Abbasi urges political leaders to make polls non-controversial

Former PM terms NAB, ACE ‘most corrupt institutions’

RAWALPINDI:

Former prime minister Shahid Abbasi has said that the upcoming general elections will be the most “controversial” ones in the country’s history, urging the political leadership to make them “non-controversial”.

The estranged PML-N leader made the remarks while speaking to the media in Rawalpindi.

Abbasi had developed differences with the party leadership over the last year. In February last year, he had resigned as the party’s senior vice president in an effort to give Chief Organiser Maryam Nawaz an “open field”.

During the media talk, Abbasi also said he had decided against contesting the Feb 8 polls but had not quit politics, terming the elections “useless”.

The former prime minister highlighted that it was the responsibility of Chief Election Commissioner Sikandar Sultan Raja, Chief Justice of Pakistan Qazi Faez Isa and caretaker premier Anwaarul Haq Kakar to ensure that the upcoming elections were “non-controversial”.

“I become more satisfied with each passing day that I made the right decision of no playing a part in such an election, which does not give the country anything other than incitement and flaws,” he said.

Abbasi criticised the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) and the Anti-Corruption Establishment (ACE), saying that it was a “misfortune” that they had become the “most corrupt institutions”.

Read also: Abbasi says will not contest polls

Alleging that these institutions were now solely used for breaking and distorting elections, he said the entities themselves were the ones contesting the polls.

“We have stolen every election since 1947. A country where the public’s opinion is not respected can never make progress,” he said, adding that if the politics of garnering votes through pressure was not rejected, the country could not move forward.

When asked about reports of him and other leaders —Mustafa Khokhar and Miftah Ismail — forming a new party, Abbasi said, “A political party is not formed in such an environment.”

In an apparent reference to the PML-N, the PTI and the PPP, the seasoned politician said, “The three major political parties in Pakistan today have failed.”

He further said he would decide on his political future after the February 8 polls.

When asked if the perpetrators behind the violence in the country on May 9 — when riots broke out following the arrest of PTI founder Imran Khan — should be provided with a level-playing field, Abbasi said that action should have been taken against the individuals by collecting evidence and following the legal process.