White House shuts down anti-Pakistan petition over 'bad' signatures

White House official says petition shut down on suspicion of fraud

The White House has shut down an online petition asking for Pakistan to be declared a state sponsor of terrorism after suspecting fraud.

"This petition has been archived because it did not meet the signature requirements. It can no longer be signed," the website reads.



According to reports, supporters of the petition had until October 21, to get a total of 100,000 signatures in order to receive a response from the White House. The petition was closed at a count of 646,564 signatures.



While the website failed to mention anything regarding the petition being fraudulent, a White House official told Hindustan Times on the condition of anonymity that there were “some technical issues with some of the signatures” which needed to be looked into. Some of the signatures “could potentially be removed if there is evidence of fraud” consistent with the terms of participation, the official added.

The petition was started on September 21, by an individual whose initials read RG. It kicked off a day after Congressmen Ted Poe and Dana Rohrabacher introduced HR6069 -- the Pakistan State Sponsor of Terrorism Designation Act.



"This petition is important to the people of United State of America, India and many other countries which are continuously affected by Pakistan sponsored terrorism," the sponsor wrote.

It remains to be seen whether or not the petition will make a comeback after being purged of the 'bad' signatures.

This article originally appeared on Hindustan Times.