PTI calls upon PM, CEC for recovery of leaders, workers

Secretary General Omar terms issue of enforced disappearances most blatant form of pre-poll rigging

ISLAMABAD:

OUR CORRESPONDENT
ISLAMABAD
The Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) on Tuesday called upon the caretaker prime minister and the chief election commissioner to take immediate action in recovering their forcibly disappeared leaders and workers.
In separate letters addressed to PM Anwaarul Haq Kakar and CEC Sikandar Sultan Raja, PTI Secretary General Omar Ayub Khan raised alarm over the mysterious disappearance of the party's key leaders and workers.
As per Omar, copies of the letters had also been shared with the provincial chief ministers.
In his letter, Omar wrote the names of the PTI leaders whose whereabouts were currently unknown. They included Farrukh Habib, Sadaqat Abbasi, Usman Dar, Owais Younis, Irfan Saleem, Abdul Karim Khan, and Awami Muslim League (AML) chief Sheikh Rashid.
The PTI leader termed the issue of enforced disappearances the “most serious of all the violations of the law and the Constitution” and “the most blatant and open form of pre-poll rigging” in the context of preparation for a “free, fair and impartial election”.
Omar stated that the enforced disappearance of these individuals was a blatant violation of the fundamental rights enshrined in Pakistan's Constitution. He underscored the urgent need for their release and to bring those who were responsible for these disappearances to justice.
The letter stated, "This campaign, with the sole purpose of trying to break the PTI, Pakistan’s most popular political party, also makes a complete mockery of the Elections Act, 2017. In the context of the very primary responsibility of the caretaker governments to hold free and fair elections, this campaign of enforced disappearances violates Section 230 (1)(d) in which the caretaker government has a duty to be impartial to every person and political party, and Section 186 (d), in which no official can execute any act calculated to influence the result of the election.
"Finally, these enforced disappearances also contravene Pakistan’s commitments on several international covenants and treaties that deal with such matters, including the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, the Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment, as well as the International Convention for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance, which is obligatory upon Pakistan under customary international law principles," Omar reminded the caretaker chief minister in his letter.NATIONAL PAGE