WILL the elections scheduled for January be credible? This is the one paramount question that overshadows all other questions, linked as they are - the continuation of the emergency, the truly impartial character of the caretaker governments at Islamabad and in the four provincial capitals, and the curtailment of media freedom. At his Sunday's press talk, President Pervez Musharraf's answers to questions implied that emergency was unlikely to be lifted before polling day. This is a great disappointment, for if the lifting of the state of emergency is linked to an improvement in the law and order situation, then frankly there is no possibility that it will be done away with in the near future. Law and order does not merely concern rioting or mob violence typical of our elections. In today's Pakistan it means terrorism of two kinds: one consists of wayside explosions and suicide bombings targeting civilians and security personnel, two, it consists of organised rebellions not just in the tribal areas but in a 'settled' district like Swat. It is now obvious to the world that the chances of the insurgency by Maulana Fazlullah's well-armed army being crushed aren't any brighter than those of the US-led coalition forces destroying the Taliban in Afghanistan. If therefore the president predicates the lifting of the emergency on an improvement in the law and order situation, frankly there is no possibility that the nation will go to the polls in an atmosphere free from awe and governmental pressures.

The other major question concerns the five caretaker governments. The prime minister and the chief ministers must not only be non-controversial public figures of integrity acceptable to all political parties and shades of opinion, they must have administrative experience and be capable of mobilising the administrative machinery to the task of conducting a truly fair and free general election. For this sacred task, the executive is bound constitutionally to help the Chief Election Commissioner, for article 220 of the Constitution says it is "the duty of all executive authorities in the federation and in the provinces to assist the Commissioner and the Election Commission in the discharge of his or their duties". Still, a vital element of a free vote will be missing if the media were to remain gagged. Gone are the days when processions and public rallies were the principal mode of campaigning and political education for the masses; today, the print and electronic media are a major source of news and views for millions of Pakistanis, and they are quite capable of sifting sense from nonsense to reach their own conclusions about a party or politician. To hold elections without a free media is to play Hamlet without the Prince of Denmark.

(Courtesy: Dawn(Pakistan))