Since we have discussed/punched/abused Nazir Naji ( a pure waste of time though), here is another pro PTI view point in The News. Folks, we did leave an impression!!!!!!!."Winds of change are blowing" http://thenews.jang.com.pk/daily_detail.asp?id=247619 PP-160 by-elections Monday, June 28, 2010 By Shehar Bano Khan Images of PML-Ns victorious candidate for PP-160 by-elections, Saif-ul-Maluk Khokhar, hoisted atop the shoulders of his party supporters was a sad reminder of how success was a skin deep concept in Pakistans self styled democratic dispensation. The singular objective of achieving success foreclosed all considerations to follow a political ethos driven by employing just means. The published report of Fafen (Free and Fair Election Network) observers on PP-160 by-elections accounts for PML-Ns inequitable tactics to win the elections. The jubilation expressed by PML-N supporters at Saif-ul-Maluks win could have been elementally celebratory if the state machinery, apparently mobilised at the orders of Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif had not been used or other similar fraudulent techniques not practiced. As reports of tough competition between the PML-Ns Saif-ul-Maluk and Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insafs (PTI) candidate, Zaheer Abbas Khokhar, increased, the Punjab government promptly calculated on how to make the PML-Ns candidature invincible. Interfacing state power with goals justifying means the PML-N managed to give a substantial lead to a person whose conduct did not conform to the rules set forth by the Election Commission. Allegedly, Saif-ul-Maluk has not even completed primary school level education and is also accused of being a land grabber. His property and assets were focal subjects of discussion a few weeks back on an acclaimed electronic media programme, where the host provided details of Maluks current assets in real estate and interrogated how a palatial residence spread over acres had been acquired by him in a short span of time. He had been nominated to contest the seat vacated by Rana Mubashar Iqbal who had to resign disgracefully when his Bachelors degree proved to be counterfeit. The PML-N replaced a counterfeit degree holder with a candidate believed to be an academic ignoramus and a land grabber. Any hope given to the people of Pakistan of a reformed PML-N after the Sharif brothers returned from exile, brought about by complying with General Musharraf following the 1999 coup detat as a face saving formula, has been trampled. And all those claims of a revolution have an absurd if not downright deceitful tone. Not only has the PML-N defied the electoral rules, the Punjab government has also involved the provincial election commission, the police and the provincial bureaucracy in doctoring the electoral procedure to ensure a preordained victory for Saif-ul-Maluk. The collusion of two government officials, namely Haji Ashraf, station house officer (SHO), and Manzar Abbas Malik, a Patwari acting as polling agents on behalf of the PML-N, was exposed by the media prior to the holding of the by-polls. Another shocking display to underpin vulgar strength at the expense of disregarding electoral rules was the disclosure of a fake election commission office set up with the help of the provincial election commission officials to guarantee Saif-ul-Maluks PP-160 win. A significant factor disenfranchising the PTI voter was that the 1997 electoral list had not been updated and people were not allowed to use their old identity cards, which prevented many from voting. The contesting candidate, Zaheer Abbas Khokhar, and his PTI found out a list of 14,000 bogus votes in the electoral list, which was immediately sent to the Election Commission of Pakistan. But no action was taken against the candidature of Saif-ul-Maluk. The Election Commission overlooked all requisites enabling the disqualification of the PML-Ns candidate. Aware of these snags to their voters much to the benefit of the PML-N, the PTI has demanded the introduction of the biometric system in the next general elections. Fafen observers noted that change in the polling station at Tech Society in Lahore a night before the scheduled elections on June 24, 2010. The election network also noted discrepancy between the numbers of the Computerised National Identity Cards (CNID) of voters and the electoral rolls. At five polling stations, dubious thumb impressions marked on counterfoils of ballot books at the same angel with phasing out ink print were observed, noted Fafen observers. An extremely shamefaced aspect of the by-polls in PP-160 was how the entire state structure was prefabricated to allow Saif-ul-Maluks entry into a provincial legislative assembly where he would be representing nearly 187, 933 registered voters of that constituency. What needs to be questioned is the brazenness of the methods used by both the PML-N, Zardaris PPP and their coalition partners in disrespecting the countless people struggling to subsist minimally whilst they remain in a redoubt made secure by their Saudi benefactors, the NROs and riding on the politically expedient wave of restoration of the judiciary. It is almost criminal on the part of the PML-N leadership to enact the farce of signing the Charter of Democracy in May 2006, which fore ground an independent judiciary, only to back track in the 18th Amendment to the Constitution by insisting on a self serving criterion of judges selection. These two political parties have relegated the nature of democracy to its most vulgar form where the ballot boxes are mere transactions and not a representation of peoples informed participation in a process of governance. The by-elections of PP-160 have confirmed that the PML-N believes bartering democracy for deception, coercion and ignoring rule of law. But the biggest questions are directed at the Chief Election Commission which failed to take notice of the evidence provided by the media and Imran Khan, chairman Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf, in various press conferences where he vehemently opposed the use of state machinery to facilitate Saif-ul-Maluk. Despite accusing Imran Khan of launching ad hominem attacks against the PPP and PML-N leadership, his critics are now looking at him as a serious contender holding sway over millions of people. As Harold Macmillan, the British prime minister, stated in 1960 in South Africa, that the winds of change are blowing, whether we like it or not it is a political reality. Similarly, millions of disillusioned people are looking to the PTI for a relationship based on equality and trust between the voter and the contender and whether somebody accepts it or chooses to ignore it is a political reality! Ms Shehar Bano Khan is a freelance journalis