Setting another deadline for the government to probe the ‘massive rigging’ in the 2013 elections, Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf Chairman Imran Khan said if his party didn’t get justice, it would become difficult for the prime minister to stay in power past November 30 – the day the party is scheduled to stage a ‘decisive rally’ in the federal capital.
“People from all over the country will converge in Islamabad on November 30 and they will make it difficult for the government to stay on. If anything happens [after that], then the sole responsibility will be on [Prime Minister] Nawaz Sharif,” Imran told thousands of supporters at a big rally in Nankana Sahib.
Referring to his demand for giving top military intelligence agencies a role in the proposed electoral fraud probe, Imran claimed that Finance Minister Ishaq Dar had agreed in a meeting with Shah Mehmood Qureshi to four out of six PTI’s demands and the only sticking point was resignation of the prime minister. “How can Nawaz Sharif now declare my demands unconstitutional?”
Nawaz said on Wednesday that he was at a loss to understand Imran’s demand to include officials of the Inter-Services Intelligence and Military Intelligence in a proposed Supreme Court-led commission to ensure a free and fair audit of the elections.
The PTI leader said his party’s only demand was a fair investigation. “We have asked the prime minister to resign only if rigging is proved. And if rigging is not proved, then we will call off our protest. We are not creating any hurdles for the prime minister now,” he said.
Imran reiterated his allegations that the elections were massively rigged in favour of the PML-N. “We know how the vote-bank of Nawaz Sharif multiplied from 6.8m [in 2008] to 150m [in 2013]; how ballot papers were printed; in which constituency the returning officers were controlled by whom and which media supported the government to hide facts,” he claimed.
Imran also hit out at the PPP and alleged that it also rigged the elections in Sindh. “Both the PPP and PML-N will be in trouble [in case of fair investigation] because they had fixed this match through a mutual understanding,” he said.
He said Nawaz Sharif could have easily resolved this issue. “At first we had only demanded audit of four constituencies. They should have allowed recounting of votes the way we did in Peshawar when we got an application against our MPA Shah Farman,” he added.
He asked why National Assembly Speaker Ayaz Sadiq did not let allow a vote audit in his constituency and why he was hiding behind a stay order from the court. “It will not augur well for the country, if the court rules after three years that Ayaz Sadiq did rig the elections,” he said.
The PTI chief said his party wanted to see an independent judiciary in the country which could set an example by punishing the high and mighty. He justified his complaints from the judiciary which, he said, didn’t give him justice in nineteen months.
Commenting on the lynching of a Christian couple in Kot Radha Kishan, he said: “We’ll protect every weak person in the country. In the Naya Pakistan, everybody will have equal rights.”
Published in The Express Tribune, November 13th, 2014.
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ET should publish the data of deadlines issued by Imran which never materialise so far, but he continues regardless and losing his credibility as well. A non-bailable warrant has already been issued which means that his dharna will finally be over and this deadline may pass also unheeded as others before.
You guys need to proof read your articles before publishing. Horrible grammar and not cohesive at all.
Dear Imran. Please wake up and smell the coffee. 1) It is unconstitutional to have the intelligence services involved in determining the legality of elections. in 2000 it was the US supreme Court that decided the Florida result not the CIA. 2) Nawaz Sharif vote bank cannot be 150 million as our population is 186 million and 90 million are under 18 (please wikipedia it) 3) If everyone has equal rights in naya Pakistan please pledge to remove the requirement of religion on our passports. I would also appreciate a pledge not to have Ahmedia branded as non muslims but I understand if that is beyond taliban khan.
What about us ahmedi's? Should we pack our bags ready to return home with IK as our protector. I suspect the answer is no...