DAWN Editorials - 29th March 2025

[zarnishhayat]

New CEC?

CHIEF Election Commissioner Sikandar Sultan Raja has completed his five-year term. It is high time for another to take his stead.

Given the scandals and controversies that rocked Mr Raja’s institution during the most consequential phase of his tenure, a respectable departure is surely more than he could have hoped for.

There were repeated calls for his resignation or termination following the 2024 general election, yet he somehow managed to stick it out till the end of his tenure. But it seems that was not good enough for the ruling regime, which clearly intended to keep him in charge of the ECP well beyond his scheduled retirement.


Passed late last year, the controversial 26th Amendment included a clause allowing election commissioners to continue in office till their replacements are decided. Two months since Mr Raja’s scheduled retirement, that long-drawn-out process has yet to start. The intent appears to be to delay it as long as possible.

Meanwhile, there are rumours swirling in Islamabad that Mr Raja may be reappointed to his office. If so, that would add more controversies to his record. The country’s opposition parties accuse him of abusing his powers to subvert the political system and deny the people’s mandate. Mr Raja has also earned a special mention in law history books for outright defying the country’s Supreme Court and violating its laws; not once or twice, but on multiple occasions, as recorded in biting judgements issued by various courts of law.

If, despite all this, he is still being considered for another term, the appointment is bound to become controversial. The opposition leaders in both the National Assembly and the Senate seem to have had enough of the waiting. They petitioned the Islamabad High Court earlier this week, challenging the delay in Mr Raja’s overdue departure. One must wait and see what the court makes of it.


The ruling parties should avoid getting involved in another controversy around the Election Commission. As it is, managing public perceptions of the incumbent government’s legitimacy is one of its biggest challenges. If the idea is to continue demonstrating that ‘power is power’, they will never be able to win over dissatisfied citizens.

Given the enormity of challenges before them and the country’s mounting security concerns, it would be wise to avoid situations that further polarise the public, and instead, to start implementing long-term solutions to perennial political problems. Foremost among such solutions should be the decision to strengthen the institutions of the state and allow them to operate independently and on consensually agreed principles.

The policies currently in vogue are dangerous and will have devastating long-term consequences. The country’s political crisis needs an end, not extension after extension. Well-meaning observers have consistently pointed this out to those making the decisions.

Published in Dawn, March 29th, 2025


Balochistan violence

BLOODSHED begets bloodshed. Hatred leads to more hatred. But how long can the state allow this unending cycle of violence in Balochistan to continue?

The recent spate of unrest, including the ethnic targeting of passengers in Gwadar, demands unequivocal condemnation. Poor labourers and travellers — often the sole breadwinners of their families — are being targeted for no reason other than their ethnicity. To kill in the name of nationalist ‘resistance’ is morally indefensible.


Balochistan has long been neglected by the state — politically, economically and socially. The sense of alienation is real, and the frustration of its disenfranchised people is fuelled by genuine grievances. But for militant groups to turn this pain into a justification for ethnic violence is nothing short of evil. Those who carry out such acts of terrorism are murderers, plain and simple. There can be no tolerance for the elements who stoke racial hatred.

That said, it is high time the mainstream political parties admitted their failure to engage Balochistan meaningfully. Far too often, Baloch nationalist parties are dismissed as ‘anti-national’ or painted with the same brush as terrorist groups. This approach is counterproductive, it isolates moderate Baloch voices and feeds into the extremist narrative. National parties must listen, engage, and share power in ways that are both just and inclusive.

At the same time, the provincial leadership must ask itself what it has done to uplift the people it claims to represent. Governance remains abysmal, even when elected Baloch leaders are at the helm. They, too, must own their responsibility and do more to provide services, jobs and a future for their youth — before militancy becomes the only path that desperate young men see ahead.


Moreover, Baloch nationalist groups must condemn such heinous acts where non-Baloch workers are singled out and murdered in cold blood. The National Action Plan envisions a comprehensive strategy to end terrorism in all its forms. A key component of NAP is the ‘Balochistan Reconciliation Process’ which, it is hoped, aims to bring disaffected groups into the mainstream.

Provincial ministers have expressed their openness to dialogue. For peace in Balochistan, all stakeholders — the state, political parties and civil society — must act jointly to implement NAP in letter and spirit.

Published in Dawn, March 29th, 2025


Turkiye protests

DAILY protests have continued in Turkiye since the arrest of Istanbul Mayor Ekrem Imamoglu on March 19. While the government says it is simply following legal procedures, protesters and activists feel the mayor has been hauled up on trumped-up charges, as he poses a major electoral threat to the ruling AK Party. Mr Imamoglu, who belongs to the opposition CHP, has been detained on corruption charges, which he rejects, terming them “slander”. Thousands have been coming out daily across the country, but mainly in Istanbul, as the mayor’s arrest has charged up opponents of the ruling party, who say the economic situation has worsened and freedoms have been curtailed under the AKP’s rule. The ruling party has been in power for over two decades. President Recep Erdogan, meanwhile, has dismissed the protests as “street terror”. Nearly 1,900 people have been rounded up, including some journalists, while the Turkiye head of RSF has said the authorities are not letting the media report freely.

The current protests are the biggest Turkiye has seen since the 2013 Gezi Park demonstrations. The Turkish state needs to reassure its citizens as well as the international community that Mr Imamoglu will be able to defend himself fully in court, and that this is not a witch-hunt. While many have accused the AKP of increasingly authoritarian tendencies, the ruling party must ensure that the democratic process continues unhindered in Turkiye. The country has seen numerous military interventions in the past decades — the last coup attempt occurring in 2016 — and Mr Erdogan himself was arrested in 1999 as Istanbul mayor for reading a poem. All sections of the Turkish political spectrum — Islamists, secularists and others — must work within the bounds of the democratic process, and preserve the country’s hard-earned freedoms. Most of all, the constitutional order must be respected so that any adventurers thinking of subverting the political process are stopped in their tracks.

Published in Dawn, March 29th, 2025