Pakistan election won't end strife, warns rights warden

Pakistan's upcoming election is described as a messy melodrama staged by an emboldened military, unlikely to solve the country's crises.

Pakistan's pre-eminent rights activist describes the upcoming election as a messy melodrama staged by an emboldened military, unlikely to bring down the curtain on a cast of crises plaguing the country.

Millions of people will vote in polls in less than two weeks, in a campaign marred by allegations of pre-vote rigging with the opposition heavily suppressed.

"I don't see Pakistan's problems going away after this election," said Munizae Jahangir, co-chair of the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP).

"We're headed towards the next mess that nobody will know how to fix," she told AFP last week in the capital Islamabad.

The lacklustre election campaign feels like a sideshow compared to the backstage drama between jailed ex-Prime Minister Imran Khan and the military kingmakers who once backed him.

Mr. Khan was ousted in 2022 in a parliamentary no-confidence vote he claims was orchestrated by the country's powerful generals.

"They have a schizophrenic relationship with Imran Khan," Ms. Jahangir said of the military brass.