leader.
"Throughout my life, I have never witnessed an election as intense and
threatening as this one."
Khan, currently in jail facing dozens of legal challenges, is barred from
contesting elections on February 8 because of a graft conviction -- cases he
claims are politically motivated.
Across the country, PTI has been obstructed from holding rallies and the
heavily censored media is restricted in its coverage of the opposition,
pushing the party's campaign almost entirely online.
Dozens of candidates nationwide have also had their nomination papers
rejected by the electoral commission.
Like many other party candidates, loyalist Ahsan Khan has been in near hiding
in the build-up to the election, unable to hold meetings or distribute
leaflets.
"It feels disheartening that as a candidate of Pakistan's leading political
party, I am unable to conduct my campaign in a meaningful way," he told AFP.
With two weeks until the vote, there is none of the fervour and excitement
that usually marks an election in the country of more than 240 million
people.
