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Muslim Affairs Team.
Answer
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Name
Jamilu M.A Kudan
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Profession
IT Professional
Question
Assalamu Alaikum,
Thank you Syed, i hope you are fine.
I am really anxious about the outcome of this election and the future of this great Islamic nation.
My question is- please what role do you expect the Islamic scholars to play in mobilizing the populace
Answer
The Islamic scholars really need to play their role to teach people that Islam is in favor of a peaceful political struggle. Muslim scholars should guide the people that they should vote or favor those individuals or groups who would work for positive change in the society.
Name
Ahmed
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Profession
Question
Dear Sir,
I would like to know your expectations to the outcomes of the elections and which party is expected to win this elections?
Answer
I expect a hung parliament and no political party would be able to win decisive number of seats in the parliament. Punjab is the largest province out of our four provinces and represent 55 percent in the national assembly. former ruling Pakisan Muslim League Quaid-i-Azam (PML-Q), Pakistan Muslim League Nawaz group (PML-N) and Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) are expected to get equal number of seats in the national assembly from Punjab. Urban Sindh shall be swept by pro-Musharraf MQM and rural shall be swept by Pakistan Peoples Party. Balochistan would be divided between Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam Fazlur Rahman group and Pakistan Muslim League Quaid-i-Azam, and in North West Frontier province (NWFP) Jamiat-i-Ulema-i-Islam, ANP, Sherpao group, Pakistan Peoples Party, Pakistan Muslim League Quaid-i-Azam, and Pakistan Muslim League Nawaz would get equal number of seats.
Name
Abdullah
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Profession
Question
How do you see the future of Musharraf after the elections?
Answer
President Musharraf has never been a popular leader in the masses. He remained in power because of the Western support, and I think west still needs him to stay in power
and therefore the major political parties are unlikely to work against his removal, immediately after the elections.
Nevertheless, militancy is getting stronger and stronger as a reactionary force against Musharraf and the war on terror, and I think this is the only threat to his political existence in the future.
Name
Malik
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Profession
Question
There are some fears that Pakistan my disintegrate especially with raising nationalistic sentiments in the Balochistan province and the NWFP and the incompetence of the federal government. How do you see the upcoming elections in the light of these events and how it may impact it?
Answer
Serious faultlines emerged in the Pakistani society after the 9/11 incident. The Pakistani government took a U turn in favor of the US-led War on Terror and against the Taliban whose rule in Afghanistan was only supported by Pakistan. Initially Pakistan tried to convince the `Mujahadeens' that Pakistan's U turn is compulsion but the huge military operations after 2004 in Waziristan caused lot of mistrust between the militants and the Pakistan government. So much so that Al-Qaeda has planned a Khuruj in Pakistan and has appointed an amir for this purpose. Pakistan is under siege by hostile neighbors from all sides and they would desperate to exploit all these faultlines to disintegrate Pakistan.
Name
Ibrahim
- Egypt
Profession
Question
Some opposition parties like Jamaat-e-Islami are boycotting the elections. Would this affect tomorrow's turnout and the legitimacy of the election?
Answer
Jamaat-i-Islami's boycott would not make much difference. The real difference would be made by the militants who have already spread so much terror through suicide attacks against the secular and pro-west political parties that voters' turnout would be a serious question mark in tomorrow's elections and that would make the legitimacy of the election process questionable.
Name
Mostapha
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Profession
Question
There is a lot of talk about expected rigging in the elections. If that is true, why is opposition, especially, the PPP and PML-N, participating in the elections? and how would the pakistani street react of rigging happens?
Answer
Pakistan Peoples Party is contesting the elections under American guarantees and a deal brokered by Washington and Musharraf's regime and that's why boycotting the election was no option for PPP. As far as PML-N is concern, it does not want to leave the ground open for Pakistan Muslim League Quaid-i-Azam and Pakistan Peoples Party, beside, there was that many of its leaders would defect to PML-Q.Pakistan.
Name
sami
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Profession
student
Question
Would the US policy towards Pakistan if the opposition gets into power especially that Pakistan is a pivotal region on the US foreign policy agenda for its role in the "war on terror" and for its Nuclear weapons?
Answer
What opposition political parties are you talking about??? The secular and liberal segment of Pakistani political parties, who claim themselves as part of opposition politics, has already struck a deal with the government through Americans that they would provide a popular support to the regional War on Terror theatre. This includes PPP and sub-nationalist pashtun ANP, and thats why Al-Qaeda targeted them most recently.
Whether it is former ruling coalition or the secular opposition parties, they would play an identical rule for War on Terror once they get power.
Name
Omar
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Profession
Question
You mentioned that you expect a "hung parliament." If this happens, how do you see the prospects of reclaiming stability in Pakistan? In other words, would Pakistan plunge into inevitable turmoil after the elections?
Answer
Washington and Pakistani establishment has been jointly working on a mechanism under which they would setup a unity government of various groups. However, I see a serious turmoil after the elections but that would not happen due to elections results but because of militancy.
Name
Brahim
- Belgium
Profession
Question
Are any of the Pakistani party's Islamic??
I mean by this, will they introduce, or re-introduce Islamic law?
Answer
I think majority of Pakistani political parties claim Islam as their relgion even those who call themselves as secular. However, Jamaat-i-Islami is the only political party which was founded for the Islamization of the society. There are traditional Islamic parties like Jamiat-i-Ulema-i-Islam but they are more obsessed with their private Islamic schools and their rights than any other thing.
Name
Editor
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Profession
Question
he session has ended. We would like to thank Mr. Syed Saleem Shahzad for taking the time to answer your questions, and all those who participated in the dialogue.
