{"id":1810,"date":"2018-06-05T15:58:34","date_gmt":"2018-06-05T15:58:34","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/southandcentralasiablog\/?p=1810"},"modified":"2018-06-05T15:58:34","modified_gmt":"2018-06-05T15:58:34","slug":"hopes-for-rare-peaceful-handover-as-pakistan-election-date-announced","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/southandcentralasiablog\/2018\/06\/05\/hopes-for-rare-peaceful-handover-as-pakistan-election-date-announced\/","title":{"rendered":"Hopes for rare peaceful handover as Pakistan election date announced"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a class=\"u-underline\" href=\"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/world\/pakistan\">Pakistan<\/a> will hold a general election on 25 July in what could be only the second democratic transfer of power in the nuclear-armed country\u2019s history.<\/p>\n<p>The election is expected to pit the ruling Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) party against former cricket star Imran Khan\u2019s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party.<\/p>\n<p>Khan\u2019s party vowed Sunday to oust the country\u2019s \u201ccorrupt\u201d rulers. \u201cThe Pakistani nation &#8230; can see the dawn of a new Pakistan, which will not be ruled by the corrupt,\u201d PTI said in a statement posted on Twitter along with a graphic that read \u201cMafia\u2019s Game Over\u201d.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cStop us if you can,\u201d it said in another tweet.<\/p>\n<aside class=\"element element-rich-link element--thumbnail element-rich-link--upgraded\">\n<div class=\"rich-link tone-comment--item rich-link--pillar-opinion\">\n<div class=\"rich-link__container\">\n<div class=\"rich-link__header\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"rich-link__read-more\">\n<div class=\"rich-link__read-more-text\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/aside>\n<p>Turmoil continues to rock the country after former prime minister Nawaz Sharif <a class=\"u-underline\" href=\"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/world\/2017\/jul\/28\/pakistani-court-disqualifies-pm-nawaz-sharif-from-office\">was ousted by the supreme court in July 2017<\/a> on corruption charges and later <a class=\"u-underline\" href=\"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/world\/2017\/jul\/28\/pakistani-court-disqualifies-pm-nawaz-sharif-from-office\">barred from politics for life<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p><a class=\"u-underline\" href=\"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/world\/nawaz-sharif\">Sharif<\/a> was the 15th prime minister in Pakistan\u2019s seven-decade history \u2013 roughly half of it under military rule \u2013 to be removed before completing a full term. After Sharif was ousted, Shahid Khaqan Abbasi took over the premiership.<\/p>\n<p>Pakistan completed its first ever democratic transfer of power after elections in 2013, when PML-N took over from the Pakistan People\u2019s party following a landslide victory.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThis is the second consecutive parliament to complete its tenure and we are now looking forward to go to the people to get their verdict on our performance,\u201d the finance minister, Miftah Ismail, said.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"img-2\" class=\"element element-image img--landscape  fig--narrow-caption fig--has-shares \"><\/figure>\n<p>While PTI is vowing to clean up the country\u2019s rampant corruption, and invest in education and healthcare, PML-N continues to boast of its investment in the country\u2019s rickety infrastructure and courting billions of dollars in Chinese investment.<\/p>\n<p>Since he was ousted, Sharif and PML-N have become increasingly vocal in their confrontation with the country\u2019s military establishment and courts, claiming they are victims of a conspiracy.<\/p>\n<p>Despite the numerous court rulings against PML-N, the party has won a string of recent byelections. It continues to enjoy significant support in the country\u2019s most populous Punjab province, but will enter the election under increasing pressure.<\/p>\n<aside class=\"element element-rich-link element--thumbnail element-rich-link--upgraded\">\n<div class=\"rich-link tone-news--item rich-link--pillar-news\">\n<div class=\"rich-link__container\">\n<div class=\"rich-link__read-more\">\n<div class=\"rich-link__arrow\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"rich-link__read-more-text\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/aside>\n<p>In April, a Pakistan court disqualified the foreign minister, Khawaja Asif, for violating the country\u2019s election laws, while the interior minister, <a class=\"u-underline\" href=\"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/world\/2018\/may\/06\/pakistani-interior-minister-injured-in-shooting-at-rally\">Ahsan Iqbal, was shot in the arm<\/a> in a suspected assassination attempt in early May by an Islamist gunman.<\/p>\n<p>Sharif also sparked a firestorm earlier this month after suggesting Pakistani militants were behind the 2008 Mumbai attacks, approaching what is seen as a red line in the country by touching on criticism of Pakistan\u2019s armed forces.<!--more--><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Pakistan will hold a general election on 25 July in what could be only the second democratic transfer of power in the nuclear-armed country\u2019s history. The election is expected to pit the ruling Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) party against former cricket star Imran Khan\u2019s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party. Khan\u2019s party vowed Sunday to oust the country\u2019s \u201ccorrupt\u201d rulers. \u201cThe Pakistani&#8230; <a href=\"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/southandcentralasiablog\/2018\/06\/05\/hopes-for-rare-peaceful-handover-as-pakistan-election-date-announced\/\">Read more &raquo;<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":64,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1810","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-article-post"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/southandcentralasiablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1810","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/southandcentralasiablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/southandcentralasiablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/southandcentralasiablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/64"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/southandcentralasiablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1810"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/southandcentralasiablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1810\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1811,"href":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/southandcentralasiablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1810\/revisions\/1811"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/southandcentralasiablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1810"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/southandcentralasiablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1810"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/southandcentralasiablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1810"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}