Pakistan

Apparent U-turn: PTI shelves plan to protest against ECP

Imran Khan-led party had earlier decided to launch a protest campaign against the provincial heads of ECP

Our Correspondent December 09, 2015

Imran Khan addresses public rally in Sialkot on November 30, 2015. PHOTO: PPI

ISLAMABAD:

In another apparent U-turn, the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf has shelved the plan to demonstrate against the members of the country’s top election supervisory body and would, instead, wait for them to complete their term.

The Imran Khan-led party had earlier decided to launch a protest campaign against the provincial heads of the Election Commission of Pakistan after the judicial commission formed to investigate into alleged rigging in the 2013 general elections rejected the PTI’s accusations of vote fraud.

Imran had previously announced that a demo would be held in front of the ECP headquarters in the federal capital Islamabad on October 4, but then the venue was changed to the Constitution Avenue’s D-Chowk junction, where the PTI had protested for 126 days last year in a bid to push the ECP members to step down.

Insiders claimed that Imran had made the decision in isolation, not unlike the announcement of launching a civil disobedience drive during the party’s 126-day Azadi March that had kicked off last August. Both the decisions have been retracted. The October 4 rally was moved to October 9 for a showdown in the ruling Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz’s stronghold Lahore, ahead of the NA-122 by-election.

Policy shift?

Regarding the PTI’s meeting in the capital, Imran had told the media on Monday that the party would take to the streets if the ‘ruling elite’ tried to replace the ECP members with ‘blue-eyed boys’ next year or if the incumbents remained in office after their tenure expired in June.

The announcement suggests that the PTI has dropped the idea of staging protests over the ECP members’ alleged partiality.

Published in The Express Tribune, December 9^th, 2015.

COMMENTS (3)

AA | 9 years ago | Reply ET should sounding little more mature in using the term "U-Turn." U-Turn in politics apply only to policy change or openion change after declaring one without justifiable cause, eg, calling something right and then calling it later wrong and vice-versa. It has nothing to do with action plan changes or postponing of actions based on changing ground realities as this is the case here. Has PTI changed their position towards ECP ? They have not. They still consider them as unreliable. However, if they did change their standing against ECP that would qualify for a U-Turn, but not after appointment of a new chief. It has nothing to do with changing openion about people either. People are dynamic. They change and their actions are subject to changing of openion. For example a judge (here in this case Iftikhar Chawdhri) could be appreciated for political activism but can also be critisized for something else at different occasion that is not a U-turn, since no one supposed to pledge supporting an individual on every acton whether right or wrong. Has Asma Jahangir and Aitzaz Ahsan not changed their openion of Mr. Chawdhri for the same reason. It could not be a U-turn if one judgement of a person is critisized and another was appreciated, but it could be if the same judgement is critisized and later appreciated or vice vursa. IK does not criticise Mr. Ch. for what he did earlier but he does for what Mr. Ch did later. Same is the case of Asma and Atizaz and many more who supported him only to get disappointed later.

Malikpur Janderbari - Abbottabad | 9 years ago | Reply vision less person... he is not leader rather a non serious street boy who cry for every good or bad happening...sorry insafian, lets start abusing on my comments!

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