General election, in theory and world over, is a democratic exercise where the populace rewards or reprimands the candidates with their votes, but in Pakistan it has become a mere tug-of-war for power.

That's the gist of today's op-ed by Zahid Hussain — a veteran journalist and a speaker of truth.

Mr Hussain, in his write-up, points out how almost every party set to compete in the upcoming general election has consigned "principles and issue-based politics" to the backseat and is using rhetoric to sway their voters.

All the major parties, Mr Hussain states, have also reduced the drafting of manifestos to a formality and are basically just peddling empty promises.

Mr Hussain's assessment of Pakistan's electoral culture seems spot on and deserves at least one full read.