General Raheel Sharif will contest polls before end of tenure

Days before the end of his tenure, Pakistan army chief Raheel Sharif is once again in picture as banners have appeared, encouraging him to contest elections.

The text of the poster urges Parliament to amend a law, which bars army officials from taking part in political activities for at least two years after retirement. “No extension but deduction,” said the banners in bold English, urging the army chief — who is due to retire on November 29th— to participate in the next general election in 2018. This is not the first time banners pertaining to the popular army chief have cropped up in major cities in Pakistan.

In July, banners with pictures of General Sharif were on display in major cities across Pakistan, urging him to impose martial law and take control of the country.

Interestingly, the banners sprung up overnight on all major boulevards in the cities despite the presence of several security checkpoints and patrol. The banners were been put up in Karachi, Lahore, Quetta, Peshawar, Hyderabad, Rawalpindi, Sargodha, Faisalabad, etc, by the Move on Pakistan party. In February, days after the General announced he would step down, banners were put up on the streets of the capital urging him to extend his tenure.

However, unlike the most recent banner, the old banners were put out by an organisation named the ‘Move on Pakistan’ party.

The party — which has little grass-root support —has been registered with the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) and a businessman from Faisalabad, Mohammad Kamran, is its chairman.

On January 25, General Sharif laid to rest speculation that he would continue to serve as the military chief beyond November 2016 when he is due to retire, insisting he preferred to relinquish the job unlike his predecessors.